October 25, 2021
Let Us Make
When people ask me why I chose Deuteronomy and John to explore in A Habit Called Faith, I always say it was not my brilliant idea. Had I chosen books based on personal preference, I would have chosen Genesis and Mark.
Genesis is one of my favorite books of the Bible—and I do think I mention this at least once a month around these parts. The first couple of chapters of Genesis offer two accounts of creation. Genesis 1 is a story that looks at the creation of the world from 30,000 feet: the separating of light from darkness, the sky from the water, the water from the dry land. Genesis 2 is a story that takes a much closer look: one man, one woman, God sculpting them from soil and bone.
To be clear, these are rival accounts for the creation of the world. These kinds of creation accounts were very popular in the ancient world. Most well-known might be the Enuma Elish, the ancient Babylonian creation myth. This tells the story of Marduk, a particularly ambitious god in the pantheon of Babylonian gods. He challenges Tiamut, the water chaos, to a fight. And if he wins, he will be king of the universe.
To read Genesis 1 and 2 against the backdrop of other creation accounts is to see how exceptional these stories are. Genesis gives us an entirely different conception of reality. One God, making for one reason alone: for love.
Genesis 1 and 2 also tell us that we are made in the image of this Maker God: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” This is to say that we make because God makes. And here, we learn that God makes in the community of his own person. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. A Christian theology of making is a theology of communal making.
God makes the world, makes humanity in his image and then says: Go, make meaning here in this place, with these raw materials. Take grapes—and make wine. Take milk—and make cheese. Take wool—and make sweaters. The world didn’t come ready-made. Something had to be made of it, by these men, these women who resembled God. Something still must.
One of the privileges I have, in terms of communal making, is working with a creative team of writers, editors, photographers, graphic designers, and visual artists to publish a magazine every year called Imprint. I fell into this role in 2017 when I suggested we publish a commemorative edition of Imprint after our church renovated and moved into a historic church in downtown Toronto. Our small team of four loved the work so much that we continued it, year after year soliciting creative work from our congregation to publish. The team has grown and changed, but every year, God provides the right people to continue the work.
Imprint is unlike the work I do most of the time in the quiet of my basement office, alone. It’s a together work. And this is the theme of our 2021 edition: after a pandemic year of loneliness and isolation, what does it look like to value the together life of the body of Christ?
If you’d be interested in buying a copy for yourself or your church, you can do so here. (Imprint ships to the US and Canada.) We’re a not-for-profit initiative, and our team is completely volunteer. Our hope is that the work of Imprint inspires other churches to consider how they might cultivate and celebrate the creative gifts within their communities—for the glory of God and the common good.
Let us make.
Odds + Ends
Christianity Today is publishing a beautiful Advent devotional with lots of wonderful writers. I contributed a couple of entries and can’t wait to receive my own copy and possibly buy copies for my small group, too. Individuals and churches can order here.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget the haunting audio of this interview with an 18-year-old Afghan girl for The Daily. Make time to listen, then to pray for women and girls like “N,” left behind to suffer the cruelty of the Taliban.
I can’t wait to celebrate the release of Christina Crook’s new book, Good Burdens: How to Live Joyfully in a Digital Age. You can preorder the book and also RSVP for the FREE Tuesday, November 2nd event here.
If you or someone you know speaks Portuguese, here’s a YouTube video of an interview I did with Erica Neves in Brazil. The interview is in Brazil, but the subtitles are in Portuguese. It’s about 50 minutes long, and I think we cover a lot of ground, including my meandering vocational journey.
I’ve wanted to write an article like this for a while, but Michael Krueger beat me to it and surely did a better job than I ever would have. The Bible is clear that everybody submits to somebody.
I found this conversation between Russell Moore and Beth Moore hopeful and honest. I admire both of them immensely.
October 4 was the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, and this was a beautiful prayer in the Divine Hours:
“O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich: Deliver us from the inordinate love of this world, that we, inspired by the devotion of your servant Francis, may serve you with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.”
Yours,
Jen