"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."-Bilbo
3 backpacks. That's a picture of my bags packed and ready to go. The black one on the right is the one with my clothes for the trip. It will be a carry-on for my air travel and will easily ride on my back (thanks to fellow Seattle-ite and world known travel guide, Rick Steves). It has ventured to far away lands with me before and has been a trusted friend. The little one in front is the one with my journal and paints and books to be close to me as my one personal item. It's excited to accompany me, having traveled countless times to places all over this big blue marble as an extension of me. The one on the left with the red & blue coloring is the one experiencing it's first journey. It is stuffed with a huge variety of new art supplies for the purpose of "painting on people's lives". It will be checked into the cargo hold for the crossing journey. It's the one with the treasure awaiting to land and be freely given, poured out, and lavished as an offering of love. Myself and the other two backpacks will at some point return to the States to continue our creative adventures together, but this third one...it will stay in Lithuania (where I am traveling to this month)...it will get to experience it's own adventures with a new owner, for it has a different path to hike. Yes, "everyone gets to play"...even backpacks.
Creative Adventures in Lithuania...
I believe every human being is creative. God created us in his image and formed us with his attributes. He is an artist and so are we. Creativity looks different within each person, allowing for individuality and it looks different within each people group, allowing for community.
Art can reflect the beauty of creation and our Creator; it can be functional allowing for pattern and form to serve a purpose; and it an also be therapeutic allowing for relationship between the artist and the art, between the artist themselves, between the artist and others, between the artist and God.
My prayer is that my artistic travels in ministry can and will bring all of those aspects of art together to flow as a continued conversation throughout the communities I connect with. I believe Art is a universal language that can cross physical borders of oceans and nations, that can cross spiritual borders of religions and beliefs, and can cross emotional borders of hurts and fears.
I have had the opportunity to help people here in Klaipeda, Lithuania connect in those areas of creativity through various art activities that I facilitated for them. These ideas, these activities allowed for individual and group participation so the conversation could continue within their lives...in creative ways.
The art activities I utilized are ones that I have helped to facilitate through the VineArts ministry that I am connected with in Boise, Idaho. I tweeked them a bit, changed them up, and made them more cross-cultural and portable to be able to take them to a different culture (like Lithuania) that they could still speak what they were meant to speak and inspire what they were meant to inspire...even as I would be speaking through an interpreter.
I won't get into details on this blog about specific people or things that were shared within the ministry times (for protection and privacy of those individuals and their community) but I want to share with you an overview of what the art ministry times were like.
clay
The use of clay can be enjoyable on so many levels. This was the first art activity I led the very day I arrived. I led a group of 8 people who met in a flat for a time of prayer and Bible study together. I led them in an activity where they were instructed to create something out of a hunk of clay to represent how they see themselves when they are experiencing fear, lonliness, hurt, or struggling with problems and insecurities about themselves. While they were creating I shared thoughts with them from Rory Noland's book 'The Heart of the Artist'. We had a time of sharing with each other about what we had created and why. Then I instructed them to mold something out of the clay that would represent how God sees them. While they were forming their creations I read from Scripture various passages talking about how God loves, forgives, welcomes, and delights in us. Then we had a time of sharing what we created and why. It was a good discussion about the difference between how we see ourselves and how God sees us...and that God loves us more than we think. I was impressed with how people engaged with the clay and allowed themselves to go deep even when they were only first meeting me.
mixed media
1. orphanage: I was able to visit an orphanage in the city. It was the first time I had ever experienced an orphanage anywhere and I was automatically heart broken. But that was appropriate for me...because the art actiivty I was doing with some of the youth there was all about brokenness. There were 6 of us that day. I took them through a two part art activity...again, speaking through an interpreter.
2. creativity day: I was able to be a part of a joint creativity day held in a room & kitchen at another church's facility in the city. There were about 25 of us. The first part of the day one of the leaders led us in a baking lesson (as an example of culinary arts and how everything we do - even everyday normal activities - can be worship to God). The second part of the day I led the group in the brokenness art activity (3 tables set up with 8 people at each).
Part one...I had them create small paintings (using whatever various art mediums they wanted to use: watercolor, acrylic paint, crayon, chalk pastel, oil pastel, marker, colored pencil, pencil) that would represent their feelings...when they feel lonely, angry, hurt, confused, or when they struggle with things. Afterwards we all shared about our paintings...some of them were quite revealing and I found myself connecting with them in a deep way.
Part two...We then cleared the art supplies away and brought out a canvas. I had already pre-prepped it (glueing a piece of bright yellow poster board on the back, and painting a dark colored acrylic wash of paint on the canvas). As a group we cut & ripped up all the little paintings we had created and glued them randomly on the painted canvas (representing taking our hurts and problems to God and letting them go). Then I sliced the canvas off the wooden from (revealing the yellow poster board underneath) and we all cut up that piece of canvas (with all the tiny painting pieces on it) into all kinds of pieces (representing God working on us in our hearts to trust him and let go of those things). Then as a group we clipped or stapled or glued all the colorful patterned pieces of different shapes and sizes to to wooden frame with the yellow background to form a new beautiful picture (representing how God can take our brokenness and make something beautiful out of our lives).
painting live
One of the days I was a featured guest in a class at a school. I spoke to about 20 high schoolers about connecting with God through creativity. My favorite way of speaking is to paint live, allowing the creative process and the paint to speak for me. Speaking through an interpreter I utilized things from J.Scott McElroy's book 'Finding Divine Inspiration' and gave them a view of what it's like to partner with the Holy Spirit as we create...allowing it to be a conversation in prayer. I allowed the paint to represent giving my life over to God (releasing my anxieties and fears) so that I could relax and create freely. The whole class was engaged in the process. At one point I invited some of them to come up and add to the painting themselves...showing that the conversation can become even more interesting when we allow ourselves to create in community. Once the class was over, many of the youth came up to talk to me and I met some emerging artists that I was able to encourage.
art and worship
One of my favorite things to facilitate are times of art and worship for small and large groups of people (those who consider themselves artistic and those who don't). It gives the opportunity for people to experience the importance of their individual role, part, and place in this life and the importance of being a part of a community working together, serving together, praying together, loving together for good of many. Each persons' giftings and talents (unique to them) are valued within community. So that's the art part. The worship part is allowing the creative process within community to be an act of worship and prayer to God.
I was able to lead one of these times for a group of 20 people in a small flat. I prepped a large canvas with an outline of an image that would represent and mean something to their particular community. While they painted there was music playing in the background, and I shared (through an interpreter) various thoughts and words and Scriptures that had been given to me by many people from around the world for this specific community in Lithuania. It was pretty amazing to recognize that those words and Scriptures did end up meaning something to them. That in and of itself is a great example of creative collaboration. The people really engaged in the art and worship time and created a beautiful painting together. I was impressed at how they really were able to connect it all into their personal relationship with God and into their relationships within their community.
Art is an amazing thing. It can bring people together. It can bring healing. It can challenge and inspire. And it can be a universal language. I love being an art minister who is called to bring art to people all over the world...it's a language we have in common.
Be Ready...
If it's one thing I've learned about doing any kind of ministry service...it's the importance of being flexible and willing to change things up on the fly. And with art ministry that means being ready to do art and share your heart at any moments notice.
Upon arriving in Lithuania, I was asked if I'd be okay with leading an additional time than we had originally planned...if I could lead another small group meeting in my second week, by painting the lesson. Of course it was okay!!!
So with a canvas, an easel, a tiny table, paints, some additional supplies, and my personal paint brushes, (all packed into a small carryon case)...I put to practice traveling art ministry by setting out to meet up with 10 people in a tiny Lithuanian flat. I shared about Communion (the intimate relationship Jesus desires with us and for us) through my creative language of painting.
I utilized the imagery of serving and loving on the canvas through color and texture and silence. Lithuanians don't mind silence like Americans do. They welcome it...to reflect, to process, to listen. This allowed for them to let the creative process of painting to truly speak and go in deep. And when the moment called for it, I prompted them to read specific passages from the their Lithuanian Bibles to help them continue to connect in the meaning of 'do this in remembrance of me'.
We had a discussion time, allowing everyone to share from their hearts what the painting meant to them and what Communion meant to them (which showed me how art can allow us to move through language & cultural barriers like as if transparently walking through walls) and then we actually took Communion together...one loaf, one cup...in community. I encouraged them to love and serve one another...for those were the words Jesus spoke to His disciples and they were what His life, death, and resurrection were all about. My final words to them were spoken out in Lithuanian from the Bible passage, Philippians 1:9 : Mylėkite mylėkite. Mylėkite teisingai. (Love much. Love well)
Be ready...
Some of the Art I Spotted in Lithuania...
a reminder: love much and love well
this is a fun mural on the side of a building that i spotted as we quickly drove past
a colorful mural on the side of a building in the neighborhood I'm staying in Klaipeda
street artist Bansky
a small piece of street art cleverly placed
this colorful mural on an old run-down building in the center of old town Klaipeda reminded me of some of the mural work I've seen in Freak Alley in downtown Boise where I'm from.
i found this grape mural in Palanga. it was done on particle board (it reminded me of my creative partner Lukas Evergreen who loves to paint on particle board!)
an old Lithuanian wedding tradition...placing a lock on the bridge over the River Danė
colorful graffiti on a building in Klaipeda
an old building that had artistical character
a three sided sculpture at an outdoor sculpture park
artwork decorating the inside of an underground artsy cafe in old town Klaipeda
paintings featured inside the Klaipeda Art Gallery
art featured inside an art gallery-cafe in Klaipeda
these are some sculptures i spotted high in the air in old town Klaipeda (see the chimney sweep sculpture on the roof)
this is the ceiling artwork inside a Russian Orthodox church i visited
this is the beautiful architecture of a Russian Orthodox church
these are paintings by students at a school i visited in Klaipeda
this is a painting by my friend K.Fowler
Maneuvering Through Re-Entry...
So I've been back in the States a week now. Jetlag can hit hard. I find that whenever I'm returning from a trip on the other side of the world I experience sluggishness, fatigue, vertigo, being overwhelmed by too much visual & verbal stimulation, "medicine head", and reverse culture shock for at least week or two. It happens for various reasons...time differences, flying against the earth's rotation, and changing and switching gears from different life rhythms. This time has been no different than other trips in that respect. But I've tried my best to enter back into life here one day at a time, one moment at a time.
It's difficult for a person to be jolted back into the pace of daily life (juggling schedules and getting back into the rhythm of work, family, friends, responsibilities, etc.) when they return back home from a holiday vacation...it can be even more difficult for a person who experiences some-sort of trip that impacts them at a deep emotional and spiritual level.
This trip to Lithuania (though it was only 2 weeks long) has impacted me almost as deeply as the 9 months I lived in Glasgow, Scotland. And I'm finding that I need to give myself a lot of grace as I maneuver through re-entry.
Some days I've had bursts of energy where I've been able to enter into energetic conversations and quickly move from one function to another. And other days I've had little or no energy and I've found myself hopelessly stuck not knowing how to even finish a sentence or focus on a conversation.
And the emotions are hitting me. One moment I'm engaged and interacting, listening, laughing, sharing...and the next moment I'm flooded with emotions that seem to come from some untapped underground reseviour and I'm crying and experiencing feelings that I don't even know what they're about. And people look at me with that look that asks..."what? what's up with you? what did i say? what's wrong? how do i help you?" And if I could only see my face at that moment I'm sure I'd have that look that answers back..."i don't know. i don't know. i don't know. i don't know. i don't know."
What I have the honor of experiencing as a traveling art minister...going to other places loving on people in creative ways right where they're at for who they are...impacts me at such a deep level that it's life changing. It's not something I can sleep off or drown out with busyness or run away from by ignoring it. With each passing moment it becomes a part of me. The difficult part...the part about re-entry that is so important and key...is allowing it to change my life here...at home in my daily life with others...and there...in all I do and who I am and where I go out on the next trip and who I connect with.
But depending upon who you have surrounding you at home and how understanding they may be and depending upon how understanding you are with yourself through it all...can make or break the re-entry process. In the past I've had well meaning friends and family surrounding me...but after about a month they've been ready to have me move on from talking about my travel experiences. No fault of them...it's just reality...life goes on. And in the past I've felt the pressure of daily life responsibilities quickly placed back onto my shoulders once I've arrived back and soon all life changing experiences from a trip can be forgotten or at least put away on the shelf....not just by others, but by my own hand. It all can be out of "necessity" but it also can be damaging to the natural process of growth and impact that the trip was supposed to have on us.
We experience things in life for a reason (there's purpose there if we can have eyes to see and ears to hear)...to learn, to grow, to change, to heal, to teach, to share, to empower, to love, to be. It never helps us or others if we hurry up and "get over it" or "move on". These are lessons I've learned from past re-entry experiences that I've not allowed myself to fully engage in (personally within and interactively with others).
This time...I am trying to do this right. It's key (absolutely positively) to have people surrounding you who love you, who understand you, who will listen, who will encourage, who will make the time for you, who will ask you the hard questions, who will help guide you, and who are patient with you and will pour out lots of grace. Having support (emotional and spiritual...not just financial) is vital when you are doing anything that involves you and others and a heart that says, "I want to be fully alive and fully me. I want to love and serve and bless others. Where you send me Lord, I will go". It's key...that you don't do any of this kind of life work alone. Even though you may be the one physically traveling...you need people back home who are "just as much a part of the journey" as you are that you can "take with you" no matter where you are (physically, emotionally, spiritually).
I do need to take a moment to thank the wonderful support group of friends, pastors & mentors who I have surrounding me to pray for me, encourage me, listen to me, share with me, learn with me, and walk this creative travel adventure with me no matter where it leads me. I am so thankful and grateful for them. They have helped me prepare for this journey in heart ways I've never experienced, they have helped sustain me and keep me going when I'm far far away and they are present with me now here at home as I maneuver through re-entry. I appreciate who they are...and I love them!
This is my first blogpost back Stateside and I'm finding it hard to write about anything other than I need to give myself grace and understanding that I don't need to know what I'm going to write about yet or what it all means yet or how its it all going to apply yet. It's going to take me awhile to process through all of what I experienced in Lithuania. And that's okay. It's the way it needs to be. I get to take my experiences and the people that I encountered with me in my heart to the next place I travel to.
the journey has just begun....
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