Images

About two weeks ago I read The Gospel According to Starbucks, by Len Sweet. In the book the author looked at Starbucks in order to illustrate those things that this society of ours is seeking. He used the acronym “EPIC”, to organize the discussion; E for experience, P for participation, I for image and C for community. His point was that these things are those very areas where the church often fails to deliver these days.

Most of what he said was true, although I was troubled by the idea that the church is in a place that she need look to business success as a pattern for what she does. However the chapter on image started me thinking.

Today’s culture is all about image. Unfortunately most are of the wrong kind. But image has always been powerful, is particularly so today, and we need images in church; those things and people that remind us that we were meant to live as part of the amazing story we claim to be committed to. More than ever we are limited by our lack of imagination, and images can help us recapture the wonder.

Images found in movies, art and music are often moving and exciting and the church should not be afraid to use these. But God at work in the lives of real people are the images inspire me. I’m not talking about biblical characters. They are important but they are the images of the past. Nor am I talking about the silly stories used so often to introduce or illustrate some sermon point. I’m talking about more contemporary heroes, like C. S. Lewis, Chesterton, Jackie Pullinger, my missionary friends with YWAM, Rich Mullins, Mother Theresa, Henri Nouwen and a number of Grahams. (You will have your own list I’m sure.) We should be talking a lot about these people and their faith and work. Their lives challenge us to step out of our comfort zone and leave a legacy of our own. And we should be constantly celebrating what they have done and are doing.

As you might guess from the photo I used in this post, recently I was reminded of Kim Phuc. What a story of God’s work in a hopeless situation. She of course, was the child in the photo running down a muddy Vietnamese road, naked, her clothes and skin burned away by napalm, her arms open wide as she screamed out her fear and pain and the loss of life as she had known it. Our God still speaks into people lives as they travel life’s roads. He makes beauty from ashes. Kim now inspires thousands and her faith reaches out in compassion to war ravaged children all over the globe. Go to http://www.kimfoundation.com/ and be reminded of what God can do with a life. Be inspired.

Images like Kim Phuc give me hope. They cause me to turn to God and say “More, more. Take my mean little heart and make me like her, who is now so much like you.” Don’t you agree? Who would be on your list?