Archives For Christianity

What Christians Can Learn from the Culinary Arts – #2: Celebrate Diversity

smgianotti@me.com  —  January 26, 2016

 

The last couple years, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday has made me squirm. While I love listening to King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, it’s the other dream that bothers me, God’s dream, the one in Revelation 5, that salad bowl in heaven where people of every skin tone are tossed in together and worshipping side by side. It unsettles me, because my life and church look more like a bowl of Breyer’s Cookies and Cream, light on the cookies. 

 

Photo 1452693051753 f0acd4cfe723Photo courtesy of Pumpkins via unsplash.com

 

When I listen to King’s dream, I can feel good about the fact that two of my best friends have been an African American and Korean American. I can feel proud of my great grandmother from Canada who told me how her town, one of the final stops on the underground railway, helped runaway slaves integrate into society. 

 

When I listen to God’s dream, though, I find myself asking some hard questions, like whether my mostly white church should be mostly white. Or, whether it’s enough to enjoy diversity without taking any steps to heal the racial issues in my country Continue Reading…

In A Better World, Art, Bible, Black Lives Matter, Chef, Christian, Christianity, Culinary, Diversity, Eating, Embodiment, Faith, Food, Friendship, God, Imagination, Incarnation, Jesus, Love, People, Race, Racial Issues , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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What Christians Can Learn from the Culinary Arts – #1: Beauty Matters

smgianotti@me.com  —  January 19, 2016

If someone visited the churches in your city—let’s say the Protestant ones—what would they conclude about Christians, in terms of beauty? If the sanctuaries in your city are anything like mine, they’d assume that Christians don’t care much about it.

Sure, we appreciate beauty when it crosses our path—in a song by Adele or a handmade leather wallet—but only if we have time for it. In the hierarchy of life, there are more important things—like paying our heating bills, getting the brakes fixed, and telling people about Jesus. 

Photo 1443808709349 353c8b390400Photo courtesy of Artur Rutkowski via unsplash.com

But, while we might prioritize necessity over beauty, God never does. From the beginning, he wove aesthetics into the necessity of life. His new world wasn’t just sustainable and durable, it was also beautiful. We catch glimmers of that beauty when God observes his work and calls it “good” and when Adam enthuses after seeing Eve for the first time, but we run straight into it in chapter three—at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil Continue Reading…

In Art, Beauty, Chef, Christian, Christianity, Culinary, Eating, Faith, Food, God, Jesus , , , , , , , , ,
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Field Guide to Singleness: Survival Tip #1

smgianotti@me.com  —  December 15, 2015

Tip #1: Do something unproductive, and enjoy it.

 

We’re adults now, which means we have jobs. And, unless we have the good fortune of being artists, our workplaces can suck us into the black hole of productivity. If we’re not careful, the work week (whether it comes packaged in forty, sixty, or eighty hours) can morph us into human doers—people who compulsively check our schedules while gulping down cereal and who send work emails from the bathroom at night

 

Photo 1431949662802 397529a8a873Photo courtesy of Sander Smeekes via unsplash.com

 

Lessons from the Other Half

 

The Doctrine of Productivity affects us all, but our married friends have an advantage. They go home to human beings that require them to be unproductive (a.k.a. spouses). 

 

Just think about it. If married people want to stay married, they have to invest time (and plenty of it) in rather non-productive behaviors. They have to leave work to get home for dinner. Their spouses make them put down their phones and have real conversations. They go on date nights. And, then there’s sex—which, considering the number of kids most couples have, is rather unproductive Continue Reading…

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The St. John’s Bible: Theology & Art Can Play Nice After All

smgianotti@me.com  —  December 8, 2015

I clicked delete thinking, “The bookstore is hosting an event to promote a new Bible? That sounds boring.” That’s right, I used the words “Bible” and “boring” in the same sentence. 

 

A week later, I shuffled my feet inside that same bookstore, waiting for an author to sign my book. My eyes wandered from one shelf to the next until something caught my eye on the wall. It was the painting below: 

 

Screen Shot 2015 12 05 at 6 05 06 PM Genesis 1, The St. John’s Bible, used with permission

 

Just then a clerk walked by. 

 

“What is that?” I asked, gasping for breath Continue Reading…

In Art, Beauty, Christianity, Embodiment , , , , ,
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The Space to Love You

smgianotti@me.com  —  November 24, 2015

 

Unpack my heart

      and give me room to breathe

      your true self,

for I could never

     wrap my arms around

     your whole self

or hold my breath

     and reach the bottom of

     your deep self. 

But, I can wade this moment

     in your shallows,

then spend forever venturing

     from shore.

 

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Photo courtesy of Rob Bye via StockSnap.io 

 

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FREE Advent Meditations

smgianotti@me.com  —  November 17, 2015

I didn’t grow up with Advent–except for one Christmas when mom made a wreath. I would half listen as dad read from the book of Isaiah or Matthew, mesmerized by the cadence of his voice and the flickering flames.

Then, for years, I forgot about Advent. I’d speed through each December–from one christmas party to the next, from one overpacked mall to another. Despite the glittering lights and glasses of eggnog, Christmas left me drained. That’s when I began to appreciate the gift of Advent.

15458 Worship Backgrounds

Advent invites us to reflect (rather than rush) our way through the Christmas season. But more than that, Advent helps us grasp our place in God’s story, to sense in our gut the divine timeline on which we live. During Advent, we reach back to a perfect world gone wrong and the God who descended into its chaos. With the other hand, we reach forward to a King who is returning to set everything right.

This Advent I’ve put together a series of FREE daily meditations for the mind, heart, and imagination. Each meditation includes a scripture text, work of art, and prompt for reflection. The meditations begin on December 1st and will run through the week after Christmas. See the sample meditation below Continue Reading…

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Stealing Psalm 82 for Paris

smgianotti@me.com  —  November 14, 2015

She got a call. “Your brother was at the Bataclan.” Tomorrow’s lunch is off. She won’t ever meet him for lunch again.

 

How do we make sense of such evil? How do we pray?

 

29374 Man in prayerPhoto courtesy of CreationSwap via creationwsap.com

 

Over breakfast, I read Psalm 82—a poem by King David where his trust and confusion bleed together—a space for struggling with God Continue Reading…

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How to Avoid the Unhelpful Question

smgianotti@me.com  —  November 10, 2015

There are questions worth asking in life. Did I put deodorant on? Did I forget to pay my credit card bill? Should I eat the re-fried beans considering I’m on a date? These are helpful questions.

Then, there are unhelpful questions, the king of which, in my opinion, is “Am I spiritual enough?” 

5005146417 4bd2529b9e bPhoto courtesy of Raymond Bryson via flickr.com

Nothing sucks me into a vortex quicker than The Unhelpful Question. High winds and negative pressure suck every insecurity into it’s path. It pulls up contentment by the roots. It splatters guilt everywhere. And, it keeps me spinning so fast, that I start to lose grip on reality. 

I should know better, but last week I stepped into the vortex. A friend has taken a couple months off work to Continue Reading…

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When Has God Ever Done Anything For Us?

smgianotti@me.com  —  October 20, 2015

“God’s never done anything for me,” my friend said, “so why should I do anything for him?” 

 

Her question hung in the darkness between us—her final reason for rejecting Jesus.

 

Photo 1444220451343 9fcc0681ff8dPhoto courtesy of Gudbjörn Valgeirsson via unsplash.com, edited 

 

I wonder how many other people have asked that question this week. The relatives of the five people who died, three weeks ago, in a fiery crash near my office? The friends of the massacre victims at Umpqua Community College? The millions of Syrian refugees, fleeing for their lives?

 

Our world is in bad shape. We designate times of the year to fight certain evils, but we’re running out of months. Breast cancer has to share October with domestic violence. The brokenness never ends. It can leave us asking whether God is worth following and why, for heaven’s sake, he isn’t fixing things Continue Reading…

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So We Say That We’re Christians, But What Do We Smell Like?

smgianotti@me.com  —  September 29, 2015

For some Christians, the last couple months have felt like a re-run of 127 Hours—the movie about Aron Ralson, the solo hiker who got pinned under a bolder in a Utah canyon. He survived, but only by cutting off his forearm with a pocketknife. Similarly, the legalization of same-sex marriage has left many Christians feeling pinned between two choices—lay there and watch conservative Christianity die or cutoff themselves off from culture. 

 

Thankfully, though, those aren’t our only options, because we Christians have more than knife in our pocket. We’ve got grace in there, too. 

 

Photo 1430747562296 5556d17a15a5  

To be a Christian, after all, means that we’ve stepped into God’s grace and set up home there. People should be able to smell that grace lingering on us. And, that same grace should motivate us do whatever it takes to keep the lines of communication open for the gospel. 

 

But, what if we lose our religious freedoms? What if the court had revoked Kim Davis’ title and sentenced her to jail? What if pastors who refuse to marry same-sex couples get charged with hate crimes Continue Reading…

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