Recently, a group of MHGS students creatively responded to the pain and brokenness of their neighborhood through an artistic expression. Blaine Hogan, an MHGS grad from the Christian Studies program, wrote a thoughtful response on about the project (reposted here).
What does it look like to respond creatively to the needs of your community? What does the Gospel look like smack dab in the middle of a broken community? Some friends of mine in Seattle are answering these questions and setting a beautiful example for us all.
If you take Aurora and head north of downtown, you are swiftly slapped in the face by the countless cockroach motels, run-down storefronts, adult entertainment venues, prostitution 鈥淲atch Area鈥� signs, and the Aurora Bridge, where over 200 hundred people have jumped to their death since its construction in 1932.
If you were to drive this painful stretch of road these days you might notice something new – bed sheets flapping about in the misty Seattle rain.
In response to the hurt they were witnessing in the neighborhood, a group of current and former students of聽 (my alma mater) began working on a public art project. White sheets with red messages of hope, declaration, and protest read: 鈥淪ex is Beautiful,鈥� 鈥淟ife is Beautiful,鈥� and 鈥淎urora Means Dawn.鈥� The group stationed one sheet on a corner in front of The Voyeur (an adult bookstore), and the other two were hung from the infamous Aurora bridge, and an overpass welcoming drivers into the area.
In addition to the sheets, the group I listed the聽,听, created a music and performance-art experience they called,听, which focused on themes of sexual exploitation, addiction, suicide, and hope.
As I read about the聽, I was struck more by what my friends聽诲颈诲苍鈥檛 do.
With a blank slate and a captive audience, they could have responded however they pleased. And yet, instead of a Christian music concert, they created an聽 that spoke specifically to their context. Instead of messages of condemnation and contempt, they wrote messages of hope and redemption.
May we all take note:聽THIS is how you respond to your community.
Some thoughts to consider:
- Are you聽listening to your community?
- Are you聽aware of what it needs?
- Do you know聽where it is hurting?
- Are you聽willing to admit you don鈥檛 yet know?
- Do you have a聽process for gleaning this information?
- Once you have listened,听how will you respond?
