The Gospel According to Marcel Duchamp

In 1917 the French artist Marcel Duchamp attempted to display a piece of art that he created under the psedonymn, R. Mutt. The title of the piece was "Fountain" and it was nothing more than a discarded urinal placed on it's side. What does this piece of ceramic trash have to do with the Gospel?

Well, in declaring this art- society found wisdom. People began to think about what it meant and how this piece was to be interpreted. Critics talked about how displaying it upside down actually made it take on new character.

That which was something for urine had turned into something that appeared in a way- like the Buddha, or the Madonna, or a shrine of some sort. People talked about how a urinal that was designed for men took on a sensual aesthetic in the way in which it was displayed. By displaying it this way it became phallic. A man's urinal now seen vaginally and sensually. They raved about it and a whole new wave of conceptual art was born thanks to Marcel Duchamp.

This piece also has been awarded an international award for the most important piece of artwork in the 20th century. Friends, we see clearly that the emperor has no clothes; but the world does not see it. We see that all of the perceived wisdom that goes into interpreting this piece (as well as much of modern and postmodern art) is nothing more than babbling and foolishness.

The wisdom of this world. It is foolishness.

Paul said to the Corinthian believers (I Cor. 3:9) that the wisdom of this world was folly to God- foolishness! The Apostle Paul also talks about another type of wisdom and another type of foolishness. In that same book he says that the world sees preaching as foolishness (Paul was even called a babbler), yet God sees it as the wisdom that he uses to save sinners, to draw sinners unto himself.

Friends, we have a choice. We have many counselors telling us what to believe. But as we consider all of the choices that we have as to which counselors we would listen to- remember this:

We can listen to the wisdom of this world, and exegete urinals, or we can listen to foolishness according to the world, and be saved. God has chosen that which is foolish to build his Church. Preaching is the wisdom of God unto salvation- and remember: It's a urinal. Period.

Everything Must Change?

A few weeks ago I was given a personal invitation to meet Brian McLaren at Baker Book House. He will be in the Grand Rapids' store on Saturday, August 16. I have read some of Brian's works and enjoy some of it and am really bothered by much of it. What bothers me the most is that a Christian leader that many-many-many generation Xers look up to has no real answers- only questions. I guess that is part of the joys of postmodernity. Quite sad really. Jesus Christ had answers, gave answers, and charged the Apostles (the ministers of the Word of the day) to have answers.

We (read: this present generation) need some answers.

Today I was in Baker Book House picking up some books. There was a giant poster of Brian meeting me at the door. The profound 'catch em' quote was this:

I've always had a propensity to think a few degrees askew from most people, especially about religion. And not only am I often unsatisfied with conventional answers, but even worse, I've consistently been unsatisfied with conventional questions.

The quote is taken from his latest-and-greatest-rock'em-sock'em-best-seller called, Everything Must Change.

Sad really. We serve a consistent God that changes not. We have a timeless and biblical religion that transcends ages. Does everything have to change?

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Here is Tim Challies review.

A little taste:
It seems increasingly clear that the new kind of Christian McLaren seeks is no kind of Christian at all. The church on the other side of his reinvention is a church devoid of the glorious gospel of Christ’s atoning death. It is a church utterly stripped of its power because it is a church stripped of the gospel message. McLaren’s new gospel is a social gospel, a liberal gospel and, in fact, no gospel at all.

Wow!

Redeemer Presbyterian Sermons

I have really enjoyed listening to Rev. Tim Keller lately. I was lent, on DVD, The Desiring God Conference, 2006, and really profited from his lecture "The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in the Postmodern World".

I have found that Redeemer Presbyterian Church has a number of his sermons here for free. (Boo to those for which they charge exorbitant amounts of money!)

I look forward to listening to some of these sermons. I would also like to read his latest book (which, of course, is whirling with controversy). But, I have little time for all of the reading that I would like to do.