Been a while since I posted here, but I wanted to update you all, so that if any of you are wondering where I’ve gone, you can get the lowdown right here. But first to what got me inspired enough to post again in the first place...
Sexuality and gender
Sexuality and gender are hot topics and it’s becoming increasingly unpopular to hold traditional, Biblical values around them.
We recently attended an online presentation through our church by an author who was discussing their PhD with young adults at church. What became clear is how challenging it is to not simply to adopt the culture of our day, yet still love those we disagree with and accept we may be ridiculed and even hated for not reflecting society.
Art Dealing with Past Pandemics
In the weekend paper (yes they still exist), I read an article about a much broader topic, discussing Visual Art by John McDonald, on the happy subject of how people have dealt with widespread death during pandemics (SMH, Spectrum, October 9-10, 2021). In ‘Mortal Masquerade’ he traces how in past pandemics of the middle ages and beyond, art has confronted death and literally depicted humanity as having a ‘danced with death’. Clergy preached judgement and called for repentance. Artists painted skeletons dancing joyfully while the living looked on unwittingly or mournfully. It’s grim but playful, poetic and poignant, powerful and prophetic.
But then John turns to the current pandemic, with Covid 19 noting how there are still depictions of skeletons but no dancing, and here’s his interpretation of why:
“Despite the perpetual furore generated by religion, the virus reveals the thoroughly secular nature of the developed world. We are not throwing ourselves on God’s mercy and embracing fate but resisting the very notion of death…as a society begins to believe in its own perfection it wants less and less to do with this intractable subject. When death comes knocking on the door and invites us to dance, we pretend there’s nobody at home”, (SMH, Spectrum, Mortal Masquerade, October 9-10, 2021).
In other words, art previously highlighted how close we are to death all the time, but especially during pandemics. People carried on, even partied on, sometimes oblivious or in direct refusal to recognize death’s proximity. But the prophets still spoke: this ‘dance’ was painted, drawn, etched, whereas today, it is noticeably absent.
Dancing with Death or Avoiding it?
People just don’t want to go there.
The big D.
Even Christians.
We don’t want to pray that prayer…we prefer to rely on the science and wait the worst of this out.
Even in my own discussions and prayers with other Christians, I’ve felt an avoidance to go there, to discuss mortality, to dance with death.
I guess you could say that the song written during 2020, ‘Jesus Don’t You Care?’ by Skito, was my ‘dance with death’. In fact, all the pandemic inspired videos series, ‘Freedom from Fear’, ‘Coping with Covid’ and more were my attempts to satirise, dialogue and engage with this incredibly disruptive, and life-threatening time.
I’m not saying I’m some kind of hero.
And my videos and ‘art’ could always do with higher production values.
Nonetheless, my own experience of writing and performing these shows, videos and songs on the pandemic, across 2020, bares out what McDonald is suggesting. Society in general is not willing to engage with death; convinced of our invincibility, science will lead us through, isolate and wait it out. No need to entertain the skeleton in the closet.
Perhaps, instead of listening to the pandemic and taking death on a tango, as we rightly should under the resurrected Lord, we as Christian people are silently sipping the secular cool aid; we are swimming with the secular current.
Maybe we just don’t think it’s that bad…
Maybe we need a LOT more death, like the middle-ages before we yield.
But maybe we hear, ‘Peace, peace’, when there is no peace?
“In the Middle Ages, people lived with death and thought about it every day, but today we put it out of our minds wishing it go away”
Dance with Death
Have we been sipping the secular cool-aid?
As our presenter on sexuality and gender described…we are swimming in waters that are foreign, even hostile to Christianity and the Bible. We need to be aware and not simply float on its current or drink it.
On You Tube right now, Anton’s Antics has several series of videos that directly engage with the pandemic and the subject of death.
Freedom From Fear (4 videos)
Follow Jesus in Mark’s gospel chapter 4 and 5 as he faced down life threatening situations and even death, calling for us to not be afraid but have faith in him.
Fame (4 videos) Jesus in John’s gospel chapters 13-21, shows us what our biggest disease is and how he will give up his life to give us a deep clean and make us new again.
Is ‘*’ All Bad? (4 videos) reflect on our behaviour during the early stages of the pandemic to understand our flaws and find better grounds for living in Jesus.
You Are Here (8 videos) – this series puts our ears down to the ground so we can hear what the pandemic is saying about us and how Scripture can lead us forward.
Coping with Covid (4 videos) – a series that tunes into the emotional ups and downs of living with lockdowns and restrictions and finds a Scriptural foundation for dealing with them.
And finally, don’t miss Skito’s great new song and its accompanying music video:
Now that you've read my vented spleen, the real question now is, 'do you care?'