Arts Conference First Thoughts

For the Arts Conference at Peace Presbyterian Church, I'll be doing a short workshop on Architecture - "Faith and Your Daily Commute." Following are some loose thoughts:

1. Isaiah describes a new heavens and a new earth. We're not escaping the world. We're not removed from the world. Our communities deserve more than to be ignored. The earth isn't bad, though it's fallen.

2. I've been studying mercy, but practicing Architecture. What is the relationship? How does one affect another?

3. Many parts of the this talk will be contraversial. Most of my colleagues won't agree with me. My pastor agrees with me, so we'll be encouraged by that. [I plan to have a response card for people to describe where they disagree before they walk out. It could have three strikes that people could write down as I talk. We could talk about some afterwords, but mostly it's for me to develop my thoughts better.]

4. "For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer." 1 Timothy 4:4; MT 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

When we start to look at our communities and our highways, we need first to be thankful. Second, we need to remember that people are involved. We can see character in the uniquities and eccentricities caused by materials, limits, and time.

5. Read Your Downtown:
Architecture, Faith, and Your Daily Commute
Connect these dots: - God’s qualities are understood from what has been made and men are without excuse; - God creates man in His image; - Man creates Crossroads Shopping Center.
In the same way we can know God through His word and His creation, do we reflect our image of God in the environment we create around us? This workshop encourages you to watch the built environment that surrounds you. How do structures and roadways reflect our community? What is the nature of brick, EIFS, and shrubbery? Best case, this workshop spurs conversation, activism, evangelism, and the cure for modernism. Worst case, we all get to watch a lot of slides with no people and go home. Either way, we may step into a brave old world of Beauty on an urban scale.

6. Show photos of downtowns - have people guess where they are and give them points: 1 point for guessing the city, two points for naming the street.

7. Show photos of Cary - what is happening at these intersections? Why are the buildings being hid? Why are gas stations being hid? What is this about?