Dear Friends,
I have a confession to make: I spend too much time on TikTok.
To be fair, I’m in my early 30s. I’m hardly alone in this, especially demographically speaking. But pre-pandemic, if you had asked me about TikTok, I’d have told you I was too old to understand that app. That had certainly been my experience with Snapchat and with Vine before that. And, sure, there’s plenty I don’t understand. But there are plenty of rabbit holes on that app that I delight in, and it’s brought some real joy into my life (including a local second-hand craft supply store). And one of the things it’s brought to my life is a lot of process art, particularly care of the delightful Andrea Nelson.
Professionally, Andrea creates delightful watercolor animals with a signature playful style, but on TikTok, Andrea loves to offer her followers options for all-ages, process over product activities - for “kids and not-kids.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about process art lately, and how this concept fits into my work in the church. Godly Play is so enormously about process, after all. But really, almost nothing about our faith lives is about product, no matter how much the ways of the world would try to make it so. When I think about things like saying the Daily Office or being part of a larger community, though, it’s the showing up that counts. It’s the constantly grappling. It’s the exploration.
One of Andrea’s favorite materials in her process art and in some of her more concrete works as well, is something she calls “goth glue” - it’s just black paint mixed into school glue. This creates boundaries and adds a tactile element to the work. And I’ve gotten it into my head that I really want to make some goth glue and use some to make a watercolor labyrinth. That’s a project for this weekend, perhaps. I’ve got everything I need. I’ll keep you posted!
Encouraging Process
As I play in the space of process art, I am excited about the ways process art might be an avenue for prayer and intergenerational formation. I’ve written about Sybil MacBeth’s Praying in Color here before, which is absolutely a process-based practice, but how else can we encourage process over product in our faith lives? How often do we build our ministry priorities end up pushing a product over a God-focused process?
One of my dear friends with deep Montessori roots, often talks about flower arranging. It’s a popular work option for young children (and a suitable one for Godly Play, particularly through its links to the altar/flower guilds), but it was one that did flummox me when I was first told about it. Unlike pouring or polishing activities, my brain simply couldn’t see the use. I was focused on the product – and as an adult who hasn’t arranged flowers since a friend’s wedding about a decade ago, I didn’t see why we would offer such an activity. It’s how we’ve been taught to think, but it’s the wrong object of our attention.
We don’t pray or sing hymns with a product in mind. And while there are things I hope my Sunday School students understand, each week in the classroom, I am thinking about process, about exploration, about curiosity. I want to see what attracts the children’s attention, how they play with ideas and language. Because play is the work of the child, and our youngest community members are the least inculcated into our cultural focus on product. Let’s protect that. And let’s draw closer to the process moments in our own lives, and the peace those moments offer.
Finally, one of the benefits of process is how much closer it is to rest it is compared to product-focused work. Process is a place where we can relax, where we are enough. My brilliant Jewish liturgist friend wrote this song about Rest to go with her latest chapbook by the same name, and it’s a reminder of how beloved we are in that place of rest.
God calls us home and into rest. Let us create for its own sake, to the glory of God. It does not need to be beautiful or accurate or any of those other standards we hold ourselves to. It just needs to be to the Glory of God, creative play to a tune only our hearts know.
What I’m Working On
I’ve got a new post up at Grow Christians on the Feast of Saint Matthew, which was yesterday!
I’m doing final revisions on a book review (part of my creative-professional life) that should run next week.
Fall weather is arriving, and I’m thinking about baking gluten free sourdough again, which was one of my early pandemic projects. It’s a practice with a rhythm, and one that’s deeply grounding.
We’re having a ministry fair at my church soon! How do you introduce young people and newcomers to the good works that make our communities possible?
I continue the work of becoming a Godly Play trainer. This weekend will be my last Zoom session with my cohort before we come together in person next month!
Tell me what’s bringing you joy or frustration or sparking your imagination. We are people in process in a world that demands a particular product. Let us not give way, but seek refuge with the One Who Created All Things.
Peace,
Bird