Culture Space#SHCulture: The Unbeatable Son

Image Source: The Worship Cloud

Culture SpaceThe Unbeatable Son

Social Media & Online Learning, CODECDirector, Digital FingerprintT: @drbexlW: drbexl.co.uk

Dr Bex Lewis

Writer, Speaker, BroadcasterT: @sheridanvoyseyW: sheridanvoysey.com

Sheridan Voysey

IntroducingSheridan Voysey

Writer, Speaker, BroadcasterT: @sheridanvoysey

F: /sheridanvoyseyW: sheridanvoysey.com

IntroducingDr Bex Lewis

Research Fellow in Social Media & Online Learning

CODEC, St John’s College, DurhamDirector, Digital Fingerprint

T: @drbexlF: /drbexl

W: drbexl.co.uk

I believe in Jesus Christ

The Incarnation: Redeeming Spaces

“I wonder if a lot of our culture hasn’t become about reaching a bar that we can’t possibly reach. I wonder if we’ve screwed ourselves over to be able to find real happiness.”

@anya_katie, on http://www.threadsuk.com/my-addiction/

http://imgur.com/LtpCezP

I share, therefore I am

Sherry Turkle, psychologist and MIT professor of Social Studies of Science and Technology.

Today we’re in the process of rewriting these sociological chapters, one I would title The Presentation of Self in Digital Life, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Post on Facebook. We no longer just wake up and brush our hair to try and look presentable in the morning; we also have to groom our virtual selves as well—albeit an often Photoshopped version.http://www.wired.com/cs/promo/blogs/changeaccelerators/2011/09/21/how-social-networking-is-extending-our-nervous-system/

You know the sense that nowadays we always need to be improving ourselves – getting fitter, thinner, more skilled, less stressed. Society seems to have a compulsive need to see us constantly bettering ourselves. Someone argued that humanity has become nothing other than a resource to be updated.

@pmphillips

Renfrew Center SurveyFebruary 2014 (1)

“All this taking and posting photos has become an obsession of sorts. We feel pressured to edit and alter our images so we look like what we think of as our ‘best selves’ instead of our real selves”, said Adrienne Ressler, Vice President, Professional Development, The Renfrew Center Foundation, and renowned body image expert. renfrewcenter.com/news/afraid-be-your-selfie-survey-reveals-most-people-photoshop-their- images

Renfrew Center SurveyFebruary 2014 (2)

“The concern is that these social media habits can fuel negative self-esteem or body image issues, setting the stage for addictions or other destructive behaviors such as eating disorders. The high is never high enough, the scale is never low enough and the image posted on social media is never good enough.” renfrewcenter.com/news/afraid-be-your-selfie-survey-reveals-most-people-photoshop-their-images

Facebook Depression?

Some teenagers would say we have to get a grip on this: “My life looks better on the Internet than it does in real life. Everyone’s life looks better on the Internet than it does in real life. The Internet is partial truths – we get to decide what people see and what they don’t.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRlpIkH3b5I

Susan Sontag (2001) “One of the tasks of photography is to disclose, and shape our sense of, the variety of the world. It is not to present ideals. There is no agenda except diversity and interestingness. There are no judgments, which of course is itself a judgment… The camera shows us many worlds, and the point is that all the images are valid.”http://tapera.info/textos/Sontag1.http://tapera.info/textos/Sontag1.pdf

http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/press-releases/oxford-dictionaries-word-of-the-year-2013

What does it mean to share with grace?

Image Source: The Worship Cloud

https://www.dropbox.com/s/804rdix88kjcxgr/Screenshot%202014-02-28%2000.24.33.https://www.dropbox.com/s/804rdix88kjcxgr/Screenshot%202014-02-28%2000.24.33.png

Discuss•If we are the face of God in the world, how do we redeem our cultural spaces?

•How do we balance authenticity with presenting ourselves in the media?

•What do you stand FOR, rather than against?

The Crucifixion: Redeeming Brokenness

I believe in Jesus Christ

turnbacktogod.com/jesus-pictures-my-good-shepherd/

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Discussion… What’s wrong with kitsch Jesus?

I believe in Jesus Christ…He suffered… was crucified… buried

Proclaiming Kitsch Jesus…Robs Jesus of his uniqueness

Proclaiming Kitsch Jesus…Robs Jesus of his uniquenessRobs Christianity of credibility

Discussion… How can suffering communicate the character of

God (give examples)

The Resurrection: Recreation

Crouch: Postures Towards Culture

•Condemnation: this group just dismisses popular or secular culture as sinful.

•Critique: this group, a la Francis Schaeffer, evaluates culture, probing its worldview.

•Copying: after Schaeffer, evangelicals began simply copying pop culture. CCM was one prominent result.

•Consumption: today, however, most evangelicals are avid consumers of secular and pop culture.

Summarised by Mark Ward Jnr

Creating Culture, Andy Crouch

The postures of the artist and the gardener have a lot in common. Both begin with contemplation, paying close attention to what is already there. The gardener looks carefully at the landscape; the existing plants, both flowers and weeds; the way the sun falls on the land. The artist regards her subject, her canvas, her paints with care to discern what she can make with them.

Culture Making (31%)

But we must reclaim the cultural mandate to be the creative cultivators that God designed us to be. Culture is what we make of the world, both in creating cultural artifacts as well as in making sense of the world around us. By making chairs and omelets, languages and laws, we participate in the good work of culture making.Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling

Andy Crouch

Image Source: Andy Crouch Blog

Generally, old media don't die. They just have to grow old gracefully. Guess what, we still have stone masons. They haven't been the primary purveyors of the written word for a while now of course, but they still have a role because you wouldn't want a TV screen on your headstone.The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Future

Douglas Adams

Image Source: Wikipedia

REVELATION 21:1

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

But a large number of them have never heard the name of Jesus Christ in any form but profanity, have never opened a Bible or heard a Bible story, and have no idea of the Judeo-Christian heritage of our western culture.

Just Leave God Out Of It, p18

Tim Riter/David Timms

SeparatistsConformistsThe Journey Towards Relevance

Kary Oberbrunner

What universities and the media teach today, we have to live with tomorrow. The students go on to write newspapers and write soap operas. Scientific research done on the basis of theory that would raise the eyebrows of many cannot be undone.

Meltdown: Making Sense of a Culture in Crisis

Marcus Honeysett

#SH2014 THEME GUIDE

“We cannot make up a Jesus to suit our culture or water down who Jesus is to make him more acceptable to those around us.”

Practicing Resurrection

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shane-claiborne/practicing-resurrection-t_b_1443621.html

The Christianity of private piety, affluent conformity, and only “God bless America” has compromised the witness of the church while putting a new generation of Christians to sleep. Defining faith by the things you won’t do or question does not create a compelling style of life.

Irresistible Revolution (Foreword)

Jim Wallis

Discuss•How can we bring resurrection to our cultural spaces?

•Think about ‘friendship’ in a digital age. How can we bring resurrection in a world that encourages ‘friendship clearouts’?

•How does this translate to ‘mission’?

#SHCulture Challenge…

•Look around you, and identify something ‘waiting for resurrection’

•Capture a photo and share via Twitter or Instagram