Prague Stories: Lives Changed

One of the things you always wonder about when you go on a trip like this is, what, honestly, are the long term outcomes from all the time (and money) invested in this trip?  Sure, it's really great to be able to travel, to see other people, to expand our understanding (intellectually and spiritually) of the world outside of our country.  It's great to see how often the people who go on missions trips come back changed in their understanding of themselves, of God, of the needs of people around the world.

But, are we having a long term impact on the people we are going to minister to?

As we were preparing for the trip this year, one thing I was looking forward to was the opportunity to back and actually see the church and people again, to talk with them, renew friendships, see what they had learned, or perhaps things they were now doing differently because of their experiences from last year.

Was the church going to be different than it was when we last saw them?

One thing which we had not heard much about after our previous time there was if there were any actual people who had come to put their trust in Christ because of contact with the team (both the artists and the church) during the 2012 OM Arts outreach.  What we discovered was that there were several new individuals and families who had started coming to the church.  One couple in particular was a testimony to the transforming work of Christ.  The wife had been coming to the church, but the husband was definitely not interested.  He was bound to substance abuse, drugs, alcohol, and was selling drugs from their house.

However, he was intrigued by the idea of a bunch of artists coming from America to meet people in the Czech Republic, and agreed to come.  After several conversations with the artists and church team, the Holy Spirit began to work in his heart, and a short time after the outreach, he gave his heart to Jesus.  Since then, he has been freed from his bondage to substances, and has become an active and enthusiastic member of the church there.  Both of them were actively involved in the outreach this year, talking with people and sharing their own story of redemption.

So, not exactly thousands rushing to come forward, but in hard ground like this, it's real, long term fruit.

Prague Stories: On the Metro

Sketching

One of the things we spent lots of time doing every day was traveling back and forth between our hotel and either the outreach location or the church.  Prague, as do many other European cities, has an excellent system of subways, trams and buses.  We were able to purchase 30-day unlimited passes, which meant we could hop on any public transit at any time of day, and travel pretty much anywhere in the city.

Still, it was a couple of hours of travel time each day!  In order to not waste time, one of my favorite things to do was to pull out the sketch book and draw, usually picking different people on the subway.  Of course, it was a little tricky trying to look at people—trying to not look like I was looking at them­—and sketch them before they moved!

Oh, and I had to make sure I paid just enough attention to where we were to not miss the station where we had to get off!

Prague (October 4) - Wrap up

October 4

Friends...

No surprise -- saying goodbye is always hard.  It was interesting to see how each member on the team did their goodbyes in their own unique way.  Most of the members are home by now (we stayed a couple of extra days to spend with Sue's family here), and a couple of them were still struggling with illness on the trip home, but they've made it safely, and are beginning the task of re-integrating.

I was sick again and missed the last day of the outreach (Saturday) which turned out to be sunny and relatively warm.  There were more conversations, and several on the team were able to finish up pieces they were working on.  Throughout the week, we had been collecting names in a big jar for a give-away on the last day, so on Saturday, the church team was able to pick out names to give away various pieces that we had worked on over the last two weeks.  Unfortunately, my pottery pieces hadn't been fired yet, so we couldn't give away any of those.  However, there were a lot of people who received artwork, and they were all very happy!  For some of the pieces, the artist was able to give a description of what the piece meant, and have a photo with the winner.

Then, off to Japan, Korea, Atlanta and South Carolina... and Poděbrady.  We were picked up by Sue's cousin Frank at the hotel to spend a few more days with them before returning.  Last year, we spent a LOT of time driving all over the Czech Republic, visiting castles, museums, art galleries, ruins and natural sites.  This year, we did a little driving around, but we wanted to spend more time with family and less time on the road.  We were able to visit with one of Frank's daughters and her two teenagers.  Their town has been in existence for 700 years, and I'm not sure how old the house itself is.  They live in a valley surrounded by limestone cliffs.  Some of the cliffs are directly behind their house, and they have caves carved directly into the stone.

We also met with two local pastors here in Poděbrady.  It is great to be able to visit with local pastors, since it gives us a chance to begin to build bridges with the local church here, which opens doors to more cooperation in the future.

We are now packing up to head home again.  Pray that we can keep our luggage under the weight limit.  Pray especially for our time through JFK airport.  I've heard that making your way through the lines in customs can take more than two hours!!

  Blessings!

Prague (September 28) - Last Day in the Tents

September 26

Sunshine!

Well, woke up to cold, but sunny weather today.  High around 56°F, with the low supposed to drop to around 39° tonight.  Yesterday (Friday) was partly cloudy during the day, and we had lots of good interactions with people. However, we have found that, as soon as the sun starts dipping toward the horizon, the temperatures drop very quickly!

Well, good news is that Sue, after missing one day due to the nasty stomach flu she had, is feeling well enough to go in today.  Bad news is that I seem to have caught the bug from her.  Last night was rough -- I don't even remember the last time I was so sick with a stomach bug -- and today I'm the one staying home to rest.  It's really hard missing the last day of the outreach and the time with the team, especially since the sky is finally clearing up, but I guess my job today is primarily to pray for the rest of the team as they are standing up, giving the Good News!  It's a little after 2:00PM (14:00) here, and at least I'm finally feeling strong enough to sit up for a while and gingerly try to eat a little bit.

Another Story: I spoke with one young man yesterday.  He is one of the security guards from the Tesco store we are in front of, and his curiosity finally got the better of him so he wandered over to see what was going on.  He was fascinated with the sculptures, and especially the images of "Hope" and "Faith".  He is a student of photography, and he was telling me of a film project which he and some of his classmates had created, centered around the theme of "Hope".  Like many others we have met there, he has a vague belief in "God" and trying to follow God in being good, and a feeling of hope which that belief brings, but no specific foundation for that hope.  I was able to use the images which the team had created earlier in the week to tell him WHY it is we have hope in Christ, that it is through Christ's blood that we have a reason for hope.  He was a bit frustrated struggling with his English, but I think we were still able to have a basic understanding.  In times like this, you rarely have a clear "breakthrough", but I'm just thankful for the opportunity to sow some more seeds into people's lives

Blessings!

Prague (September 26) - Stories

September 26

Another day at the outreach.  One down side today -- after being the ONLY one on the team who hadn't been sick, Sue finally succumbed to some sort of stomach "glick".  She was terribly sick all night, and stayed home to rest for the day.  She is feeling a bit better tonight, but still exhausted and dehydrated, so you can please pray for her to have a lot better night tonight, and even be rested and recovered enough to go on the outreach tomorrow.

(Weather is still... well... weird.  We had heavy overcast and sprinkling rain in the morning, then nice sunshine and somewhat warmer in the afternoon, followed by a sudden drop in temperature and rain at the end of the day.  Needless to say, it's just plain exhausting to be out in that kind of cold, but the team is still pushing on, and we are still seeing people come by to see the art, and to talk with the team.)

Martin (Czech) and Momoe (Japan)

One story:  One of our objectives when we are on an OM Arts trip is to interact with local artists in the areas where we visit.  There was one Christian artist here who was able to take time off from his job to spend about a week worth of time with us.  Yesterday, I was able to spend some more time with him, as he showed me some of his unique drawing style with Ink and a bamboo pen.  His style is more abstract than I am used to, and his English was spotty (well, it was still a LOT better than my Czech language skills, so I'm not one to complain!) but we were able to learn a great deal from each other.  He has an amazing testimony which he was able to share with me as we painted together -- with years of addictions and trouble, and then 17 years ago, coming to a point where he gave his life to Jesus, and saw an incredible, miraculous transformation in his life.  He now does artistic design work.  Today, as this was his last day with us, the team presented him with a special sketch book which we had decorated, and each member had written or painted or drawn in with words of encouragement.  It was wonderful to be able to pray blessings over him and his work as he left to return to his home and job.

(Martin also gave me one of his bamboo pens to keep, so I may be posting some new photos of my excursions into pen-and-ink! ;-))

Prague (September 24) - Back in Action Again

September 24

Tuesday, and we were all back in action again on the outreach.  There are still some coughs and sniffles, but everyone is back at least healthy enough to participate.  (Oh, and we've discovered that the Japanese have REALLY good cold medications!! ;-))

Monday was a rest day, so we actually spent the time going around Old Town in Prague, seeing the huge variety of historical buildings and sites around the center of the city.  It gave us a chance to see some of the background of the Czech Republic, its history and some of the reasons why the Czech culture is the way it is.

The Bullet Never Fired

For me, the most touching point was in the National Museum, seeing a large black display with a round window in the front, about two feet across.  Inside the box, displayed like you might expect to see some precious diamond, was a single bullet.  At the top of the display was a short video, looping between Czech and English, explaining the significance of the bullet.  This was "The Bullet Never Fired," commemorating the division of Czechoslovakia into two nations -- the Czech Republic and Slovakia -- without a single bullet being fired.  To me, this is a testimony to the people of this nation, and their will to settle serious national disputes without bloodshed or violence.  It is a legacy they can be proud of.

One of Sue's proud students

We were back in the tents again today.  The morning was cloudy and threatening rain again, but it held off, and actually turned a little sunny by the end of the day.  We were able to interact with more people coming in and out of the shopping center.  I had some kids at my clay table -- they always love the clay -- and I know the church people were sharing the Gospel.  The language barrier still makes it difficult for us to get into good conversations, but we are able to interact with people.  It is VERY encouraging to be feeling healthy again.  The team, both the artists and the church people, has been great.

Blessings!

Prague (September 15) - Sunday

   (oops... slightly out of order....)

September 15

Church today!

  Today was the first opportunity to meet with the whole congregation from Pastor Oleg's church.  Another hour or so on three different metro lines and the bus, and we were back at the church.  It was wonderful to be able to greet many of the people we had worked with last year, and see some of the art pieces that we had left there.  (They were showing off Sue's quilt that she made last year, which they still have in the children't area.)  We also got to see the new Kindergarten which the church is starting.  Sue was able to give her testimony in the morning.  The service was about two hours (short by some standards), and between the three languages, pretty mentally tiring, but a great encouragement, as the church was praying for us and blessing us.

  We were then invited to attend a second church in the afternoon, led by Pastor Oleg's father.  I really shouldn't have been surprised, but they caught me a little off guard when they asked if I wanted to preach... with just a couple minutes notice.  I wasn't ready to give an entire sermon, but I was able to give my testimony and an encouragement.  (Yes, I am thankful for all those years of training in Toastmasters!)  Again, it was very mentally tiring sitting trying to filter through three different languages, but a wonderful opportunity to have the church praying for us, to encourage the congregation to participate with us in the outreach, so re-connect with many of the people we had worked along side of last year, and of course, to be fed all the wonderful Czech and Russian snacks and pastries that they fed us afterwords....  ;-)

  You can continue to pray for preparations for the outreach.  We are still praying and seeking the Holy Spirit together to form a common vision or theme -- not something that would force us down a common path artistically, but a focal point which we could branch out from.

  Continue to pray for our location, as the church will be setting up the tents for the outreach starting on Tuesday.  These are much lighter weight tents than last year, so pray we don't have a lot of windy weather!

  Pray for the two churches as people are making plans to participate -- handing out fliers, coffee, cakes, talking with people, interpreting for us as we talk with people, and generally reaching out to their friends and neighbors here in this area.  Pray for them for boldness, faith and a deep sense of love for each other and for those around them who have no hope...

  Blessings!

Prague (September 20) - Day 4

September 20

At work...

We are beginning day 4 of the actual outreach.  Please pray for the weather!  The first three days have been cold rain, and very few people.  Yesterday, we had a little sunshine, but then high winds and hail! Several team members have been down sick (I actually spent the entire day Thursday in bed with a cold).  It's been cold, cold, cold.  Pray for team health!  I'm a lot better than yesterday, but still have a nasty cough.

Team spirits have still been pretty good, and the church people are, as always, wonderful, but we really want to speak with some of the people!

A local christian artist, by the name of Martin, has also joined the team for a couple of days.  I'm looking forward to meeting him (since I was not there yesterday) and learning from his wisdom regarding how the Czech people react to art.

Just a quick update...

We've had much better health on the team. I wasn't at 100%, but felt a LOT better today. I was actually was able to do a workshop for a few people.

It was still raining a lot during the day,but with breaks of sunshine, and not so cold and windy. (No hail today. :-))

We were able to meet more people today and had some good conversations. Some people know English well enough to converse, but some just a little, and the people from the church could talk with them.

Pray for our Sunday, since I have been asked to preach in the morning. Seems like this is very common when visiting. I have some things I have been praying about saying, but need to pull it together.

Blessings!

Prague (September 19) - An Inauspicious Birthday

September 19

Well, my turn to be sick at home today... on my birthday.  This cold has been going around the team, and yesterday, it caught up with me.  The team is great though.  When one person goes down, the rest of the team just tells them to take the day off to rest, and then picks up the slack and carries on.

While it wasn't much fun to spend my birthday in bed, the team definitely didn't forget me.  When they came home in the evening, they brought the cake which some of the church team had baked for me.  They, of course, had started in to it during the day, but there was plenty for me to enjoy when they got back, and we all sat in the lounge in the restaurant for a while.  Sue even bought me a nice hat and brought it for me.  The maître d' in the restaurant, when she heard it was my birthday, came out and gave me a traditional shot glass of plumb brandy, which definitely helped my throat!

So, in spite of being sick for the day, I ended up having a very nice birthday.

Birthday cake, and tissues...

Prague (September 17) - Outreach!

September 17

FIRST OUTREACH DAY!

Moving a car, Czech style

Today was the first day we actually spent out in the tents, doing art and starting conversations with people.  We arrived early in the morning to set up the three tents, only to find that the place set up for us in the parking lot was completely different from what we were expecting.  After some talks with the store managers, we were able to get things straightened out, but only after getting some of the cars parked there moved.

I was glad I was there helping with the tents, since they were exactly the same design as the "Easy-Up" tents I've used at several shows, only instead of 10' x 10', these were 10' x 20' (technically, 3m x 6m).

Rain won't stop us!

The morning was cold and on-and-off raining.  High was 11°C (51°F), and that was when the sun came out in the afternoon!  Nevertheless, we started working on different pieces.  There weren't a lot of people stopping by, but hopefully, once we get things going a little better and have some art for people to actually see, and the weather turns a little warmer again, we will see more people.

Keep praying for heath.  Of the two Amys, the one who was sick earlier stayed home today (since it was so cold we didn't want her to get sick again), and the second Amy had a really bad upset stomach!

Pray for warmer, more inviting weather, and for people to see what we are doing and feel curious and stop by.
Pray for meaningful conversations with people.
We will be starting the free art workshops later in the week, so pray those go well, and that many people will be interested enough to come back.

Prague (September 14) - Planning

September 14

Well, we have a LOCATION, and I have clay!

Yesterday (Friday), one of our major goals was to get to the art store to pick up supplies.  We were also able to spend more time together to get to know each other as a team.  I got out my Super Sculpy (polymer clay), and started working on that.

Today was a lot of planning.  We just met with the Pastor Oleg and the main people from his church who are working on the outreach.  We are going to be a little further outside of the center of Prague, in front of one of the large shopping centers, just a few kilometers from the church we are working with.  We finalized some of our supplies (we found that they HAD saved most of the supplies we had left with them when we finished last year), and did some more planning.  It was interesting trying to do "brainstorming" in two (or possibly three) different languages, but we came up with some good ideas on how to set up the tents (three smaller tents this year, instead of one larger tent like we had last year) and organize the program.

Definitely you can pray for:
  -- flexibility, as many of the things we did last year have to be done differently this year.  God knows what He is doing!
  -- for one of the team members who is struggling with either allergies or a nagging cold.  She seems to be getting better, but she is definitely dragging.  Pray for the whole team for health!
  -- for church service on Sunday (tomorrow).  They would like us to give testimonies, so pray for the right words to say.
  -- for the final details on the contract on the location.  There was a line in there about not being able to distribute fliers, which is obviously not good, since that's one of the main activities - inviting people to the church.  Pastor Oleg believes he has an understanding with the store owners, but he wants to be sure he has it in writing.
  -- for good WEATHER.  We have tents, so we won't get rained out, but it's hard to attract people when it's raining out.

Prague (September 12) - Getting Set

September 12

Well, we are here in Prague.  Yesterday was getting over jet-lag and waiting for team members to arrive from their different countries.  We now have our six members, as well as Pastor Oleg, and Pavel, who is the Czech field leader for OM.

Today we went to the location where we will be doing the outreach. Pastor Oleg was not able to get permission from the city to set up in the square downtown where we were last year, so he has arranged to set up the same tent as we used near one of the shopping centers a little further out of Prague, but much closer to where their church is. Of course, we're anxious to see what it's like there, and what people we will have going past. I'm a little disappointed that we can't go to the same square as last hear (and hopefully see some of the same people as we talked to last time), but the Lord has HIS reasons for why He has planted us in this new location.

The team is coming together well. We have quite a variety of people on the team from around the world. We have yet to really see much of each other's work, aside from photos on iPhones, but hopefully soon.... Tomorrow I *really* hope to get my hands on some clay! I'm starting to get fidgety without getting my hands in the mud!

The Team

Blessings!

Prague (September 11) - Security Lines.

(I am working on re-publishing our updates from when Sue and were in the Czech Republic.  Originally in Facebook and Emails but collected together here...)

September 11

In Prague! Got in a few hours ago, so we've had a little time to unpack and rest a little. This is basically a "catch up" day as various team members get here at different times.
Note to self: do NOT oil the sewing machine Sue is carrying just before heading through airport security. The mineral oil sets off all the chemical sensors! Ugh....  Spend better part of an hour watching Sue get two entire pat-downs in the security line, and her luggage gone through several inspections.

But, what does it MEAN?

One of the interesting things I've noticed when looking at art with some of my non-artist friends, especially when looking at more abstract art, is the tendency of those friends to ask, "But, what does it mean?"

Now, in their defense, these friends really are trying to understand what they are looking at. They squint and turn their head sideways, trying to find something in the piece that they can recognize or connect to. Sometimes I try to tell them that a piece doesn't necessarily have to "mean" something, or that the "meaning" may be something that isn't necessarily describable in words per-say, but I'm not helped by the fact that some "art critic" somewhere has gone to endless lengths to describe in great intellectual detail what this or that artist is "saying" through the blobs of color splattered across the canvas.

However, the more I think about the "meaning" of art, the more I believe that we are asking entirely the wrong question.

To assign a meaning to a piece of art is to assume that the work has a narrative, and more important, that the narrative is fixed in time, that the artist understood that narrative, and that he or she intended to communicate that narrative to us, the viewer. However, real art isn't fixed in time. It is certainly a product of the historical context from which it was forged, but if it has any real worth, the work has to be able to speak to all time, and perhaps to all people. In addition, each person's response to the work will be colored by that individual's experience, history, story, perspective, emotional stability, what they ate for breakfast that morning, and a thousand other factors.

On the flip side, some people would claim that there is no true "meaning" to a work of art, and that it is completely subjective, based on the viewer's interpretation. I think this fails on the basis that it denies any participation from the artist, the person from who's imagination the work sprang. Intentionally or unintentionally, the artist has put some sort of thought, emotion, symbolism, or intent into the piece. They may not even be conscious of the messages (there are always more than one) in the piece, but they are there nevertheless.

I believe that the better way to think about the content, or message of a piece is to think in terms of intent and response.

An artist always has an intent when he or she begins to work with a piece. That intent may shift over time. It may have different levels of conscious or unconscious input. It may be dark and deeply meaningful, or light and playful. The intent will depend on the artist's world view, their experience, issues that they are familiar with, things they see around them and their response to the natural and man-made world. They will fold the things that make them happy, the things that make them sad, things that make them angry, things that make them afraid, things that give them hope, all the things that shape their lives, and which artists have learned to recognize and reflect on... and make them a part of their creation.

But then, no work of art exists entirely on its own. It's not really art until someone (presumably someone other than just the artist) looks at or experiences the work. When someone experiences the work, they will have a response. The response will be on different levels -- emotional, intellectual, spiritual, physical, and as I described above, will depend on a host of different personal attributes that they bring to the piece. Their response may change over time as they experience a piece more than once. The response may be conscious or unconscious. The important part is that the response is personal, and that it is true, in the sense that it is true for that individual

The interesting part is that, these two may, or may not overlap.  I suppose that most artists measure the success of their work by the degree to which these two do overlap, but perhaps the real measure of a work is the extent to which it speaks beyond the original vision of its creator, and touches many different people in many different ways.

The critical idea is that neither of these sides are the only truth. We cannot deny the part of the artist and what he or she intends for the work. The artist may choose to give the work a title, or other descriptive text, to signal some part of that intent, or at least what the were thinking about when they created the piece, or they may leave the work untitled, depending on the piece itself to communicate their intent. On the side of the observer, their response to the work goes far beyond "understanding" what the artist was trying to say. Just as some people laugh at the sight of a circus clown, while others cover their eyes and run away, responses can be wildly different. However, whatever the response is, the piece has done its job of speaking to them, to their imagination, their emotion, their physical body and to their intellect, and in that sense, is true.

Of course, that still may not help my poor friend standing there in front of the painting, trying to figure out what it means....  :-P

Development of the Artist

One of those late at night ideas bumping around in my brain, which I wanted to get down before it evaporated....

It struck me that people go through a number of stages/seasons/steps as they start to grapple with what it means to be an artist. These stages aren't really well defined, and have a lot of overlap, but I think they still map a definite progression in both the individual's understanding of their call, and of how other people begin to see them:

(1) Enthusiasm: This is the stage where a person first starts to recognize some sort of aptitude with art -- typically drawing things in notebooks or music -- and they begin to realize that they really ENJOY creating pretty things. More often than not, they are young, without a lot of life experience, but they are just waking up to the joy of creativity and imagination. This is where big dreams start.

(2) Skill: This is the hard work level, where people start to become serious about being an "artist". They may be terribly self-deprecating, but nevertheless, they begin to put in the effort necessary to develop real, tangible skills. This is the stage where other people start recognizing them as "artists". They start taking classes, practicing, defining a style, hanging out with other artists, polishing their craft.

(3) Meaning: At some point, in order to become more than a skilled craftsman, or someone who can make "pretty" things, an artist needs to begin to understand not only how to create (imagination), but how to create meaning (soul). This is the hard part, and frankly, where things begin to get really messy. The message is not always clear, even inside of the artist's head. Their artwork can begin to get edgy, dark, and push boundaries. The artist begins to experiment, sometimes with disastrous results. HOWEVER, in order for an artist to become relevant, he or she must go through this season -- to survive the storms, so see things that no one else can see.

As followers of Christ, this is the stage where Christ really enters into our art, and we become Incarnational.