Visual Literacy: Scavenger Hunt Film

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They Worshipped Him

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” — Matthew 28:16-20

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I considered myself very fortunate to visit the Magic Monastery last autumn.  The trees were a wash of reds, oranges, and yellows.  The air was filled with the aroma of fresh baked bread, pastries, and hot cider.  The crunching of leaves beneath my feet, the gentle breeze, and the melodious songs of the birds created a beautiful symphony that I will not soon forget.

While on my visit, I happened to venture into the gardens of the monastery.  While I was walking, I came across an old beggar, who I paused at and took pity upon.  I asked him if there was anything he needed; if there was anything I could do for him.  He looked up at me and simply said “All I ask is that you seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God”.  This response caught me off guard, so I threw a few coins into his cup and walked along.  I spotted a bench, so I decided to sit down at it and just enjoy the fall day.  As I was resting, I saw one of the gardeners working hard at planting some bulbs for the spring.  I called to her asking if she wanted any help with the task.  But just like the beggar, she looked up at me, smiled, and said “All I ask is that you seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God”.  I started to think this place was rather strange.  “Is that the only thing anybody can say in this place?” I thought to myself.  I was so preoccupied with in my thoughts that I completely didn’t notice that I was about to bump into my Lord.  He called my name and when I realized who it was, I immediately fell to my knees in praise and worship of him.  This caused him to laugh and shake his head and he then said “Get up, your worship is not what I seek.”  Perplexed, I got up and asked him “well then what do you require of me, o Lord?”  My Lord then smiled at me and said “All I ask, is that you seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God”.

I wrote that devotion last year for one of our social justice meetings.  It’s written very much in the style of Theophane the Monk’s collection of stories called “Tales of a Magic Monastery”.  That collection is filled with parables for the modern age that call us to think deeper about our faith journeys, and I highly recommend that everyone have this book as a personal devotional resource.

Anyways, when I read that devotional for the social justice committee, one of the comments that Andreas made was how much he liked the last bit that the Lord says in the story.  “Get up, your worship is not what I seek”.  I’ll admit, I sort of wrote that as a throwaway line, not really thinking about its implications, just thinking “hey this sounds good”.  But I’ve lately been giving a lot of thought to that idea and what exactly the role of worship, particularly the weekly worship service, is in the Christian life.

Two summers ago, I was lucky enough to attend a conference called the Fund for Theological Education.  FTE is an ecumenical organization that exists to empower, prepare, and equip young persons for successful ministry in the Church.  When I went, the passage I read earlier from Matthew was our guiding theme for the week: Jesus giving the great commission to the disciples;  Jesus telling them to go out and make disciples of all nations.  One of the days of the weeklong conference was spent with the group broken up and doing a different site visit.  The group I was placed in, however, stayed at the conference center and watched a documentary about Father Michael Pfleger.  

For those of you who don’t know, Michael Pfleger is a Catholic priest in the south side of Chicago.  When he started his post at Saint Sabina’s Church in 1981, the church was mere months from closing its doors for good.  During his uninterrupted tenure (he’s still appointed there, a phenomenon that’s quite rare in the Catholic church) he has been a very vocal activist on many social issues that plague Chicago.  By utilizing the local media, Pfleger and his congregants have successfully enacted many changes in the south side of Chicago, from banning the advertisement of tobacco and alcohol in certain communities, to holding gun drives and protesting gun shops.  Amidst all of this, Pfleger has garnered a lot of criticism from the larger powers that be for his very vocal methods to achieving that end.  There are also those who would say that he has developed a cult of personality at Saint Sabina and that when he leaves his post (whether by another appointment or due to his health) the church will go back to the way it was.  

FTE also invited Michael Pfleger and Bob Hercules—the man who directed the documentary—to be in dialogue with us about the documentary and Michael Pfleger’s life and ministry after the screening.  During the talk, Father Pfleger said something that really stuck with me.  He said that “Christian life is like a game of football, and the weekly worship service is like the huddle.  It’s important for the game, but it’s not what everyone came out to see”.  

And yet, the most common metric in this day and age in determining if a ministry is successful or not is how many people are coming to worship on a Sunday.  The modern Christian life is completely worship-centric.  If we want a new person to get involved in a church community, we invite them to worship.  We have months out of the year devoted to sermon series designed to bring in new people.  Seminaries are very insistent that when you visit them, you experience a chapel service.  When worship attendance drops, we lament over the death of our Church.  And I can understand where this mentality comes from.  The weekly worship service is often the only time you can see every member of your community at once.

And that’s a real shame.  Jesus did not tell the disciples on that mountain to stay where they are and invite people in, but rather to go out and be in ministry with the people of all nations, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, places in society, and beliefs.  Jesus is not calling his disciples to be worshippers, but to be ministers.  And I think the trap that the modern church has fallen into is thinking that the worship service and ministry the same thing.

You see, ministry is not sitting in a pew singing songs, reciting prayers, and listening to a sermon.  Ministry is giving out free hot cider to members of the student community on a cold afternoon.  Ministry is organizing a service trip to New Jersey for hurricane relief.  Ministry is buying soup for a member of the community who posts on our Facebook wall that they are sick.  Ministry is providing a safe space for members of your congregation to come and doubt, struggle, and question their faith.  Ministry is empowering congregation by offering them real leadership roles and giving them the opportunity to preach on a Thursday night.  The worship service is what we do in here, in the Kay Spiritual Life Center on a Sunday or Thursday.  Ministry is what we do beyond these walls and doors for the people beyond these walls and doors. 

Consider stained glass windows.  Many churches utilize stained glass windows in their place of worship in some way or another.  As I’m sure you know, we too in the Kay community have stained glass windows, but because our worship services often fall after the sun sets, we can’t see the beautiful colors.  That’s because stained glass windows only “work” if the light from outside is brighter than the light inside.  No matter how much light we fill this space with, we won’t be able to see the colors of the stained glass without the light from outside.

I don’t know if church architects had this in mind when they were first using stained glass in churches or not, but stained glass windows serve as a visual reminder of our call to be ministers to the world.  If we only think of our own worshiping communities and center our entire Christian experience on the worship service, we keep all of our light hidden inside, under a bushel.  But when we go out and preach the good news by serving the poor and oppressed, we take our light with us, and that then that light can illuminate stained glass windows the world over.

Now, I’m not going to consider myself so bold and proud to tell you that I know what the will of God and God’s desires are.  But if I were, I would tell you that weekly worship is not for the benefit God, but rather for us.  It gives you and I, the members of the congregation an opportunity to come together in fellowship.  The prayers we recite and the hymns we sing together are not for God’s benefit, but to feel united as a community.  The feast we are about to partake of offers us a link to the past and a way to receive the grace of God freely given to us.  The grace that pushes us to go out and minister to the world.  Just like the huddle in football, weekly worship allows us to come together, unite as the body of Christ that we represent, and take a brief break before we go back out into the world we are called to serve.

Because, again, I’m not going to stand here and say that I know everything about the will of God or God’s nature.  But if I were to be so bold, I would say that God cares less about whether we use an organ or a praise band and more about the cries of justice coming from the oppressed.

I would say that God cares less about what prayers we say and when we say them and more about the words we use against our brothers and sisters.

I would say that God cares less about the way we decorate and treat our house of worship and more about the way we treat the Creation given to us by God.

I would say that God cares less about whether we address God as him, her, Jehovah, Adonai, or whatever name we can come up with and more about the way God’s name is used to spread hate and injustice.

Because here’s the thing, our worship to God is not supposed to be confined to one hour every week.  Jesus did not say that  he would be with them whenever a group of people only gather in a Church.  Jesus did not say that he would be them when a group of people gather for only a few hours on a Sunday.  Jesus said that he would be be wherever a group of people are gathered in his name.  Jesus didn’t command us to stay in our houses of worship and only minister to those who agree with us or make it into our sanctuaries.  Jesus said to go out and make disciples of all nations.  Our ministry to the outside world is in and of itself an act of worship.  When we gather together to do service and seek justice, we are, by our actions, worshipping God.

Visual Literacy: Autobiographical Film Mashup

Visual Literacy: Moving On Screenplay

Visual Literacy: Film Editing Techniques Presentation

Visual Literacy: Narrative Treatment

An alarm goes off and a man wakes up.  He did not sleep well and looks like hell.  He puts on his slippers and a robe and go to the bathroom.  He gazes into the mirror, and he thinks about the day he met her.  He brushes his teeth, gets dressed, and leaves the house, all while thinking of different stages of their friendship.  He waits for the bus to pick him up, and the thoughts keep coming to him, the time they went to a show together, the night they stayed up till 2am just talking.  He walks into the office and remembers the day he decided to ask her to be his girlfriend.  He gets to his cubicle and sees her on the phone talking to someone.  She is smiling and radiant.  He remembers going to her place with flowers the night before, and seeing her walk out and get in a car with a new guy.  He clicks away at his computer, when the new guy comes into the office.  The new guy is picking the girl up for a lunch date.  The first man remembers drinking way too much the night before in an attempt to drown his sorrows.  Before the girl leaves on her lunch date with the new guy, she stops at the cubicle of the first man to say hi, and then asks "are you alright?".  The man responds, after remembering everything again, responds "I'm fine".  The end.

Visual Literacy: Photo Essay

So here is my photo essay, a week late...I have to get better at this.



Anyhow, for our photo essay, we decided to explore the concept of style.  We met and discussed how we would like to explore it and brainstormed some shots.  After that, we split up and took the shots.  This led to some of us taking shots of the same subject/theme (the two shoe pictures for example).  However, we decided to use them in the photo essay anyways.  This presented a challenge regarding the order.  We didn't want to put two pictures of the same thing next to each other, or really close to each other.

At this point, I should probably mention that I study conducting (music).  In my studies of conducting, I have looked at a lot of scores, and I've noticed a couple of patterns.  One example of a way a composer will lay out his score is to pair movements that are alike at opposite ends of the piece.  In a cantata, for example, the first movement could be a chorus, followed by a recitative, followed by an aria, followed by a recitative, and ending with another chorus (that would be a very short cantata, but it gets the point across).

Taking inspiration from that, I decided to lay out our photo essay in the same manner.  The first and last pictures in the set are each of a person wearing a shoe (I started and ended with that pair because they were the most similar).  The second and ninth pictures in the set are of heads; the third and eighth pictures in the set are of stores; the fourth and seventh pictures in the set feature subjects wearing bow ties; and the fifth and sixth pictures in the set highlight cool, blue colors.

Speaking of the sixth picture, I'm going to analyze that one.



This picture was taken in the AU Bookstore.  I admittedly staged the photo, so that there would be three different style magazines featured, rather than a block of the same magazine (as it was presented in the display).  The bookstore also has harsh fluorescent lights, which reflected off of the glossy magazine covers (especially on the GQ magazine).  However, I was able to take advantage of this, because they almost look like camera flashes (which are a major component to the world of style).  If I were to go back and re-take this photo, I would try to make it so the GQ magazine's bottom corner wasn't bent up.  I wanted the GQ magazine to be on an angle to make it a little different from the other two magazines, but I couldn't get it to stand up without the of the bottom, and the cashier was giving me funny looks.  However, I am generally pleased with this picture and I think it clearly represents the concept of style.

Visual Literacy: Critical Analysis of Pulitzer Prize Winning Photo

Every year, two photographs win a Pulitzer Prize.  Every Pulitzer Prize Winning photograph is currently on display at the Newseum in Washington, DC.  A couple of weeks ago, our class had the opportunity to visit the museum to check the exhibit out.  We were each told to pick a photograph to write a critical analysis on, and since I am a lover of most sports, i chose "Babe Ruth Bows Out" taken by Nat Fein in 1948. 

Photo Courtesy of the wonderful people at this blog

This picture was taken on June 13, 1948, which was the day that Babe Ruth retired from the New York Yankees.  It was also the 25th anniversary of the old Yankee Stadium, a ballpark that Babe Ruth made legendary during his career.  There were many photographers staked out to get the best shot of the Babe, but Nat Fein took his shot from behind, showing us not only the number that the Yankees would retire that day, but also the sold-out stadium cheering for Babe Ruth.  From this angle, we also have a better look at the hunched over and tired Babe Ruth who was battling with disease at the time (he would die two months later).

Fein also did a great job framing his subject.  Babe Ruth is not directly center, but just a little off to the left, showing just how effective the rule of thirds is.  He also used a shallow depth of field, the Babe is in crisp, sharp focus, while the ballplayers barely 5 yards away from him are out of focus.  All in all, it is not hard to see why this photo won Nat Fein the Pulitzer Prize.

Visual Literacy: The 10 Best Pictures in the Photo Journal

The above picture is my favorite picture in the photo journal.  I took it in the chapel of the Kay Spiritual Life Center around mid-day.  I turned all of the lights off in the chapel, which made the intensity of the light and color coming from the stained-glass windows so much more intense.  I also took this shot almost right underneath the windows, which almost gives an illusion of the windows being on the ground.  All in all, I was very pleased with the way this shot turned out.  

Visual Literacy: Photo Journal Contact Sheet

Here is the contact sheet for the photo journal spanning the topics of light/shadows, the color red, food, doors/windows, and signs.

Updated Updated Business Card

Like I promised, a new business card that connects to both my resume and my blog....ta da!

Visual Literacy: Updated, Updated Resume

So I got some feedback on my Resume for Visual Literacy.  Technically, the resume, blog, and business card are all supposed to have some sort of connection.  While my old updated resume and business cards were connected by color and the treble clef, there was no connection to my blog.

Now there's a reason my blog wasn't visually connected to the other two items.  For one, I'm using a pre-made template for my blog (courtesy of Blogger), so I can't really incorporate a treble clef in there somewhere.  And while I could potentially change my blog color to red to match the other items I sort of have a theme going on with this blog that predates the class.  Followers of the blog (shut up, just pretend I have regular followers for now) might remember that the blog color changes periodically.  Sometimes it's green.  Sometimes it's white/gold.  Sometimes it's purple.  Sometimes it's red (okay, so it hasn't been red yet, but that was because I was in Russia when it was supposed to be red).

Anyone familiar with the Church knows that those are the different liturgical colors.  And in addition to dressing liturgically on Sundays and special days (by wearing a color that corresponds with the liturgical season...I wish I was making that up), I "dress" this blog liturgically by changing the color to reflect the liturgical season.  Currently, we are in Ordinary Time, and the color for Ordinary Time is green.  So that's why my blog is green right now.

TL;DR

Here is an updated copy of my resume that connects to my blog.  I'll make a new business card soon.

Working Resume, Green

Visual Literacy: Photo Journal, Doors and Windows

It is at this point that I realized I'm doing the assignment wrong and I should have made a contact sheet on iPhoto....whoops. Ah well, I'll do that next. Meanwhile, here's a study on doors and windows.

Photos taken on my iPhone 5 in and around the DC Metro Area and Homestead and Rockland Farms in Poolesvile, MD. 

Visual Literacy: Photo Journal, Signs

You know the drill. A study on signs

Photos taken on my iPhone 5 in and around the DC Metro Area and Homestead and Rockland Farms in Poolesville, MD