A lot of what we do in Crossing Kids is creative in nature. We create our own lessons for kids to learn about Jesus. For instance, we are writing all our own curriculum from ages one to 4th grade. We also work together as a team to create family events and our very own Kids Club from scratch. As I was reading this book, I couldn’t help but think of how so much of what he is saying is what we do every week as a staff team. Not only our staff but also a lot of our volunteers “create”. We have many who write, act, teach and develop ideas into powerful moments for kids and families to learn about Jesus.

So although this book is not about God in any way, I couldn’t stop thinking about God and how he created our brains to work. I was struck by the unique way God has designed our minds to work and/or not work when we are faced with a problem that we need to solve or with a lesson that we need to write. These are verses that came to my mind as I was reading:

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Psalm 139:13

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Isaiah 40:26

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Colossians 1:16

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

Revelation 4:11

 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power^, for you created all things,
and by your will they were created and have their being.”

If you are looking for an interesting read for the summer, I would highly recommend this book.  Our Crossing Kids staff team will be reading and discussing it, so we invite you as parents and volunteers to join us. I think there are a lot of ways this book would apply to our parenting as well as our time with kids in the classroom.  You may even find some insight that will help you with your daily work/career.

Here is a short video that introduces the book as well as a short quote from the book sleeve.

Imagine video clip

“Jonah Lehrer demonstrates that creativity is not a single gift possessed by the lucky few. It’s a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively.

Lehrer reveals the importance of embracing the rut, thinking like a child, daydreaming productively, and adopting an outsider’s perspective (travel helps). He unveils the optimal mix of old and new partners in any creative collaboration and explains why criticism is essential to the process. Then he zooms out to show how we can make our neighborhoods more vibrant, our companies more productive, and our schools more effective.”

I distinctly remember in 6th grade blaring my pink jam box with the likes of New Kids on the Block, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson (“Miss Jackson if you’re nasty”), and Tiffany. I could never understand why my parents didn’t know or like my music or listen to much music at all. To my requests to listen to the radio (loudly) in the car, I remember them saying they “just needed quiet”. Keep in mind they had four kids, of which I was the oldest.

Now, I get it. I get why parents of little kids lose touch with pop culture and trends as we get older. I get why we “just need quiet”. Blaring music on top of crying, whiny, screaming or just chatty little kids turns the amp “up to 11″ (in the words of Nigel from This is Spinal Tap.) On top of that, I find it hard to listen to my music with the kids around. I don’t know about you, but I’m not really comfortable with my 5-year-old hearing or singing the profanity in the chorus of my favorite Mumford and Sons song. At the appropriate stage, we’ll have conversations about lyrics like that but not just yet (hmm…maybe Kindergarten next year will change that).

That being said, I don’t want to lose touch with truly excellent music or with the music that is influencing our world. Here’s why:

1 – We’re made in the image of God–the Creator, who the Bible says enjoys his creation and calls it “good”. Therefore, part of what it means to be human is to create and enjoy creative expression (in this instance we’re talking about music). I find it fascinating that there is no culture that does not sing. It’s part of who we are.

2 – To make an impact in the world and my kids’ lives, I’ve got to understand and be able to engage with our culture.

So in my desperation, I recently sent an email to some of my trusted music-loving and far-cooler-than-me friends. “Save me from becoming culturally obsolete!” I pleaded. “What music or musical artists from the last two years should I be listening to?” Here are the varied recommendations I received and will be checking out.

Ryan

One of my husband’s and my best friends, a college pastor at our church, and dad of three. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard him and David (see below) chatting in the halls at our office about their favorite bands. Ryan assures me that these are “first steps”, so to speak, into the indie rock world.

Alexi Murdoch, Towards the Sun - Acoustic, pleasantly (not depressingly) melancholic, soul-searching.
Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago or his newer self-titled album, Bon Iver - Hugely popular with college students. Creative, experimental, unusual vocal style (falsetto), yet still accessible. At the bottom, it’s folk music, with techniques and styles pulled from other genres.

Phoenix,Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - French band singing in English. Pop melodies with dancey-rhythyms. My kids love dancing to Phoenix.

Jonsi, Go – Lead singer from the icelandic band, Sigur Ros. More listener friendly than his band, Jonsi’s solo album still has the symphonic earthy quality. His music has been featured in commercials, trailers, and the movie, “We Bought A Zoo.”

Bethany

My uber cool young 20 something journalist/photographer/multi-talented friend. She’s the person I see most walking around with ear buds or headphones on. Btw, she’s also the photographer who took all the pics of Polly and me on our site. She’s very talented. You can check out her site here.

Laura Marling, A Creature I Don’t Know – Released September 2011, Featured Song: Sophia – If you like Joni Mitchell then Laura Marling is your girl. She is a charming, graceful performer and I admire her raw, husky voice. She just released her third album, at the ripe age of 21.

Beirut, The Rip Tide – Released August 2011, Feature Song: Candle’s Fire – I saw Beirut perform in New York two summers ago and it was one of the most magical and vivacious musical experiences I have been a part of. On stage and in studio they have string sections, numerous horns, ukulele, vintage keyboards and even a rotary valve flugelhorn. This American band, led by Zachary Francis Condon, could easily be mistaken for a world music album.

Laura Gibson, La Grande - Released January 2012, Featured Song: Milk-Heavy, Pollen-Eyed – I first saw Laura perform a “Tiny Desk Concert” at NPR for Bob Boilen and his coworkers at NPR. This introverted, bashful girl from Oregon captivated me with her gentle, delicate voice. La Grande is her third album and has been a great edition to her first two.

Gillian Welch,The Harrow & The Harvest – Released Jun 2011, Featured Song: The Way That it Goes – I discovered Gillian Welch after stumbling upon the making of their album cover. Everything was done the old-fashioned way, including but not limited to letterpress and beautiful print making that was never proofed on a computer screen. If you adore bluegrass as much as I do then you will appreciate the sound of this artist. The Harrow & The Harvest, their fifth studio album, was released after a hiatus of eight years.

David

Musician, music producer, worship leader, long-time family friend and one of the most vocally passionate people I know when it comes to music. You’ll quickly realize what I mean when you see his self-devised rating scale below and his passion for vinyl (I don’t think he means pants, right? jk).

David’s Rating Scale:
10 – Life Changing
9 – Excellent
8 – Great
7 – Good
6 – Pretty Good
5 – Worth Checking Out
4 – A Couple Good Songs
3 – Not Recommended
2 – Bad
1 – You Are Now Dumber

Andrew Bird, Break It Yourself - Par for the course for longtime Bird fans but with a certain atmosphere and charm not found, in my opinion, on his other albums. The soul of a depression era farm bouncing off the walls of the barn it was in which it was recorded, mostly live, to tape. No other lyricist (or whistler) out there like him. Some call him the “American Troubadour” and he sells that image well. 8/10 (Great). Made for vinyl ya’ll.

The War on Drugs, Slave Ambient – Haven’t dug too deep into this one yet but first listen was really enjoyable. Felt a little bit like a less playful, more progressive Wilco, maybe some Tom Petty thrown in for attitude. May I suggest you get it on vinyl… First impression is 6/10 (Pretty Good) with sleeper potential for 9/10 (Excellent).

Ryan Adams, Ashes & Fire – If you don’t have this album then it’s a must-have. 9/10 (Excellent). Required listen on vinyl.

Piper

My hip young sister-in-law who has two small kids of her own and has managed to stay culturally engaged!

Mumford and Sons – Some songs are a little adult–think curse words. But the songs are beautiful. “Awake My Soul” is my favorite song.

The Civil Wars – The whole family loves them.

Coldplay, Mylo Xyloto

Kelsie

A senior at University of Missouri, one of the coolest kids I know, and that FB friend who posts something about music at least once a week.

Mat Kearney, Young Love - I have seen mat kearney in concert 6 times and I love all of his music.

NeedtoBreathe- This is my favorite band. I have played their song “Lay ‘Em Down” over 100 times on my Itunes.

Sara Bareilles Kaleidoscope Heart – My roomie, Andrea, and I dance and sing along to every lyric on this CD.

Valentine for Ernest Mann 

You can’t order a poem like you order a taco.
Walk up to the counter, say, “I’ll take two”
and expect it to be handed back to you
on a shiny plate.

Still, I like your spirit.
Anyone who says, “Here’s my address,
write me a poem,” deserves something in reply.
So I’ll tell you a secret instead:
poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes,
they are sleeping. They are the shadows
drifting across our ceilings the moment
before we wake up. What we have to do
is live in a way that lets us find them.

Once I knew a man who gave his wife
two skunks for a valentine.
He couldn’t understand why she was crying.
“I thought they had such beautiful eyes.”
And he was serious. He was a serious man
who lived in a serious way. Nothing was ugly
just because the world said so. He really
liked those skunks. So, he reinvented them
as valentines and they became beautiful.
At least, to him. And the poems that had been hiding
in the eyes of the skunks for centuries
crawled out and curled up at his feet.

Maybe if we reinvent whatever our lives give us
we find poems. Check your garage, the odd sock
in your drawer, the person you almost like, but not quite.
And let me know.

Part of what I loved about sharing this poem with children was the variety of ways they reacted throughout.  The word valentine in the title often led to initial groans that later subsided into a laugh here or there at the the prospect of comparing poetry to Taco Bell. Most importantly, this was all followed by a discussion about where poetry hides for us as well as what makes something beautiful.

So what does any of this have to do with leaving a lasting spiritual legacy in the life of your child?

As Tony Reinke writes in his book Lit!,

“God has given us this higher use of imagination to enable us to create art, make scientific discoveries, further technological progress, and write poetry…We imagine because God imagines.  In fact, before the world began everything merely existed in God’s imagination.  Entire chapters could be devoted to God’s imaginative genius on display in creation…But God’s imaginative genius is also displayed in the gospel…We imagine because our Creator imagines.  And with our imagination we can now “see” eternal reality (2 Cor. 4:18).  This divine imagination, this ability to see the unseen, is a skill God has given us for our spiritual profit” (p. 82-83).  

Children are experts when it comes to viewing their world with a sense of wonder and awe.  They so often naturally reinvent what they see in the world around them from “skunk eyes and odd socks” to so much more.  They imagine because our Creator imagines.  In many ways, children understand what John Calvin embraced about finding beauty even in the most unlikely of places.

“Calvin understood that God created human beings to hunt and gather truth, and that, as a matter of fact, the capacity for doing so amounts to one feature of the image of God in them (Col. 3:10).  So Calvin fed on knowledge as gladly as a deer on sweet corn…And why not?  The Holy Spirit authors all truth, as Calvin wrote, and we should therefore embrace it no matter where it shows up”  (Cornelius Plantinga, Engaging in God’s World).

Take some time together as a family to do a little hunting and gathering for truth.  Look for places poetry hides and celebrate what it means to be made in the image of a creative God.

The memories of the white couch came flooding back when I came across pictures from the This is Colossal blog of an art exhibit by Yayoi Kusama at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. In this collaborative project, the artist staged a room for a canvas with white chairs, tables, lamps, and walls. Over the course of two weeks, she invited thousands of children to come and leave their mark on the room with colorful stickers. The once white room slowly transformed over time into a vibrant burst of color and movement. Here are some photos of the project from the Queensland Art Gallery.

Amazing, isn’t it? What strikes me most about this project is each sticker represents a moment in time for a child. Over time, this white room came to life because life happened in it. The canvas speaks because of the movement and life of little hands, thoughtfully and creatively leaving their marks on the white. Children cannot enter a white room and just leave it white. They are compelled to be a part of it, to collaborate in making it more lovely, and to add a piece of their thinking to it.

To me, this piece of art is a reminder that children leave their mark on the world. Every child you know will contribute something to this world of ours. They are created by God to do so. The question is: what will they contribute? And as their parents and teachers, do we have influence in their contribution?

God teaches us in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not turn from it.”

When we teach children about the gospel of Christ, live it out in our homes and at church, model it for them, and help their eyes see Christ’s beauty, we can be a part of God changing their hearts for His kingdom. When children live for Christ, they will impact our world for the Kingdom of God.

Imagine the white room is our fallen empty world and each colored sticker is the light of Christ being spread through the words and actions of children who growing up believing the Gospel. The stickers speak of hours of conversations, prayers, reading God’s word, and worshipping our King. The stickers speak of families talking about God over dinner, singing about Him in their cars and bringing their concerns to Him through prayer. They also speak of Crossing Kids teachers helping open children’s eyes to God’s love through endless hours of play, singing, conversations, and activities. The stickers are the impact children leave on this world. But as the primary adults in their lives, we help influence the color and hue of what those stickers say. Imagine if we could help each child want to shine the light of Christ in the world and live their lives in devotion to proclaiming His glory!  It takes time and effort and creativity and thoughtfulness and patience and even more time, but in the end, we will see the beauty of Christ, reveled through God our Creator, more clearly as His light and color explodes in our empty vast darkness.

Now, that’s a project I want to be a part of.