Hope Oh-Eight

Inflation, deflation, spreading doom
Across the nation.
It’s the credit crunch -
Gonna have to skip lunch,
Tighten your belt,
Cos its gonna be felt in
your pocket.
Don’t mock it.
It’s Hope.
Oh-Eight.
Just great.

No surprise in your eyes when you
Hear the lies,
And the mortgage dude
Demands more food,
And the petrol pump’s
Gonna give you a thump in
your pocket.
Don’t mock it.
Hope.
Oh-Eight.
Just great.

But there’s a banker in heaven
Working 24/7,
With an interest rate
Of love not hate,
And you’ve gotta keep livin’
And never stop givin’ from
your pocket.
Don’t mock it.
It’s Hope.
Oh-Eight.
He’s Great.

Stop livin’ in fear and listen
You’ll hear,
There’s a promise for us,
If you simply just trust,
When the income is shrinkin’
You’ve gotta stop thinkin’
From your pocket.
Don’t mock it.
Hope.
Oh-Eight.
It’s great.

Downsizing, compromising, there’s a whole lot
Of good prioritising,
Simply living,
Not binning,
And don’t cut back on
Your giving.
From your pocket.
Don’t mock it.
Hope.
Oh-Eight.
That’s great.

Fiona Veitch Smith

For all Centre for Lifelong Learning students who have been referred here for my non-fiction writing course, please head over to The Crafty Writer, my site aimed at developing writers – it’s jam-packed with articles and information on the business and craft of writing. In particular, check out my online non-fiction course for a taste of what I’ll be covering in the class.

You may find something of interest here on VeitchSmith too, but it’s much more of an eclectic mix of my articles and ramblings on history, culture, Christianity, health and more.

As a writer I believe that storytelling is one of the best ways to communicate the truth and fiction is not always the opposite of fact. Stories, whether fictional or otherwise, can help us view the world in a clearer way. Someone else who believes that is Raffi Shahinian. Raffi hosts a ‘blog carnival’ on his site Parables of a Prodigal World In it he presents a round-up of some of the most thought-provoking Christian writing on the web today. This week he has featured my ‘Tainted Gold’ Olympic article. So if you want to wile away an afternoon, drop by.

In my capacity as the editor of a writing website I’ve just read a book called Charity's Child by Rosalie Warren. Now while The Crafty Writer is not a religious site and looks simply at the business and craft of writing, being a Christian is what defines me as a person, and my Christian world-view colours the decisions I make. Up until now that has not been much of a problem over on The Crafty Writer as the business and craft of writing in itself is neither ‘Christian’ nor ‘non-Christian’, but that was challenged with Charity’s Child.

It is a book about two gay teenagers who are caught up in a world of incest and self-harm who, while they should be finding a haven in an evangelical Christian community, end up being more wounded than helped.

The interview I intended to do with Rosalie Warren was not about the content of her book but rather her experience of being an author with an independent publisher. I felt it was not appropriate to engage with the troubling content of the book within that framework. But I also could not and would not turn the book down simply on the grounds that it offended me as an evangelical Christian, so after some discussion with Rosalie, agreed that I would discuss it on this site instead.

Negative experiences

Rosalie spent time in a controlling evangelical Christian group in the 1970s and, she admits her depiction of the ‘Crabbies’ of Charity’s Child, set in 1983, is coloured by her negative experiences during that time. Most of the characters are morally hypocritical, spiritually confused and intellectually narrow-minded. This comes to a head when what Rosalie refers to as the ’special blessing’ – a release of the Gifts of the Spirit – comes to the Crabbies and any right-thinking reader would be forgiven for thinking that the characters who exercised the Gifts were either deluded or faking it. (For my own experience of the release of the Spirit read Power Tools and The Haves and the Have Nots in my Gardener’s Gospel series).

Against the background of frenzied experimentation with the Gifts, the very real problems of two young girls come to a head. My contention with the book comes not with the actual depiction of these characters but rather that it leaves the impression that all evangelical and more so charismatic Christians are of this ilk. Sadly, as I told Rosalie, her description of these confused, controlling Christians in an off-balance community rings very true. I’ve known people like that and, in immature ignorance, have even held to some of their beliefs myself.

Christians can get it wrong

Some Christians ‘get it wrong’. Some churches get it wrong. Some pastors, ministers and vicars get it wrong. I look back on the time when the charismatic gifts were being ‘rediscovered’ by the modern church and cringe at some of the excesses – in other people’s lives as well as my own. I look back on some of the Christian communities I’ve been associated with and see how easily a slavish adherence to an extremely narrow interpretation of the Bible has led to intellectual and social stultification. Some people, like Rosalie and the sympathetic characters in her book, felt the only recourse was to either leave Christianity altogether or to espouse an extremely liberal form of the faith far from the realms of evangelicalism.

But as I pointed out to Rosalie, those are not the only two options. Rosalie very graciously concedes that the range of characters she presents do not reflect all evangelical Christians and that she had not intended to tar us all with the same brush. The problem is, many people do.

Acknowledging mistakes

Some of us have struggled through an immature faith, been scarred by unhealthy church environments and even abused by people in leadership. And yet we still stay in the church. We know that churches sometimes go wrong. Sadly, they are not always a good advert for Christianity. Some people have not had negative experiences, but they need to recognise that many people do and it can drive them away not only from Christianity but God Himself.

Rosalie’s book is cringingly accurate in depicting one such community. But thank God not all churches are like that. All churches are a mix of good and bad, as are all Christians; it’s just the ratio that differs.

In the opening chapter of Philip Yancey’s Soul Survivor entitled ‘Recovering From Church Abuse’ he recounts:

Sometimes in a waiting room or on a plane I strike up coverstations with strangers, during the course of which they learn that I write books on spiritual themes. Eyebrows are raised, barriers spring up, and often I hear yet another horror story about church. My seatmates must expect me to defend the church, because they always act surprised when I respond, ‘Oh, it’s even worse than that. Let me tell you my story’ … I have spent most of my life in recovery from the church.

Staying within evangelicalism

And yet Philip Yancey, like me, is still a member of a mainstream, evangelical Christian church. As is the author Frank Peretti (yes, surprisingly him of This Present Darkness fame!) whose shocking novel The Visitation depicts some of the horrors that take place in churches across America. Why is this? Well I can’t speak for Yancey and Peretti (they do a very good job speaking for themselves) but for me it is because I truly believe that the church, in all its frailty and weakness, is the main vehicle that God has chosen to reveal himself to the world. And I believe that evangelical Christianity, despite its faults, is the most accurate reflection of the faith as I read it in the Bible. I’m not saying that Christians who do not consider themselves ‘evangelical’ are not kosher (so to speak!) – and each of us must make our own decision about what the church should be – but for me, charismatic evangelicalism offers the best ‘package’ that I can find and that’s why I’m still a member.

When church goes right

When church ‘goes right’ it can be a healthy and nurturing community in which to develop our relationship with God and reflect it to a world in need. I’m in a fellowship like that at the moment. No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, and it is only God’s grace that keeps us moving forward. But by His grace we are learning to live out Jesus’ commands to love one another and to share that love with people outside our community. The Bible alludes to the church as a bride; we can look a bit tatty at times, but look forward to the day when we meet our Bridegroom and he loves us anyway. Let’s just make sure we extend that same grace to others.

In this fifth session of our Writing as Worship and Witness series we will be looking at ‘prophetic writing’. For those of you who are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with prophecy in a charismatic context, I hope to explain that it’s not as wacky as it sounds, and for those of you who feel at home with the ‘prophetic’ I hope to explain that it is far more ordinary than we often expect.

It’s not just for ‘prophets’

What I’m talking about here is not just the writing down of prophecies given by people with a prophetic gift – ‘Thus saith the Lord’ (although that may be part of it); it’s showing how writing in a Christian context – by writers who don’t even consider themselves to be ‘prophetic’ – may be a prophetic act.

About five years ago I attended an Association of Christian Writers conference in London. One of the speakers was a man called Brian Draper, who spoke about writers and artists being placed on the periphery of the church, acting as interpreters of the church to the world and the world to the church. He said that we must be wary that we do not become so entrenched in either the world or the church that we cease to function as ‘interpreters’. Now he wasn’t talking about being ‘un-Christlike’, but rather that our job as writers is to act as communicators and if we only speak ‘Christianese’ it’s hard to fulfil that role.

I know that many writers and artists have experienced misunderstanding of their work by people in the church. Some of us, and I include myself here, have at times given in to pressure to conform to what the church finds understandable – purely Christian messages for a purely Christian readership – but the result is forfeiting that role as interpreter. Some of you may feel comfortable doing that; I don’t.

Outwards and inwards

I believe my role as a Christian writer is to challenge the church to look outwards and the world to look inwards – and I do that by continually stretching the boundaries of what my readers feel comfortable with.

So how is this ‘prophetic’? My definition of prophecy is: the ability to ’see’ what God will do in the future or understand the spiritual dimension of what God is doing now. The former part of that definition is what most people would consider to be prophetic and some of you may have that God-given ability. But more people will fall into the latter part of the definition and that’s the prophetic writing I would like to concern myself with here.

Exercise 1:
Prayerfully ask God to reveal to you how and where He is at work and write it down as a prophetic statement: eg ‘God is at work in the aftermath of the Burmese cyclone by bringing to light the corruption of the ruling powers and their lack of compassion for their people. Although the disaster there was terrible, a positive side-effect is that other governments are increasing their calls for reform and Christians worldwide are being mobilised to pray.

The parables as ‘prophetic writing’

Jesus’ parables are examples of both kinds of prophecy. The gospel writers wrote down both stories of the End Times – this is what’s going to happen; and stories of the Present Time – the Kingdom of God is like …

Exercise 2:
Read through some of Jesus’ parables and divide them into ‘end time’ and ‘present time’. Now write your own modern-day parable in which you reveal the spiritual dimension of what God is doing now. You may start it with either ‘The Kingdom of God is like …’ (eg a microwave that works from the inside out, etc) or ‘There was once a man / woman etc who …’

Writing ‘direct words’ from God

Some people have a God-given ability to deliver direct words from God. In a charismatic setting, these are usually received in a service or group setting when God wants to ‘chip in’ to the proceedings – I don’t mean that in any trite way. I believe it is good practise to filter these words through the appointed leader of the group. If he or she gives the go-ahead, the ‘receiver’ of the prophecy will speak out the word to the group.

Sometimes though, these are received during the prophet’s own quiet time. They should always be written down and if necessary passed on to the leader of the group they concern. Other times, these words are a prophetic insight for the individual to pray in a more informed way as the spiritual dimension behind certain events is revealed to them. What is the point of writing these down?

1. It records the words so that they can be read again at a later time.
2. It captures prophetic insights that may otherwise be forgotten.
3. It gives an opportunity for those with the gift of discernment (see I Corinthians 12) to check whether it’s a Godly, worldly or even evil spirit behind the prophecy. The second category is far more common than the last and is usually just the ‘prophet’ mixing in their own views with what God actually said. When words are spoken directly, it’s hard to say afterwards – ‘this was a bit off’. I understand though that sometimes words need to be delivered immediately but a leader should only give the go-ahead to someone who is tried and tested as a prophet.

Exercise 3:
If you are gifted in this type of prophey (or think that you might be but haven’t yet had the courage to speak out in a group situation), take some time now to receive a word from God and write down what was said. Do this in first person, ie write down what God says, in His voice, as He says it. Then look at it again and ask God to give you a discerning spirit to see in which areas you might have ‘added’ your own bits. There is nothing wrong with adding your own understanding to a written or spoken prophecy, but make sure the reader or hearer understands that this is what you are doing. Preface it with, ‘I think this is what the Lord might be saying by this’, for example.

For an example of prophetic writing, Rick Joyner’s The Harvest is one I can recommend. His book The Prophetic Ministry will give you an insight into the function and role of prophets in the church today. From a British perspective, Graham Cooke’s Developing your Prophetic Gifting is an excellent resource too. In it he looks at how prophecy is not so much a fortelling of the future but a means of equipping people in the church to face the future. And that’s where we as writers can help too.

Join us next time for our sixth and final session on Writing as Worship and Witness: markets and outlets for Christian writing.

In this fourth session on Writing as Worship and Witness we will look at how writing can enrich your relationship with God. In the first session we explored how you can find your writing style. In the second, we looked at whether or not everything a Christian writes has to be overtly ‘Christian’. In the third session we considered how to use your writing to share God’s message with others. In this session we will overview how your writing aids you in your worship of God.

Journaling

I have been writing in a spiritual journal since I was 15 – over 20 years now! Once every few years or so, round about New Year, I dig out my journals and skim through them. It’s thrilling to see how God has worked in me over the years and depressing to see how little some other things have changed! In my journal I still use the simple, childish style I did when I was 15. ‘Dear God, …’ I pour out my heart about what I feel, what I fear and what I think about what God is doing in my life. Then I stop and listen to what He might be saying to me. I don’t worry about people reading my journal as the scribbles are almost indicipherable, even to me. But I know that God can read them, and that’s what worship is all about.

My journal for yesterday, 31 December 2007, started:

Dear God, after a trying 30 hour trip we’re back home. Once again it was a time of vision and planning and looking forward to a new season. Thank you for the time with G & J who helped us to see things more clearly. I thank you that R is …. and I pray that you will equip him and empower him. Forgive me for not extending more grace to …

As a writer, there’s always a temptation to write for an audience. This must be resisted at all costs. If you are considering marketing your journal for a wider readership it will restrict the freedom you have to just be yourself with God. In the above extract I edited certain details and used initials to protect the identity of my friends and family. Normally I don’t divulge the contents of my journal (unless I feel God has given me a specific word for someone) but in this case I made an exception to show you what can be done.

The advantages of journaling:

• Some of us struggle to focus our thoughts enough to pray effectively. Writing them down helps us to do this.
• Reading back in your journals will encourage you when things aren’t going so well.
• ‘Capturing’ your thoughts, prayers and words from God will help to apply them to your life and heart.

The disadvantages of journaling:

• The danger of writing for an audience and putting on a performance.
• The fear of someone reading it and not being entirely truthful.
• The discipline of journaling may become a ‘work’, inhibiting your freedom with God.

For further advice on how to keep a spiritual journal I recommend Ronald Klug’s How to keep a Spiritual Journal.

Exercise 1:
Write a ‘Dear God’ journal entry. Be as honest as you can be. If you struggle to get straight into it, why not read some scripture and start by writing down your response to it. eg. ‘Dear God, in Matthew 13 I read about the parable of the wheat and the tares. I thank you that you accept that there will be good and bad in me. I thank you too that I can trust that you will sort it all out at the harvest. Help me Lord, to confess the weeds when I see them and ask you to remove them in your time’. And don’t forget to stop and write down what you think God might be saying to you. If you would like some further reading on this I can recommend How to hear God's Voice by Mark Virkler.

Declaring God’s Glory

While journaling may be a private experience, worship extends into the public realm too. And this is where the writer’s gift comes into its own. Many people have thoughts and feelings about God that they struggle to express; as a writer you should share your gift with them. By putting into words your own worship of God, you will enable others to do so as well. In some churches this is the role the liturgy plays. The Bible too performs this function. Take for example the Psalms that are written by an individual but prayed by a mulititude. Here is a modern re-working of Psalm 84 from the author of The Word on the Street:

Your Place
Your place is best, God;
I’m gasping for it, almost collapsing for it, God;
My skin, my soul, the whole of me screams
For more of you, vibrant one.

A thousand-day break, top luxury hotel -
I’d trade it in for one perfect day at yours;
A tax-fraud-millionaire lifestyle -
I’d trade it in for the lowest-paid job at yours.

God’s the sun, the shield that keeps us warm and whole
Dignity beams out from him, benefits the soul;
He don’t hold back on nothing good,
For those who walk with him as they should.

Awesome God, we’re well content
When we rely 100 percent on you.
Rob Lacey (2003)

Exercise 2:
Choose a psalm and write your own paraphrase of it. Personalise it as much as you can.

But the Bible is not the sole source of inspiration for our worship. Creation itself has prompted poets, lyricists and writers through the ages to pour out their worship to God. Consider this poem by a Victorian, Jesuit priest:

Pied Beauty
Glory be to God for dappled things -
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles in all stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1876 – 1889)

Exercise 3:
Take an opportunity to walk in nature. Use all your senses. See, smell, touch, taste and hear what God has created. What is He saying to you through it? Write it down in a hymn of praise.

In the next session we will consider what might be meant by ‘prophetic’ writing. For the non-charismatics among you, don’t be put off, you may find it’s more familiar than you might think.

In this third session on writing as worship and witness, we will be looking at how to use your writing to share your faith or experience of God with other people. I know last week I said that not all writing has to have a message, and that Christians should be free to write simply as an artistic expression without feeling forced to ‘use their gift for the Lord’. That being said, many Christian writers, myself included, do sometimes consciously produce work with a spiritual message.

A Private Affair
Religion’s a private affair.
And God agrees.
Just as well.

It’s not to be mentioned at cocktail parties
or discussed in the office
or announced on national TV chat shows
so that others can
say ah, so that’s
what she
believes.

Religion’s a private affair.
And God agrees.
Just as well.

It’s not to be mentioned in crowds of 5000
or discussed in the market
or announced on crosses of public execution
so that others can
say ah, so that’s
what he
believes.

Fiona Veitch Smith, November 2005

Exercise 1:
Consider the above poem. I hope, that unlike one person who read this, you do not think I’m writing ‘negative poems about God’. At the risk of insulting your intelligence, let me get one thing straight: I’m being ironic! With that out of the way, take a moment to think about what you believe is the ‘proper place’ for religious discussion. Imagine someone has told you not to talk about God in public. How would you respond? Write a poem or piece of prose that communicates your thoughts and feelings about the issue.

Know your readership

Message-based writing has two potential readerships: Christian and non-Christian (of course, there are many people who don’t go to church who still consider themselves Christians, so perhaps we should say churchgoers and non-churchgoers). But let’s leave the judgement of people’s relationship to God out of this for now. However, it is important to have a rough idea of your intended readership in mind before writing because certain assumptions about people’s level of spiritual understanding need to be made. There are certain church buzz phrases – ‘born again’, ‘one in the Lord’, ‘under the anointing’ etc – that may not be understood by non-churchgoers (or even those from another denomination!), so something you write for your church magazine should be very different in style to a letter you write to a newspaper.

Preaching to the Converted

Not everything you write needs to be evangelistic, particularly if you are writing for a church readership. Be careful not to ‘preach to the converted’. Rather consider matters of discipleship, encouragement and Christian growth. Devotionals fall into this category. I’m currently reading an excellent one by John Piper called A Godward Life. Another one of my favourites is Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. And of course, my all-time favourite is The Business of Heaven which is a 365-day selection of readings from CS Lewis. Again, the church magazine (or website!) will be an excellent outlet for devotional material, and the editors will be delighted to receive something without first having to ask.

Here is an example of a devotional meditation on Jeremiah 6:16:

This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’

Are you at a crossroads in your life? I am. I’m faced with new career choices that will have an impact on my family in terms of time and resources. I fear they may also have an impact on my relationship with God if I make the wrong decision. Where should I go? What should I choose? Where are these ‘ancient paths’ and the good way I should go? I will not know until I ask. And who should I ask? He who laid down the paths in the first place and trod them well before me. ‘Lord, show me which way to go, let me obey and find rest for my soul.’

Exercise 2:
Think about a scripture verse that has caught your attention recently. Now write a short devotional describing what it means to you and how it might help other people.

Out of the ghetto

For a non-church readership, you should consider issues of how God, the church, faith etc has relevance in the broader world. Take for example the above-mentioned letter to the newspaper. You won’t get far reiterating the Four Spiritual Laws. So what could you write about? The Christian festivals are always a good time to get something into the paper (Easter, Christmas and Halloween – yes, it is All Hallow’s Eve, afterall!). But please avoid the temptation to just rant about how the world has turned its back on the church (no wonder, if all we do is tell people how terrible they are). Try to think of something constructive to say – speak the truth in love. An example of a constructive letter to the paper for Halloween might be:

Dear Sir,

When one mentions the Church and Halloween in the same breath, your readers would not be blamed if they see a clash of darkness and light – the light of happy children dressing up and the darkness of disapproving Christians. But this year at Heaton Baptist Church we want to be part of the light and not the darkness. We will be hosting an All Hallow’s Eve party (remembering that this is actually a traditional church festival celebrating the evening before All Saints Day). Families are invited to bring their children dressed in super hero costumes to this fun-filled party. You may not see many witches, but there’ll be plenty of Spidermen, Supermen and Wonderwomen. We decided on this theme because for us, Jesus is our Super Hero.

Other opportunities to get God into the public domain arise in response to a major news event or controversial social issues such as abortion, same sex marriages and women clergy. Remember, reminding people of God’s love will get you much further than reminding them of His judgement. You could also celebrate the good the church is doing by bringing attention to practical outreaches such as community clean-up projects, homeless shelters etc. I have had a number of articles in the newspaper by doing just this. You can then quote people who work on these projects saying why they do what they do. Events that bring the nation together to consider its mortality (terrorist attacks, natural disasters etc.) are excellent opportunities to speak about God in the public domain. Here is an article I wrote in response to the 7/7 bombings in London and another article by a friend of mine who wrote in response to recent natural disasters.

Exercise 3:
Think of something you could write in response to a news event that could be a positive witness of God’s love.

Apologetics

Finally, a note on apologetics. Gone are the great days of public debate between those for and against God. CS Lewis, GK Chesterton and the like, would not get as big a platform today as they did then. But some people still set themselves up to be shot down. I’m thinking of course of Richard Dawkins and his virulent attacks on people of faith. Does this offer Christian writers an opportunity to defend the faith? Certainly, and there have been many excellent attempts to do so, including the hard-hitting Dawkin's God by theological heavyweight Alister McGrath and his follow-up, the eye-opening The Twilight of Atheism. So if you want to climb into the ring and have the credentials to back your view up, do so. You’re a braver writer than I!

Next week we will be looking at how to use writing to worship God.

In this second session on writing as worship and witness we will look at the pros and cons of message-based writing and whether Christians can or even should be involved in secular writing.

Consider these two poems:

Bread of Life
Sometimes I see you rummaging deeply
into other peoples’
castaway lives.
And I think to myself:
“If only you knew Jesus …”
But halfway across the vacant lot
I stop.
Fixed in confused animation
between a world of bricks and soaking cardboard;
And I think to myself:
“Do you want Jesus or do you want food;
will you take a bite then spit Him out?”
Oh how can I,
with belly full,
tell you there’s food more satisfying than that in your hands?
You may not believe me,
but still I must speak
and offer you the Bread of Life.

A Traveller Through the Karoo*
He is like a road in the Karoo;
Neither coming nor going.
But if you were to follow him, beware,
For he might take you
With him.

If he looked right or if he looked left
(which, I admit, he might never do)
He would see yellowed tufts of surely-it’s-dead-grass
Pointing, sharply
Heavenwards.

And then he might scrape his palm
Over brittle hair,
Sigh in disappointment, then turn his back,
Never to see the brazen aloe
Swell in phallic glory.

*The Karoo is a semi-desert region in South Africa

Exercise 1:

1. Which of these poems do you consider to be the most ‘Christian’? Why?
2. What is the ‘message’ of each poem?
3. Which is the more ‘Christian’ message? Why?
4. Do you consider the ‘Traveller Through the Karoo’ to be a legitimate expression for a Christian poet? Why or why not?
5. Does the use of the phallic imagery shock, offend or surprise you? How does this affect your view of the poem or poet being ‘Christian’ or otherwise?

I wrote both of these poems. This is what I was thinking about when I first penned them:

Bread of Life, Fiona Veitch Smith, 1998

In 1998 I was working with Youth With a Mission in Cape Town. I ran a performing arts group with my husband, Rodney. In YWAM we were exposed to the concept of the ‘two-handed-gospel’ which essentially is a crossover between the sometimes opposing views of Christian ‘mission’.

The one group believe that God’s love needs to be shown as a ’social gospel’, providing practical help to the outcasts of society. In Muizenberg, where I lived, there was plenty of opportunity to show God’s love this way as it was a gathering point for ‘Bergies’ – vagrants.

But the other view, which I had been brought up with, was that practical help was well and good but unless the soul was ’saved’ by confession of sin and accepting Jesus as Lord, then the person’s life would not be truly transformed. People with this view spent more time involved in door-to-door and street evangelism than setting up homeless shelters.

The two-handed-gospel was meant to address both needs. This poem was my response to that, expressing my doubts about how the homeless man would respond to the ’second hand’. I now believe you should show love in practical ways without ’strings’ attached. Do it in God’s name and allow Him to apply it to people’s hearts. I still believe that you must speak of God’s love whenever you have an opportunity, but practical help should not be conditional.

Exercise 2:
What are your views on the two-handed-gospel? How might you express this message in a poem or story? Take some time and write down your thoughts.

A Traveller Through the Karoo, Fiona Veitch Smith, 2007

I wrote this poem after thinking about a painting that used to hang in my uni flat back in 1989. It was of a flowering aloe in the Karoo. An aloe is a cactus-like plant that produces one giant, red phallic flower once a year. The Karoo is a semi-desert area in South Africa which, at first glance, appears lifeless. But when the aloes are in flower, it’s magnificent. I wrote this poem in response to that image.

If you were to ask me what this poem is ‘about’ I would say it’s about spiritually and artistically castrated people. The yellowed grass pointing ‘heavenwards’ speaks of the struggles in our life that point us towards God. The phallic aloe is a symbol of fertility and life in what appears to be a dead place. The man who is just passing through the desert is ‘castrated’ whereas the aloe refers to people who have found life there.

Does this change your view of the ‘Christianness’ of the poem? The difference between this poem and the Bread of Life is that I approached that one with a ‘message’ and wrote the piece as an expression of those concerns. This second poem started as an image – a non-spiritual image – and I simply responded to it. The message / meaning / theme of the poem only emerged in the writing.

Exercise 3:
Look again at the first poem or piece of prose you wrote in response to images in exercise 2 of the session on what’s your style?. What message, theme or meaning emerged from your writing? Did you approach the picture with a message in mind, or did it just develop? Don’t worry, if there’s no ‘message’ other than an emotional or artistic expression, that’s great. And if you do have a ‘message’ and it’s not Christian or even spiritual, that’s ok too.

Does everything we write have to have a message?

As a writer who also happens to be a Christian I have felt a great burden to ‘use my gift’ for God. I would feel guilty if everything I wrote wasn’t ‘furthering the Gospel’ in some way. This was the result, I believe, of spending my formative years in a church that had no use for the arts other than as a mode of evangelism. But I thank God I’m finally free of that. Now I describe myself as a writer who is a Christian rather than a Christian writer.

There is such a thing as art for arts sake. And as the Eric Liddell character said in the film ‘Chariots of Fire’, ‘when I run I feel God’s pleasure.’ He said this in response to his sister who was questioning how running in the Olympics was fulfilling his Christian call (he then went on to be a missionary in China). What Liddell meant is that to exercise his gift was, in itself, a way of giving glory to God. It’s the same with art. There are many writers who are Christians but don’t produce ‘Christian’ writing. And that is quite legitimate. For more on this read these excellent articles by Science Fiction writers Joe Clifford Faust and Simon Morden.

Some of my writing is aimed at Christian readers, others not at all. I write for the Christian and secular press (If you’re interested, have a look at my portfolio list). I have written for Sports Illustrated on one hand and the very Christian Woman Alive, on the other. I have written a Christian children’s book, Donovon’s Rainbow, but am currently ghostwriting a series of picture books with no Christian message at all. I do not find this a contradiction as when I am writing for Sports Illustrated I do not cease being a Christian. My position as a child of God is dependent upon who I am, not what I do.

Unfortunately some people in the church do not share my view and condemn anyone who does. Take for example this sad tale from a Christian writer that I read on an internet forum:

I once had a very close friend rake me over the coals for not writing about matters of faith instead of matters of the heart (I write mainly love stories). She said that my ’secular novels’ weren’t furthering the Kingdom of God in the slightest and that I was ‘wasting my God-given writing talent’ because I wasn’t writing specifically about my faith.

I explained that the novels came to me very easily, but that writing about matters of faith was foreign and difficult for me – I can churn out 20 pages in one sitting of my novel, but it takes me days to write two or three pages of faith-based matter – and she asked me whether I thought following Christ always had to be easy?

I don’t know. I guess her words still hurt me, even after two years … but the thing is, after two years I’ve realized that she’s wrong. It is more glorifying to God to write the words he gives me, than to try and force my writing into someone else’s mold.

Am I writing great, crossover literature? Of course not. Don’t expect high art from me, anyone. I write to entertain, but I write from a worldview of loving Jesus. And yes, I do think that does come out clearly in one’s writing, whether one is writing about faith or pirates. (By ‘Amica’ on www.christianwriters.com)

Exercise 4:
With these thoughts in mind, write a poem, story or short article on what it means for you to be a Christian writer or, even, a writer who is a Christian.

Next week we will be looking at how to use your writing as witness (if you feel led to do so, of course!)

This is the first session in my six-week course on Writing as Worship & Witness for Christians. This week we will look at:

• God the Storyteller
• Finding your own style
• Creativity and art

You may do this course on your own or you might like to join up with other writers for discussion. Feel free to post comments or ask questions at the end of the post.

God the storyteller

If you ask most people why they want to write they will say it’s because they have ‘something to share’. And it’s not surprising, because that’s how God made us. God himself had something to share when the Word became Flesh (John 1:1) in the form of Jesus. It’s no coincidence, I believe, that the Word in this case is a translation of the Greek word Logos that means ‘living word’. This is the ‘word’ that created all life when it was spoken by God in the beginning (Genesis 1:1).

So the use of words, whether spoken or written, is a creative force. Ideas are spread through them, relationships are forged with them and our personalities are manifest through them. The corollary is also true. Words can bring death, so they need to be used wisely. And all the more so when those words are given permanence on the printed page. A spoken word may soon be forgotten, but a written word may be there forever, multiplied every time it is reprinted. God chose to use the written word as a record of his communication with us.

Exercise 1:
Take your Bible and divide the books into the following cateogries. There may be some overlap.

• Poetry
• Allegorical storytelling
• Drama
• Apologetics
• Non-fiction memoirs and history

God used poetry (Psalms, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes), allegorical storytelling (Genesis 1 – 3, Job, Jesus’ parables), drama (Daniel, Ezekiel, Revelations), apologetics (the epistles), non-fiction memoirs and histories (the history books of the OT, the Gospels, Acts). It reflects all writing styles and all reading tastes. I doubt St Paul would have been comfortable telling parables, or the writer of Job explaining the theological background to the theme of atonement.

Finding your style

Some people are more suited to writing poetry than prose and some people do well at both. A poem is a snapshot of a moment. It’s a literary picture painted with words. However, if you can’t rest until you know what happened before and after a moment or event, then you’re probably a natural storyteller. A story can be allegorical (reflecting a message), but it doesn’t have to be; it can simply be ‘art for arts sake’. (We will be discussing the pros and cons of message-based writing next week.) If you are interested more in what people say than the surroundings they’re in, you may be a dramatist. If you feel uncomfortable dealing with the imaginary or made-up, you may do better at non-fiction. If you have a compulsion to explain, defend or teach principles from an event or moment, you are probably an apologist.

Discussion:What is your natural writing style? What have you written before? What genre would you like to try that you haven’t?

Exercise 2:
Take a picture that attracts you and write down 20 words that come to mind. You may struggle to find 20, but get as close as you can. The first 10 will come easily, but it’s as you grapple to find the obscure and rare that you will unearth some gems. Do not at this point try to form them into sentences.

Click to enlarge

Exercise 3:
Now take those 20 words and form them into a

• poem
• story
• scene from a play

Exercise 4:
Choose another picture and explain, as if to a non-believer, how it reflects God’s love. Now explain the same concept by using a story from your own life.

Click to enlarge

Discussion: Which of these exercises from 3 and 4 came the easiest to you? How does it relate to your earlier discussion of your natural writing style? Which piece of writing expresses the essence of your chosen picture/s best?

Creativity and Art

What is creativity? The Collins dictionary defines it as ‘the ability to cause something to exist’. Without getting into too much of an existential discussion, I would say that with every thought that is expressed, something has been created. It was Descarte who said: ‘I think, therefore I am’; well I would add, ‘I think, therefore I create.’ But how do we express our thoughts? Sometimes we do it verbally, other times by body language and still again through what is loosely termed ‘art’. Art takes place when a thought is expressed and fixed in such a way that other people may experience it on an aesthetic level – through music, writing, painting, sculpture, choreography and so on.

Many artists say that their best work takes place when they ‘by-pass’ the thought and simply express the feeling. This may be true, but for writers, who use a verbal medium, a feeling must first be converted into a thought before it can be put into words. Don’t over analyse the thought before you express it, as this way you can ‘channel’ the purest interpretation of the feeling, but some cognitive process needs to take place. Some writers prefer to mull over a thought and give it form before they put pen to paper – I’m one of them – but it’s good practice to try and switch off the ‘editor’ at least for the first draft. First response trigger exercises are useful in this regard and can release some unexpected words and images.

Exercise 5:
Write down your first response to these words or phrases:

• Blue ball
• And that’s when the sadness came
• Coffee

The first task of a good writer is to convert feelings into thoughts and then into words. This is the raw material that can then be converted into something more permanent. Some writers refuse to toy with their first drafts, believing their creativity will be diluted; I disagree. Allowing your critical mind to improve a piece of writing is where the craftsman meets the artist. Something produced only by the former will lack soul and something by the latter will lack form. Good writing is a combination of art and craft.

Don’t forget to join me next week for message-based writing.

We write because we were created to. Ever since the first scratchings on cave walls, people have tried to communicate their thoughts, stories and ideas through the written word. People of faith are no different. This six-week workshop is aimed at people who want to explore writing as part of their Christian walk. You can work through the material on your own or as part of a discussion group. And by all means post comments or ask questions at the end of each session. If you are not interested in Christian writing but would still like to develop your writing gift, visit my writing advice website The Crafty Writer where there is plenty of other material which you may find helpful. Starting on Tuesday 6 November, here on VeitchSmith.com we will look at:

Week 1 – What’s your style?

God the storyteller; it’s all in the Bible.
Poetry, storytelling, drama, apologetics and non-fiction prose – finding your natural expression.

Week 2 – What’s the message?

The pros and cons of message-based writing. Should Christians be involved in secular writing?

Week 3 – Writing as Witness

Using your gift to share God’s love.

Week 4 – Writing as Worship

Using your writing gift to enrich your relationship with God.

Week 5 – Prophetic writing

An optional extra for charismatic Christians: Is there such a thing as prophetic writing? Hearing God’s voice and writing it down.

Week 6 – Writing opportunities

An overview of the Christian writing market and where to find outlets for your writing.

For more on Christian writing read my article Onward Christian Writers and visit www.christianwriter.co.uk or www.christianwriters.com