In the independent film, Sympathy for Delicious, a young man named Dean struggles to understand why God won’t answer his prayer. Dean has lost the use of his legs in a car accident and now, mysteriously, has the ability to heal others — but not himself.
Dean desperately wants to be healed but when he visits a priest he is challenged to look deeper at his experience. The priest suggests that God is already offering Dean healing, only it isn’t the healing he is looking for
Lisa Cole Smith
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Implicit in this conversation is that maybe God is concerned with something in Dean that won’t be healed by walking again. Dean wanted to see the world simply but God’s answer was more complex. It required him to see beyond the obvious and look deeper at life’s meaning and purpose. This “secular” film suggests that perhaps our image of what should be is limiting our ability to see what life is truly about.
“A culture which is oriented to … production has made us insensitive to the symbolic function of persons and things” (Environment and Art in Catholic Worship, 1978). As an artist and pastor this quote speaks to both parts of me. It is no secret that our world’s first concerns are what we produce and what we consume. Yet the true value of our world, and certainly the people in it, is far more than what they do for us or what we do for them. If we have grown insensitive to the symbolic, how capable are we of seeing God in our world, let alone show others?
I wonder what we as Christians are contributing to counteract this “production”-oriented culture we live in. Are we trained well enough in our sensitivity to the symbolic function of people and things to speak meaningfully to how and where God is working in our world? Are we really aware? Are we paying attention? Are we teaching others a mature faith? A symbol is something which points to complex meaning outside of itself, something of value beyond the object or person. We see the creative force of God in nature, love in a mother holding a newborn and maybe even vibrancy of life in city traffic — if we have eyes to see.
Yet I am afraid that we have forgotten the value of symbol and tend to evaluate art, media and culture in superficial ways and that has seeped into our evaluation of worship as well. As consumers, we see only the immediate form and its value to us in quick, easy ways. “Is it family-friendly?” “Does it make me feel good?” “Do I get it?” These are legitimate questions to ask when choosing a video to watch with the kids on a Friday night, but what about as adults? How should mature Christians engage with our culture? Do we protect ourselves or react against it? These are difficult questions because we, too, are a part of our culture. We cannot hide from ourselves.
Should the Church deeply engage with culture on Christ’s terms, we might see miraculous things occur. If churches were to become experts in helping others develop skills of sensitivity to the symbolic and mysterious it could be one of the most profoundly impacting things to happen in our time. It is imperative that we as Christians learn to engage symbol and mystery in a deeply mature way. Those who appreciate the symbolic function of persons and things are able to be still, to listen and see. This is part of what leads to being a mature person of faith. It is what is required to engage the hard questions in life and to show others where to find God in the midst of war and pain, joblessness and suffering.
Sometimes, as Sympathy for Delicious suggests, we are asking the right questions but unwilling or unable to listen for the right answers. I wonder what it would take for us to develop eyes to see and ears to hear. What if we, the Church, our history full of rich symbolism and mystery were to accept the call to teach the world a deeper sensitivity to the symbolic function of people and things? Learning to see and hear means growing comfortable with silence, allowing room for questions and doubt. Most of all it means allowing God to be God in ways that don’t make sense to us and frequently make us uncomfortable. This takes training and discipline.
Neither life nor the Bible are “G” rated and I don’t think I would call them “friendly” either. In fact, they could be rated “R” in the earthshakingly real way that only God can be real — if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Lisa Cole Smith is pastor of Convergence, a Baptist community of faith in Alexandria, Va., and is a trustee of the Religious Herald.