Letters from the Left Coast (and back again)
Correspondence between Nick Loenen and Angela Reitsma Bick.
Dear Angela,
Happy New Year to you, your family and creative writers team.
Attached is a 1971 article from the Vancouver Sun that my son dug up: “Pulse Beats for Youth: Group Shares Art, Religion as Commune.” It brought back memories.
That entire project was funded by a federal arts grant. Some of the projects included film nights, artist studios, music workshops and writing sessions.
There was such intense passion about redeeming culture. I thought – is there anything similar among Christian Reformed Church (CRC) people today? There probably is, but I could only think of the work you and your team does.
May God bless you in the year of the Lord, 2024.
Nick
Dear Nick,
It’s lovely to hear from you, as always. Happy new year!Fun to read about those passionate culture-shapers of the 1970s, who could rent a building in Vancouver for $500 a month and dedicate every square inch of living to following Christ. Ed Loenen must be one of your brothers? I think my dad still has some copies of Credo lying around. He also has many old Vanguards.
Communal living was a big thing in the 70s, right? Some of that article feels like a product of its time. Which is not to say that the same all-encompassing ethos couldn’t be translated into today, though I think you’re right that it’s rare. Why?
I’m honoured you put CC’s team on your list of people working to redeem culture creatively (in part with our own federal grant money!).
Say hello to Jayne,
Angela
Dear Angela,
You ask an important and complex question: essentially, “what inhibits Christians today from engaging more robustly in redeeming culture?” As you note, the burst of activity that motivated CRC folk to engage culture in the late 1960s-70s was in part at least induced by the times, the counter-cultural hippy movement. It took many forms, including experiments with communal living. Both Bert Hielema and my friends John and Roelly deVries started communes at Tweed, Ontario, which I visited several times.
Yes, that is my late brother Ed. We are glad to have some of his paintings. He taught art at Fraser Valley Christian High, but in his last 15 years he painted full time and, surprisingly, made a modest living at it. I’ll send you a link to some of his work.
We are freezing with a sharp cold wind that tumbles down the coast. Jayne is baking cherry pie, filling the house with baking smells – all the more precious when snow whirls and wind howls.
Best!
Nick
Dear Nick,
After a mild Christmas season, temperatures have just started to drop in southern Ontario. The furnace at our local Christian high school is broken and I feel for the students, writing and typing with cold fingers!
It does seem like there are more obstacles to the work of redeeming culture today than there used to be. Is it because society has become more individualistic? Busier? Wealthier? Are people overwhelmed? Where are the strong Reformational leaders? Where do we find role models, faithful inspiration?
We’ve had a few articles in CC about co-housing – multiple families living under one roof. And I find the work of *culture is not optional in Michigan to be inspiring.
Angela
Dear Angela,
You mention several contributing causes to this lack of cultural engagement, to which I would add: our current predominant understanding of what happened on the cross. Our theology needs a strong dose of Christus Victor: on the cross Jesus attained not only personal salvation for those who believe in him, he also crushed the serpent’s head. Power over the evil that distorts all creation.
We used to sing Onward Christian Soldiers. It has been scrapped for being too militaristic, but are we still enlisted to do battle with the Enemy, or do we only have a message of personal comfort? The cross ushered in the Kingdom of God, victory over the evil one. Are we not part of that Kingdom, the struggle that God’s will be done on earth as in heaven? That vision is mostly missing. Most sermons we hear do not speak to life on earth at all. We don’t demand anything of our young people.
To sum up, our picture of what actually happened on the cross shapes how Christians relate to culture. That picture determines whether a rush to redeem culture may yet be ignited. Christian cultural engagement flows from spiritual warfare, not from culture wars. The pulpit matters. We need a prophetic call to spiritual warfare on earth.
From the CRC preachers I know around here, I can think of only one who preaches the Kingdom view. How sad! You will be pleased to know that preacher is a woman. God bless her!
It is difficult to be brief on such complex matters!
Nick
Dear Nick,
I sent your brother’s art to Maaike, CC’s Art Director. Both of us were struck by Ed’s painting called “Soli Deo Gloria.” Its composition tells a story, Maaike noted. “The church’s cross is obscured by branches and street poles,” she said, “and the trash cans in front create a scene of a very ordinary and mired-down church. The clouds and even the siding on the house are a brighter white than the cross! In contrast, the street behind the woman stretches to the horizon, which could be a commentary on how the ’glory of God’ is more visible outside than inside the church, and in the people who take beauty to the streets, like the woman playing stand-up bass!”
Maybe that’s the reminder we both need that there are still today faithful Reformed Christians helping bring shalom to God’s world – inside and outside the church. Artists, musicians and writers taking beauty to the streets. Activists and local city councilors, seeking justice to the glory of God.
I’ll keep hunting for examples, and you keep sharpening that prophetic edge. Thanks so much for this conversation.
Stay warm!
AngelaPS: You’ll be happy to hear the school’s furnace is finally fixed, which is a relief to everyone. How did the cherry pie turn out
One problem with the Reformational and its world view movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s was that it never became part of the formal church (CRC)’s agenda. It depended on individuals and their vision for a new society. It could not sustain itself because the doing became more important than passing the vision on. I too became heavily involved in building distinctly Christian organizations and institutions, taking on the dragons of secular society at great personal expense, in my case in CLAC. But for the most part the Reformational movement was too idealistic. We thought Christians and their churches would support and join us en masse, and that did not happen.
Was the effort largely wasted? I would like to think not, some remnants of Christian social action are still identifiable. Did we rely too much on human efforts? Perhaps.
Ed Grootenboer
Kitchener, Ont.