sad...and beautiful place - a foreword

In 1991 REM had a hit with their song "shiny happy people". I remember listening to this track as a teenager and the jingle getting inside of my head.  Although I didn’t know it at the time the song was highlighting the superficiality of the American life and its underlying flaky philosophy of success.  The song while cheerful seemed to possess a strong undercurrent of frustration at the shallowness and phoniness of the ‘shiny happy people’ syndrome.  The song was the echo of an emerging generation who possessed a growing frustration with the Western obsession of hyper-reality.  It identified with a cry for something more real, something more authentic and something more honest.

Unfortunately over the last ten years, this kind of superficiality which is increasingly evident in our western culture seems to have slowly crept its way into the church. These cultural influences coupled with, it has to be said, some poor Bible teaching has led many to think that our ‘level’ of spirituality is directly correlated to our level of success or happiness.  The ‘shiny happy people’ of the church have promoted a gospel of perpetual prosperity in areas of health, wealth and general life success. Unfortunately this is often hid behind a fake smile and a weak theology.  It appears that in many faith communities we ignore the uncomfortable reality Jesus spoke of when He said ‘in this world you will have trouble.’ We have become afraid to be honest and nervous of being vulnerable. We are uncomfortable expressing pain and heartache and we resist asking the questions that trouble our souls, both within our personal lives and our frustrations with the injustices of the world. 

More and more though I am realising that people are on a quest for something more true. They are tired of the hyper-reality of a consumerist society and sick of the religious tokenism of the church. People are searching for the transcendent, but they are tired of the sensational.   They want to fight through the fakery and touch the ‘real’ because in touching the ‘real’, their souls touch something of God.  They connect with the lucid honesty of another REM hit, ‘everybody hurts,’ because they know reality tells us everyone does. 

Experience is teaching me that it is precisely through this acknowledgment of ourselves as a broken humanity there is room for something else.  There is room for grace….this level of honesty regarding our human condition can make us more alive to the present moment.  It may sound strange but what if the present is more than the nothingness it appears to us as.  What if under the surface of this ‘vast sea of nothingness, we may find another world teeming with life?’ What if it is here under the glitz and gaudiness of contemporary society we find something of the life in all its fullness Jesus promises us? What if in the midst of the apparent ordinariness of the present we can experience what some have called the ‘eternal now?’ Maybe too in this place of transcendence our tragedies look smaller and before us opens up the possibility that there is also grace; grace which is given in the ‘miracle of the present moment’ so that even in the midst of our troubles we hear the words of the One who says ‘do not fear, for I have overcome.’

There is nothing more ‘real’ than the Saviour of the world being born to a  teenage girl and a Jewish carpenter in a straw manger surrounded by cows and shepherds.  In the apparent ordinariness and poverty of the situation the glory of God was revealed. (The scary thing is many missed it!!)   Can we conclude that we are never closer to the eternal than when we are with the poor? Is the ‘miracle of the present moment’ ever more tangibly felt than we place ourselves with the marginalised? The words of Jesus suggest that when we are present in these places we are on holy ground.

I have visited Africa many times now and personally I have found that every time I am there, I have become truer; I have become more honest with myself, with others and with God. The lack of materialism, the feel of genuine community, the love and joy of people who have much less than me (materially speaking), all have an incredibly disarming effect on me. Life is unimaginably difficult for these people, but you can’t help be influenced by the way life there conveys something so earthed and natural to the extent you are left thinking that we are the ones with the problems. The characters and communities that this book gives us a window into, gently help the Spirit pull back layers of self and phoniness within me.  It leaves my soul incredibly exposed.  Of course this raises all sorts of insecurities within me but it is in this vulnerable place, amidst the many questions, I find Jesus and a grace which caresses my soul.  It helps me realise that ‘life in all its fullness’ is not simply about being happy, in the superficial way we now define happy.  Rather my experience thus far tells me it has more to do with a deeper feeling within our souls.  A feeling of fullness that comes from knowing that we are loved by our Creator and alive in His world which is full of His beauty. God is more committed to making us holy than He is to making us happy. In the process, if we let Him, He changes us from selfish people into sacrificial ones and He allows us to join with Him in establishing something of His kingdom on earth, finding His beauty and love in the most marginalised places. Why? Because He live there.

As you read through this amazing collage of pictures, poetry and prose allow the spirit to gently blow across your soul.  A combination of the stunning pictures of Gordon Ashbridge and powerful poetry from Steve Stockman provide fascinating and revealing windows of life in the townships of Capetown. But they also do much more than that, if we let it.  This is art that is transformative.  Van Gogh once said ‘…the more I think it over, the more I feel there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.’ Gordon and Steve both know this. Their pictures and poetry somehow also provide a window into our own souls.  They collide with the counterfeit and artificial within us, calling us back to our true selves and calling us forward to people of love and compassion. As you read through this book you will become aware that Gordon and Steve, in their individual ways, have developed ears to hear what the Spirit is saying.  The devotional warmth they have shown as they wrestle honestly with life and faith in this book is consistent with their lifestyles as a whole. The pictures and words they have used in this pages help frame the lives they seek to live. I count it such an honour to call them both my friends.

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