The Scrapbooking Industry and Post-Modernism

Some of you have read my blog for quite awhile and might know that I struggle with the whole scrap-booking/memory preservation industry.

Last night, while watching The Truth Project tour on History. I finally nailed down why. During the video, Del Tacket discussed postmodernism and how it effects our understanding of history. It was like being beamed between the eyes. Now I know what is inherently wrong with how the scrap-booking industry and many others approach the issue memory preservation.
Before the post-modern era we went through three main eras of historical understanding.

Christian Worldview: God is Truth. All of Creation is encompassed in His will and plan. Our understanding of history and life must take in His metanarrative. A metanarrative is an all-inclusive story that gives meaning to all events in life. The Christian Worldview recognized the need to see the big picture and to understand that our little story fits into a much bigger and much more important story. His.

Modern Worldview: The modern worldview gave rise to humanism. Human’s are the sum of the story and as human’s our understanding of science leads to progress and improvement. The story is no longer God’s it is mankind’s.

Postmodern Worldview: The postmodern worldview is completely subjective and linked to the individual story. Rather than one all-encompassing purpose (God’s), or conflicting broad-based purposes (depending on your view of mankind(for example, feminism or socialism)), you have a multiplicity of individual purposes and the value of every purpose is equal (What is okay for you is fine for you and what is okay for me is fine for me and we can’t judge at all).

In less technical terms you could look at these ways of approaching reality as God-centered, Human-centered, and Self-centered.
Jean-Francois Lyotard gives this brief definition of postmodern: “Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives.”
Albert Mohler responds to Lyotard by saying:

Claims to universal truth--the metanarratives--are oppressive, "totalizing" and thus must be resisted [for the Postmodernist].
The problem with this, of course, is that Christianity is meaningless apart from the gospel--which is a metanarrative. Indeed, the Christian gospel is nothing less than the Metanarrative of all Metanarratives. For Christianity to surrender the claim that the gospel is universally true and objectively established is to surrender the center of our faith. Christianity is the great metanarrative of redemption. Our story begins with creation by the sovereign, omnipotent God; continues through the fall of the humanity into sin and the redemption of sinners through the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross; and promises an eternal dual destiny for all humanity--the redeemed with God forever in glory and the unredeemed in eternal punishment. That is the message we preach--and it is a glorious, world-changing metanarrative.
We do not preach the gospel as one narrative among many true narratives, or as "our" narrative alongside the authentic narratives of others. We cannot retreat to claim that biblical truth is merely true for us. Our claim is that the Bible is the Word of God for all. This is deeply offensive to the postmodern worldview, which charges all who claim universal truth with imperialism and oppression.

In light of these thoughts, go to the Creative Memories website. On the home page a banner declares “Your Life, Your Story, Your Way.”

Doesn’t get much more postmodern than that, does it? However, before you pitch all your scrap-booking supplies and the associated guilt with not keeping up, remember. Remember that God calls us to remember. He calls us to remembrance repeatedly in scripture. Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper saying “Do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19.

Several years ago, when I returned to Kansas for my grandfather’s funeral, I wrote about some of my concerns about memory:

I have mixed feelings about memory. Not the kind of memory that recognizes we put the keys on the ledge and files it away for easy retrieval later. I am concerned with memory and how it defines us as individuals. I believe memory is vital. God often had the Israelites build altars at points of significance so that they would remember and not forget.
Yet there is a danger in altars. If we aren't careful we worship the altar and translate it into an idol. Sometimes I feel like that is what is happening in today's society. We worship at the altar of memory - we tithe to the gods of scrapbooks and journals of self. We lose track of why we are remembering and only focus on how well we are doing it.

How does memory serve us and define us as individuals? Poorly if we don’t fit it into the metanarrative. It becomes a self-centered activity that yields no meaning. Meaning is found only when we plug it into His story and understand our life in light of our growth in Him in relation to His purpose in history.

I am not suggesting that we stop scrap booking or preserving our memories in journals. Writing a memoir could be a very worthwhile activity.

I mean only to suggest that we need to understand that our memories are part of something bigger. Our stories should point to a bigger story and our memories should always remind us of who directs not only our life but who directs every detail of Creation.

weekends

This past weekend, hubby and I attended a leadership training seminar for The Truth Project. The weekend before, I took my family to Chicago so that I could be the photographer for my cousin K's wedding and so the girls could see UP again.


The church was a tiny 130 year-old church down by Wrigley Field. The building and windows were beautiful.


I had thought during the reception that the wedding and reception reminded me of my own. Later that weekend, both my husband and my father said it was like our wedding too. I think the smallness, the simplicity, and the relaxed atmosphere is what made it feel so familiar.


I've been very busy working on photos from the wedding and I still have many to work on but these of their 'bicycle built for two' are far and away my favorites.

time spent pulling weeds is time well spent....

Yesterday I pulled weeds. We were in Florida at the worst time for my garden this year. It rained and it was hot for the two weeks I was gone and the weeds took over the garden. Pulling weeds got me to thinking (what else is there to do when pulling weeds, pulling weeds is pretty mindless really).

Sin has often been compared to weeds and our lives are often compared to a harvest field and the Bible frequently reminds us that we are to produce fruit. That is the difference between weeds and good plants. Weeds don’t produce any sort of beneficial fruit, they seldom produce the beautiful blossoms that are treasured in flower gardens, and if they do flower they are often invasive and out of control.

Consequently, gardeners don’t like weeds and don’t want them in a garden that is intended to grow beneficial food or beautiful flowers. So gardeners spend hours on their hands and knees pulling weeds out from among the fruitful or flowering plants. But a good gardener knows that while the weed may be gone from the surface of the soil, it isn’t necessarily gone. If the gardener doesn’t go to the root of the problem, the weed will grow back, just like sin.

We can remove the visible signs of sin from our lives and feel wonderful and suddenly one day we look at our life and realize that we’ve fallen into the same sin again and wonder why it is so hard to get rid of sin. It is because sin has roots.

While gardeners universally dislike weeds, it is ignorant to think that all weeds should be removed or treated the same way. Also, it is good to remember that some weeds are harder to remove than others. See how much like sin a weed is?

Some weeds like dandelions grow with a taproot. The taproot is a long strong root that goes deeply into the ground and brings up the nutrients it needs to survive from the deep. If the gardener wants to eradicate the plant, he must get the entire root out. If he doesn’t remove the entire root the remaining piece will send up a new plant and continue to flourish. So a gardener must dig deep to get every bit of the root out.

Some sins are like that. The root is deeply embedded in our lives. They reach all the way to the center of our soul so to speak and if we want to get rid of the sin we have to get every scrap of the root out of the soul. While it is hard to dig that deeply into our lives to eradicate a deeply rooted sin – the result is rewarding. If the root is completely gone so is the sin.

Some grassy weeds have spreading root systems that run along under the surface of the earth allowing the weed to pop up again several inches or even feet away. Again the gardener must pull out all the roots. If any roots remain the weed will send up a plant and flourish. However, rather than digging down to get all the root, the gardener needs to follow the root below the surface and if it breaks, he must find it again and continue to remove it.

Some sins are like these weeds with invasive root systems. The sin may not be deep but it doesn’t exist in just one part of our life. It might have started out as a small lie but as the lie grows so does the underground root system supporting it. To eradicate the sin, every little bit of that lie in all the parts of your life that have a root of it in them must be examined and the roots removed.

Still it is tempting to just cut the weed off at the ground – because after all if you can’t see the weeds the garden looks great. However, it is very unwise. The longer those roots stay in the ground the more they spread and you have to keep cutting them off to keep the garden looking good. Every new growing season will bring more weeds spreading underground and choking out the flowers and the vegetables. Eventually, you won’t be able to hide the weeds that are killing your garden. Sounds a lot like secret sins.

A lazy gardener might be tempted to let the weeds grow. Foolish man. The weeds can then go to seed and spread even more rapidly through the garden. I won’t even begin to tell you all the ways seeds spread and how hard it is to kill a seed. If the weeds in the garden are left to go to seed, it takes drastic measures to clean the soil. Often gardeners resort to harsh chemicals to kill everything so that they can start fresh. Can you imagine the agony you introduce to your life if you let sin go so out of control?

The parable of the sower and the seed was about the spreading of the gospel but the images of what weeds can do is a good reminder to the believer to tend to his own weeds lest the faith and fruit in his life be choked out.

Cinderella by Stephen Curtis Chapman

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays,
Without a care in the world.
And I'm sittin' here wearin' the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It's been a long day and there's still work to do,
She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you!
There's a ball at the castle and I've been invited and I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"

So I'll dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I'll dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says "Dad, the prom is just one week away,
And I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"

So I'll dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I'll dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone
She will be gone.

she came home today
With a ring on her hand
Just glowin' and tellin' us all they had planned
She says "Dad, the wedding's still six months away
but I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy please!"

So I'll dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I'll dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song,
(even one song)
Cuz all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

Listen to the Song.

hello, again

It has been a busy summer. But, I hope I find myself back and blogging. However, I think I am busier now than I was during the summer.
At the moment, I am trying to get used to the new schedule. It is a busy one. Honestly, I don’t know how working Mom’s do it. They are more organized people than I, I do believe.
I am not sure what to say so I will let this be my return to blogging and I will write more later.




It has been a busy summer. But, I hope I find myself back and blogging. However, I think I am busier now than I was during the summer.
At the moment, I am trying to get used to the new schedule. It is a busy one. Honestly, I don’t know how working Mom’s do it. They are more organized people than I, I do believe.
I am not sure what to say so I will let this be my return to blogging and I will write more later.