Check out this re:form confirmation video from Sparkhouse ministries. Not only is this a sweet new form of confirmation that seeks to guide children and young adults through the faith, but it also hits the theological nail right on the head (especially in terms of God’s creation and re-creation through our given vocation).
Watch the whole thing…and then respond.
This is very interesting. I may just have to share it with my friends and on my blog too, to see what they all think about it! Thanks for sharing.
Very cute & effective video! Just one complaint: what’s up with using only male imagery, and a stereotypical white male God figure? Couldn’t you be more inclusive?
Tim,
Thanks for the note. First of all, I don’t work for Spark House or re:form confirmation, I just saw the video and enjoyed its core theological message. Note that first of all.
Now, I agree that there was a lot of male imagery, but some of the vocations in there were women. In addition, the narrator is female. Furthermore, follow this link http://www.wearesparkhouse.org/reform/ and check out the sample video “Who Wrote the Bible.” You will notice there is an African American confirmation kid, a blond woman asking a question and this time a male narrator. So, just watching two different videos there seems to be diversity and inclusiveness.
As far as God goes…yeah, he is white with a white beard. Very stereotypical/common Western vision of “God in the clouds.” To me I was almost offended at how comical the God character was in these videos, but looking at it from your perspective I can now see how they are probably using that stereotypical vision of God to work up more of a caricature that confirmation age students might think is, well, funny. Does that make sense?
I am usually one to notice non-inclusive tendencies of curriculum etc., but after watching multiple vids and know Spark House’s work a little bit, I know that isn’t what they are going for.
If you would like to communicate directly to them check out http://www.wearesparkhouse.org or contact them via Facebook.
Also, I checked out your website. Thanks for being part of the movement to connect, challenge and change our church.
I invite you to take part in the wider REcreative conversation here at http://recreative.wordpress.com and hear your words on the project.
Shalom.
Regards,
Ken Chitwood
Being personally involved in this project I want to say how much we appreciate your feedback. To specifically answer your question, if you look 2:20 into this video you’ll note that God is being portrayed as a female potter. Also while some of the other 39 videos also have the character God portrayed as a white bearded man there is a lot of other diverse imagery used to depict God throughout. There’s also a couple of videos that directly address this issue, that no one can really describe or imagine God and that any imagery or symbol is in the end an inaccurate and completely inadequate representation of God. On a fun side note I’ll mention that the female narrator also did the voice for the white bearded God.
Thank you Edgar, for your comment, your clarifications and your work. We all appreciate it. Cheers. Peace.
-Ken
I love this very much. It has meaningful message presented in a simple but effective manner! I appreciate the fact that God still creates through us!
@Ash – What is your blog address?
@Senzy – Yes, and as you can see, the artist plays a major role in re-creation in their vocation. Artists and musicians inspire others,often through the mundane things of life, by their music and art.
My blog address is faithbeyondwords
I was just checking my blog stats and this blog post (with the video) came up as one of the most viewed pages on my site (and it’s only been up for a few weeks). It already has 116 views!
I thank everyone who stopped by and encourage everyone to check out my other pages, including “What Recreative is About” and some of the chapter posts for the book project.
Peace.
-Ken
I really like what I saw here! Great stuff, especially as I’m finding myself with young people…teenagers….seeking that “something more” for the first time. Anyway….
Yeah, hated that God was an old white guy. The stereotype is probably not that funny. Would have loved to have seen God change in appearance, to encompass all possibilities.
And, again, the pastor is also male. I think most of the vocations were male…except the artist. I would like to see 2 of each vocation depicted….one male, one female…again allow for the possibilities.
Those things said….I still really like this video and would like to know more about what’s available as a part of this for Confirmation instruction.
Pastor Julie Hutson
Seattle, WA
Hi Julie, thanks for your feedback. Glad you enjoyed the videos. Please see my above comments about the diversity of images of God. Also in regards to general diversity there is a wide showing of diversity of male, female, ethnicity, etc. throughout all 40 of the videos for re:form. Also I think the construction worker in this video is a female, she just has short hair
As I was viewing this, my 11 year old son began watching over my shoulder. When it finished, he asked to see it again from the beginning. I call that a successful video.