Rich Mullins once said, "A faith that moves mountains is a faith that expands horizons.  It does not bring us into a smaller world of easy answers, but into a larger one where there is room for wonder."

Faith opens up our horizon of possibilities, thus faith yields creativity and thus, well, culture. As Ken Myers said, and Andy Crouch (and many of us) like to explore and discuss, "Culture is what we make of the world... in both senses." The STUFF we make from the raw materials God bequeathes us, and also the MEANING we make of this world that God so loves. (Thanks Ken, Andy, N. Wolterstorff, etc.) Faith expands our sandbox and tools and friends within it, so that we might enjoy creating -- doing the right thing and doing it well.

Some friends and I are writing "A Faith and Culture Devotional: Daily Readings in Art, Science, and Life" for Zondervan (Nov 08). It's fun to consider the interplay of faith and culture, and what "the assurance of things hoped for and conviction of things not yet seen" (Heb. 11:1) did in and for Augustine, Rome, Oxford, Rembrandt, Pascal, Bach, researchers trying to understand quantum physics, string theory, and dark matter -- and did for those artists of a trillion quiet kindnesses, janitors and grandmothers and teachers and neighbors.

By contrast, the void is striking in the lives of those with small sandboxes, who hoard the toys to themselves, and who are no longer willing to wonder. There's is a low sky, dark with clouds, and blocked by mountains.

I am asking myself questions, and perhaps in my next entry I'll have some answers in the form of stories:

What am I creating with what I've been given? Is it beautiful and useful? How could it be more so?

Is my home a place of creativity, how so? How could it be?

Is my life open enough to wonder, to hospitality, to kindness to neighbors?

What culture am I helping to shape and create in my neighborhood, in my country, in my world?

I'll get back to you on this. Would love to know what you're making of the world, too.