paint-by-numbers vs. freestyle canvas

Last night, Ben and the girls and I gorged ourselves on Pizza Hut pizza and watched "Phantom of the Opera". After that, Ben and Erica made snickerdoodle cookies while Debi and I worked on a paint-by-numbers picture.

During my shower this morning - my best time for thinking - I thought about faith.

Some people have a kind of "paint-by-numbers" faith. They need to have a prescribed way of thinking and like to have their theology nice and neatly in a box. A relationship with God is based more on knowledge than experience. They find comfort in a worship service that is predictable, familiar and ritualistic. They gravitate to a church family where this kind of theology, relationship with God and worship is protected.

Others are "freestyle canvas" artists with their faith. They like to keep things open and fluid in their approach, understanding and application of scripture. They use language which emphasizes their experience of God. They are happiest in worship that expresses creativity and passion, rejecting a prescribed pattern because people disengage and are, therefore, unchallenged. They commit to communities of faith that allow freedom and variation.

And never the two shall meet.

At least, that's been my experience within my own church heritage. I've come to find out that it's not just our heritage, though. I've also realized that it's not merely generational. Nor cultural. We have people in every church whose hearts ache because they feel abandoned. We have others who feel like they're controlled or suppressed by the loud minority. There is finger wagging on one side, and complete lack of commitment on the other.

Meanwhile, others go through a day without Christ being spoken into their life.

Can't the paint-by-numbers and the freestyle canvas hang on the same wall as a testimony to the Master Painter who created and painted both with delight? Or are we so narrow and limiting ourselves of God's power to work through both? Aren't we aware that onlookers don't even want to come to the art museum because of the mess?

It's something for each piece of art to think about.