Headstanding Dog

When I See The Blood

I’ve had this song in my head all day. I think it’s a great song for Good Friday. I especially love how it ties together the plagues in Egypt with the cross.

We're All Culture Makers

But also, for those of us who are in school or are stay-at-home moms or are working at the local grocery store, what does culture-making look like in those situations?

I am very eager for us to recognize that culture happens just as much (and in fact, much more often) in the grocery store, at the playground, or in our own kitchen as in artists’ studios, highrise office buildings, or Hollywood production lots. All of us are responsible for some cultural domain!

I like to talk about two aspects of culture making: cultivating and creating. “Creating” is introducing something new into the world that wasn’t there before. This can happen even in the most basic job (for example, when an employee goes out of their way to build relationships with fellow employees and to go above and beyond the routine with their customers). It can happen—has to happen, in fact—in parenting, as we respond creatively to the unpredictable directions our children’s lives and interests take us.

“Cultivating” is not so much about creating something new, as keeping something that is already good, good. I think Christians have often been very quick to point out what is wrong in our cultures—and certainly there are plenty of things to criticize. But much of every human culture is actually in many ways very good, and “cultivators” are people who keep that good. When I dust the shelves in our living room, do the dishes, weed the garden; or when I take out the trash at work, tally up the cash register at the end of the day, or send out this month’s round of invoices, I may not be doing something deeply “creative,” but I am still cultivating: tending and keeping these processes that contribute, hopefully, to a flourishing human environment.

So I would ask of every occupation (paid or unpaid): “What am I cultivating—keeping good? And what am I creating—offering that is new and helpful in this cultural environment?” Those aren’t just questions for artists—they’re for all of us.

-Andy Crouch