I've been meaning to post this ever since my last tattoo session, but well, December = finals + Christmas working at a church, so this is the first time I've gotten around to it. First, the tattoo. Remember, it's not done, but people have been asking for pics, so here it is.
The tree at the bottom is in cool colors - blue, green, and purple; but as you follow the tree up, it bursts into red, orange and yellow flames, and the phoenix erupts. The part that has yet to be finished includes the top, where blue and purple will dominate, a starry universe sky. When I first described what I wanted to my artist (Sean Ambrose), I explained that I wanted something that would express how our lives are filled with both love and loss, how there will always be things that disrupt and transform our lives, but in the end, all will be for the best. I've had the phoenix for six years now, and I wanted to work it into the half-sleeve as a symbol of change and rebirth. I can't wait to get it finished, and I'm thrilled with how it's turned out so far.
(By the way, if you're in New England and looking for an artist, I can't say enough about Sean at Midnight Moon in Meredith, NH. I'd drive four hours to see him...probably more. If you're looking for highly realistic work, amazing colors, and/or an artist who will truly work with you to create a piece of art that you'll carry for the rest of your life, he's your guy. Check out his portfolio here.)
In Worship class this semester, we talked about sacrament an awful lot. There are a lot of definitions, and they vary from tradition to tradition, but Augustine's "visible sign of an invisible reality" resonates with me a lot. The United Methodist Church's Articles of Religion call the sacraments "means of grace by which God works invisibly in us."
As you might guess from my description of my half-sleeve above, my spirituality has everything to do with my body modifications (see previous post about lip rings...) As we were talking about tattoos and spirituality, I said "For me, my tattoos are an external expression of an internal reality...a visible physical manifestation of an invisible truth." At which point I instantly flashed back to Worship class, and realized that for me, my ink is most definitely the visible sign of an invisible reality.
Although many don't know it, Christianity and tattoos go way back. The following is excerpted from a paper I wrote about tattoos and the gospel last spring:
"Although the practice was banned by Constantine in the 3rd century, only 150 years later there's a report in a commentary on Isaiah that Christians were being tattooed on their arms with the cross or the name of Jesus. In 787 an edict by the Council of Northumberland distinguished between sacred and secular tattooing, encouraging the first and condemning the second. The practice was banned by the Roman Catholic church at the beginning of the middle ages as "a form of deviltry," but picked up by Crusaders traveling to the Holy Land. For several centuries, pilgrims to Jerusalem were by and large the only ones in Western Europe to receive tattoos. That changed in the 1700s, when explorers began to encounter various tribal cultures and their tattooing practices. From that point on, tattooing virtually exploded among sailors, soldiers, and the aristocratic elite, leading up to the present day." (citations available upon request)
So I know that an external sign of my internal reality isn't what Augustine was talking about when he defined sacrament; and I know that my tattoos aren't sacraments the way communion and baptism are. But there's something in this whole visible manifestation of the invisible thing. I also know that a lot of Christians still feel nervous when someone who looks like me with tattoos and piercings walks into a church; I'm pretty grateful that I serve a congregation that's willing to stretch itself and move beyond its comfort zone as far as that's concerned.
But in this post-modern, post-Christian or at least post-church world, body modification doesn't need to be something that separates those who follow Christ from those who don't. I argue that it can be a point of connection - a place where we can acknowledge that there is a deep, human need to recognize the spiritual physically, to express with words and ritual and art the deep spiritual truths that we know individually and collectively. In a 2005 survey, 24% of Americans had one or more tattoos; in the 18-29 age range, that number jumped to 36%. Tattoos are not fringe or a fad; they are a part of our culture, and a way that a generation disillusioned with the church's take on spirituality is using to connect with the internal and external divine. If the church doesn't recognize and embrace these new-old ways of being in communion with others and with God, it has no one to blame for its death but itself.
~peace&blessings~
