Editor’s Note: In a first for Conversations, this issue of the journal features an originally commissioned piece, Millennials, with a meditation prepared by one of the artist’s friends and colleagues. In addition to artwork prepared exclusively for our readers, this collaboration also pairs two millennial believers whose art and words speak both to the ethos of the generation and to the communal and collaborative nature of their natural bent. We’re excited to share Macam and Nelson with you and believe that the Spirit of God will use their intimate perspective on their generation’s relationship with Christian spiritual formation to inform, enliven, and transform you in your walk with God.

Near the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Jones reaches the chamber of the Holy Grail—the mythical cup thought to have been used by Jesus at the Last Supper and inflated by storytellers to give those who drink from it with eternal life—and encounters an ancient, immortal knight, the Grail’s guard. All around Jones stand rows of gold and silver goblets nestled among burning flames. The knight tells the film’s hero and the bad guy, Donovan, to choose the true cup of the covenant, and to “choose wisely.”Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, directed by Steven Spielberg (Paramount Pictures, 1989). Donovan guesses that Christ’s cup must be the most dazzling, illustrious one of the bunch. He chooses just such a goblet, sips from it, and seconds later meets a gruesome end. Our hero knows the grail promising eternal life can be none other than the simple, humble, wooden carpenter’s cup, and he drinks from it in terrified but thirsty gulps. Jones, the knight confirms, has chosen wisely.

Today Christians face many choices when it comes to the honoring the rich traditions of our faith, like the sacrament of Communion. Would you like grape juice or organic wine? Will you stand in line to dunk your bread in a goblet, or will you wait as a tray of tiny cups makes its way to your seat? Fortunately, these choices don’t carry the grave consequences of Jones’s and Donovan’s decisions and are all theologically acceptable. Where Scripture doesn’t specify in the church today, personal choice reigns.

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01.  Choosing Your Cup

Natalie K. Nelson is a contemporary millennial artist and illustrator living in Atlanta. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, Esquire, and Atlanta Magazine among others. Embodying wit through juxtaposition, Nelson’s work speaks for a generation seeking authenticity amidst many hypocrisies, frequently their own. Her paintings often combine bright colors—reds, blues, and yellows—with exaggerated forms to humorous effect. In a piece the artist posted to social media during a particularly brutal February cold snap, layers of clothing swell so large as to nearly swallow their wearer (or perhaps victim).

What wry observations might Nelson’s brush have captured in this piece, entitled Millennials? You most likely have already recognized the subject matter as a chalice, the iconic Christian Communion cup. But instead of posing as a single Platonic symbol (the ideal chalice as imagined by the artist), it populates the page in an assortment of sizes, shapes, and colors: some brilliant, some monochromatic, some decorative, and some simple. A few of the cups are stemless, while others look like the artistic equivalent of IKEA juice glasses. Nelson’s creativity with the symbol of the chalice can serve as a metaphor for embracing diversity in the church—both in demographics and in practiced traditions. Think beyond the sacraments to other aspects of the Christian faith like evangelism and contemplation, then think of the variety and complexity of their modern expressions. Many millennials deeply value diversity in all its forms and seek it where they live, work, and worship.

Focus on the red and yellow goblet on the bottom left. What kind of Christian do you think drinks from this glass? Are they rich or poor, male or female, suburban or urban? Now move your gaze upwards to the stemless blue cup. What other colors are present in the cup? What materials do you think it’s made of? Are the edges polished or rough? Was it made in a factory or on a potter’s wheel? Imagine someone who might drink from this cup. Where do they live? What do they do for a living? Do they have a family? Why are they at church this Sunday morning—or is it Wednesday night?

Now think about your own relationship with the artwork. Are you drawn to a particular cup? Do you find yourself prioritizing, ranking, or judging the cups? Is it your impulse to try to identify the “correct” cup?

Take a moment and go shopping with the cups. Which one would you choose for your home? Now imagine picking it up in your hands and examining it closely. Take note of the colors. Are they bright or subdued? Is there one color or many? What about the lines—are they straight or curved, orderly or erratic? Is the shape of the cup traditional or modern, complex or simple? What do you think your chosen cup says about you? What might someone else think it says about you?

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02.  Ancient and New

This work, some might say, critiques the consumer-like culture present in today’s church. Through its many iterations, the cup loses its singular symbolic power, and the sacred communion table becomes a store window with display shelves hawking their wares. “Get your Communion glasses! Whatever size, shape or color you want—we got it!” But this piece’s tone doesn’t match that of Nelson’s more satirical pieces. The work clearly comes from the same hand, but it seems to arise from a more contemplative attitude rather than a tongue-in-cheek one.

Let’s look deeper into the piece. Nelson often grounds her illustrations with real-world photographs or paper scraps. Here, she wallpapers the background—the Communion table—with sepia-toned paper from an antique book. And she balances bright color choices, controlled brush strokes, and digital editing with less polished media that lend the composition depth and texture—like pencil scribbles and charcoal outlines that echo cave drawings. Nelson’s material choices betray a curiosity for the past, even as she uses contemporary tools like Photoshop to incorporate old elements into the work.

The Reverend Erik Parker, on his blog The Millennial Pastor, writes, “Christian millennials seem to live in this multilayered world of reading the bible on their iPhone and tweeting in church, while singing ancient plainsong and praying prayers spoken by saints of centuries past.”Eric Parker, The Millennial Pastor, “Confessions of a High Church Millennial—Is Liturgy a Fad?” http://millennialpastor.net/2015/03/04/confessions-of-a-high-church-millennial-is-liturgy-a-fad/ Noting that many Christians raised in evangelical megachurches are now migrating to Episcopal, Anglican, Lutheran, and Catholic denominations, he wonders, “Is liturgy just a fad?” Indeed, millennials seem constantly to be moving onto the next technology or the next city, jumping from job to job, friend to friend, church to church. But perhaps connecting to the past through hymn, ritual, or sacrament helps anchor millennials’ incessant exploring. By illustrating a means of grace (the Eucharist or Communion) in its many forms, Nelson points to a paradox even more ancient than the antique paper she uses. In fact, the apostle Paul wrote about it many centuries ago:

 

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12–13, ESVAll Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, copyright 2001, Wheaton: Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.).

 

Paul cites Communion as a metaphor for Christian unity right along with baptism. Nelson knows this, and by centering her piece about millennials on the Eucharist, she ties a contemporary preference for choice to an ancient tradition practiced since Jesus walked the earth. Christian millennials, famous for their individuality, may distinguish themselves through a seemingly endless combination of interests, backgrounds, tastes, and preferences, but they also willingly come together through one man and one God.

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03.  UNITY THROUGH DIVERSITY

David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, suggests that the best way for churches to accommodate millennials is not by designing worship services to meet their preferences but by “cultivating intergenerational relationships” and “changing the metaphor from simply passing the baton to the next generation to a more functional, biblical picture of a body—that is, the entire community of faith, across the entire lifespan, working together to fulfill God’s purposes.”Barna Group. 6 Reasons Young Christians Leave Church. September 28, 2011. https://www.barna.com/research/six-reasons-young-christians-leave-church/ Could millennials’ vision for worship be not to customize it to their individual liking but to surround themselves with other individuals—other cups—unlike themselves?

Millennials’ desire for diversity includes you. Think back to the cups. What textures, colors, and shapes do you worship alongside? How does the cup that you chose introduce a new element into the mix? How can you make room for other cups, other stories, and other traditions, while honoring your own?

Regardless of what you wear, eat, or drink at Communion, the sacrament itself embodies a single choice: surrender to the Savior. At the table, sinners—all of us—come to lay down our individuality before Jesus. The trust-fund babies and the single moms, the country bumpkins and the frequent flyers, the PhDs and the GEDs, the Calvinists and the Southern Baptists all become one body through Christ. Meditate on how you can live out who God has called you to be—your “cup”— while also leaving it on the altar, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25).