John: The gospel for non-linear thinkers.

My guess: "bread" - 2nd
form the top, "Vine" - maybe
the third one? "Light" - really
no idea. 

I never used to like this gospel.

I love the gospel but my early Christian exposure had been in the book of Mark so John had always baffled me with all those crazy ideas about Jesus being things he couldn't possibly be - 'bread', 'light', 'the resurrection', a 'vine'. Come on.


Precisely because that I didn't like one of the gospels but do love the gospel, I chose John as my book to read each morning and seek to understand. And it has been great! I have been praying for God to reveal himself to me more through his word and He has! I think I might write a post on what he's been teaching me and some other Thai women who have been reading together. In short because we know Jesus, we know the creator of all things so we know we have what we need to live, and because we know where Jesus came from and where he is going, when we are united to him this becomes our history and our future, so we are free to use this inbetween time (that we call 'life') to love others. It's a very reassuring gospel.

Wonderfully, at the same time, I have also been writing an essay on art therapy for a psychology course I'm taking. In Art therapy sessions, the art that the client creates is often used to set off metaphorical dialogue (e.g. If you were a line in this drawing you've done, which would you be? Who would the others be).

The link with Jesus' picture-language is that both are forms of metaphorical language. Metaphors are great for engaging with non-linear thought - thought that shoots off in many directions at once, rather than standing one theme and points that follow each other in a clear sequence.

Linear Thought 

Non-Linear thought

Borrowed from alesysabags

It's the kind of thought that underlies creative thinking (sometimes I wish I could just stick to one sequence) and the kind of thought that influences dialogue in many in non-Western (Socratic) cultures. If you want to read more about this, you could check out Carley Dodd's (1982) "Dynamics of Intercultural Communication" or this article by Zahrana (1995) on Arab communication patterns. 

I think this might be the reason John works so well in a Thai context. I've noticed Thai people love to use picture language in their own exchanges. And apparently they engage with John much better than I first did. Some find it quite natural to transfer between the physical properties of bread (which meets our hunger, and makes us full) and abstraction to Jesus' life and work (meeting our need, and making us full and never hungry again). But I really needed to understand it for myself first before I would have dared to invite others to engage with it.