So what do you think?  I find it ironic that in creating a website, buying a domain, figuring out wordpress, and attempting to interact with new technologies I end up creating a header for the website on the back of a church bulletin with color pencils.  Inspiration came to me while sitting in church and so this is the original doodle.  I liked it enough so that instead of discarding it as a proto-type I went with it.  That is an example of “life in beta.”  (Beta – is a code language for launching a website or application before all of the bugs have been worked out.)  And theology pirate is definitely a beta project.  You won’t be finding too many smooth finished projects here. Rather, raw and fresh ideas and creative works that express theology – thoughts and words about God.  Speaking of which, here are a few of the symbols and ideas that I am trying to communicate with the header design.

The title, Theology Pirate, is to indicate a couple of things: 1. thinking and talking about God isn’t just for stuffy people, but for real people out in the world.  Who is more “in the world” than a pirate? 2. I hope this website might become a resource for theological thought and creativity in way like say “pirate bay” is a resource of video and other pirated goods.  I think an underground pirate economy for theology would be a good thing. It might even challenge the commercialization of religion. [Lot's more to talk about here in the future.]  3. Can you have a Theology Ninja?  I think not.

Palm trees are a religious symbol that is shared among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  Palm trees adorned the Jerusalem temple and were a symbol of God’s creation.  In the Qu’ran Mary gives birth to Jesus under a palm tree with dates falling into her lap!  In the Christian Bible, Jesus proceeds to Jerusalem with people waving palm branches.  If you know of other symbols in these or other religions do please let me know!

Water is symbol for so much in so many religions.  In my own tradition it reminds me of Holy Baptism and the promise to be connected, claimed, adopted, and grafted into the Tree of Life.  As I created this scene and particularly the water my thoughts traveled to personal experiences in water.  I thought about the gusher that has so horrendously affected the Gulf of Mexico and beyond.  It felt wonderful to create something beautiful while I know such ugliness has sprawled.  I wish God could grab a giant box of color pencils and fix our oceans.  I wish the balls of tar and sludge could be blotted out, erased and blown of the page and replaced with vibrant blues and greens.

Whether God could or would do such a thing is beyond me.  For the moment God seems to have left us to deal with out own problems.  I hope and pray that God is in the hearts and minds of all of us helping to guide our decisions.  God is also probably present in creation as it suffers.  But humanity cannot sit idly by and expect God to clean up with gulf without our initiative.  I have digressed.

I hope you would check out this small piece of art I have created and let me know what you think! Do you have another idea for the theology pirate?  If so, send it to me, or post it and link to it.  Thanks!  -the Pirate