I am delighted to welcome Rob Seabrook to my blog, as part of the blog tour for his book Beneath the Tamarisk Tree, which is a fictional retelling of the story of the penitent thief who met Jesus on the cross. Awaking in heaven, he is welcomed by Jesus and looks back over his story… At the start of the book Rob provides a ‘Note from the Author’, in which he says: “This book is ultimately an act of worship, to bring glory to God. It is attempting to help us understand more of who God is and what he had to endure for each of us.” Over to Rob…
Reflecting God’s creativity
I am not musical in any way, I cannot sing well and I am certainly no dancer! But I like to think I can write, and even if no one else likes my writing then at least it gives me pleasure to be creative. And creativity is a reflection of God. It is His very nature to be creative, infinitely creative. His imagination is unlimited, displayed in the endless creativity we see around us, as well as the way He has created each of us to be unique. Billions of souls, all made in His image but all unique. What depth of imagination that takes. So to me it makes sense that our imaginations are a gift from Him, which, if well directed, can be used as an act of worship to bring the glory back to Him.
The power of storytelling
This concept of my writing being an act of worship was new to me when I began the writing process. As the story developed, the characters became real to me, the images of each scene began to grow in my imagination and I began to see how the creation of a novel could be an act of worship. Especially if I kept hold of the overall mission, which was to communicate the good news of Jesus to the reader and help to bring them on in their relationship with God. After all, storytelling was a tool that Jesus often used to communicate His message, each time bringing the focus back to the Kingdom of God. For millennia, people have used storytelling to communicate important truths…stories grab our attention, spark our imaginations, engage us in the narrative and help us to associate with the message.
Writing biblical fiction
My chosen genre for my first novel was ‘biblical fiction’ – two words that Christians don’t really like to put together! I certainly felt the responsibility of creating a work that in no way presented an alternative narrative to the Bible, that did not detract from the Word or add to it (Deuteronomy 4:2 and Revelation 22:18-19 are quite clear on this). However, I read quite a lot of other biblical fiction books as a part of my research, mostly very good but a few that made me wince as I read them, and I began to see a way through it. The genre can certainly be used to expand the reader’s understanding of a Bible story and bring deeper understanding. In many cases, when it is well researched, it brings cultural context that is often not clear to us as we read the Bible text, and hence it can clarify the meaning and improve our understanding.
Asking for feedback
There was one element that I found especially hard to write, which was when Jesus needed dialogue. Who am I to put words into the mouth of Jesus? I felt the weight of responsibility to pitch this right. As much as I could I tried to keep the dialogue brief, but using sentiment and phrases that were aligned to His words as quoted in the Bible. At all times I kept in mind the character and intentions of Jesus, and how He was most likely to have approached the conversations. And then I read, re-read, edited and re-edited many times, then ensured that a number of much more qualified theologians than me read it and gave me whatever feedback necessary to fine tune it. My measure of success was that they would read it and the words would not grate, or feel out of place. They indicated that they were the sort of words they could imagine Jesus speaking. I was thankful for a great team to support the writing process.
Leading others
I would like to encourage others to use their God-given gifts to create worship. Our first thought is so often that worship is for others to lead us into, but those of us who like to write can do so with a clear purpose to bring glory to God and help to lead others into a place of worship. Short stories, novels, teaching books, poems, prayers, blogs, newspaper articles and even church newsletters – all can be written as an act of worship.
Rob Seabrook lives and works in beautiful Devon, is married to Gemma, with three grown-up children, Bruno the dog and some chickens. As foster carers, together they have gained insight into the impact of trauma on children, and have seen that rebuilding a life takes endless patience, full acceptance, love and care, and there is always room for second chances. It is this experience that part inspired the context for Beneath the Tamarisk Tree.
A keen reader, after a few years of procrastinating he finally felt challenged to have a go at writing a book for himself. Beneath the Tamarisk Tree is his first novel.
Visit Rob’s website and/or follow him at: Instagram: @rob_seabrook, Facebook: @authorrobseabrook, Twitter: @SeabrookRob
Rob is running a giveaway up to 15th February, offering five copies of the book or eBook to new subscribers.
Love this, Rob! I write primarily as an act of adoration and believe firmly that my creativity is a gift from God to bring him glory and bless his children (well I hope it can, anyway!). Totally agree that imagination is a facet of God placed within us and that we are hard-wired for story. I have struggled too with the “putting words” in the mouth of God (whether as Trinity, or Father, Son or Holy Spirit, depending on what I’m writing) and that is always hard and requires much prayer and discernment. But at the end of the day whilst I’m careful, I credit my reader with knowing the difference between fiction/creative non-fiction and Scripture (and use an author’s note to reiterate that).
Your book sounds really interesting Rob and I would love to read it. i think when Biblical fiction is done well it can be superb (e.g. Norah Lofts ‘How Far to Bethlehem’) – and can bring those familiar stories vividly to life in a way that deepens and enhances faith.
I am not sure about writing as an act of worship. I like the idea of it but I’m struggling to relate the concept to my own writing, which to date has been mostly historical fiction where the characters are not necessarily Christian but Christian faith and practice is a feature of the story in one way or another.
I wonder what the differences might be, between writing as an act of worship, and other writing? Does it make a difference if we are consciously thinking of it in that way as we write, or is it not determined by our intention and purpose, and something that ‘just happens’ because we have a Christian faith? Food for much thought!