Originally posted May 7, 2011, at Taste and See. Republished with permission of the author.
Conversations about faith and God happen in the most peculiar of places.
My favorite: tattoo shops.
There’s something about having a few hours to pass and desperately needing a conversation to distract from the pain of the procedure.
And because I’m me, and my tattoos all have some tie in with my faith, conversation happens.
And even if I am with a friend or my sibling while they get their ink done, conversation drifts to what I “do.”
So conversations about God begin.
And really, I think they’re my favorite because tattoo artists, perhaps better than most people, can understand the absolute unique faith that every individual has.
Just as a person’s body is their own personal canvas for beautiful ink and piercings, each person’s heart and mind are uniquely linked to God.
Their faith is as individual as they are.
Today, I went with a friend to get a new piece on her ankle.
We were in the shop for 3½ hours, swapping stories about how we were raised, how we express our faith, the stories behind our ink, and how we will raise (or are raising) our kids to believe that there is no one answer.
In this tattoo artist’s words: “There are 6.5 billion answers.”
So here’s to ink talks and finding space and time to talk about God in all the places no one expects.
Find a link to Alison Williams’ entry on the blog Taste and See at Lutheran Blogs.
The Reformers did not believe that everyone's heart and mind was "uniquely linked to God" unless by "uniquely" you mean that there is exactly one way in which this is done: through the death and resurrection of Jesus alone and only. In fact, it is through this singular event that we can even speak of Christian unity, even though we "may have nothing to do with one another".
Great article! I have ink and for me each piece of body art is a symbol of a new phase in my life. My next piece will be the Luther Rose on my back.
I am not yet ready for ink but do enjoy going to a nail artist who is Buddhist. When I asked her to do a cross design one Lent, she did not know what a cross was. So this led to discussion and explanation about the cross. I often have her do liturgical designs and it always opens up conversation!
Great to hear stories and comments from others with ink. The cross on my forearm definitely makes the whole "marked with the cross of Christ forever" thing a pretty powerful notion for me.