where to start....hmmm
So I have been thinking about art, art in the church, art outside of the church, art in my life, what I want my art to look like/accomplish/generate...Etc.
It is a pretty overwhelming topic to start to tackle especially when you are afraid to even create something to begin with.
At school I am taking this mini semester course called "church and culture: can anything good come out of Babylon?" and the required read for the course is called
imagine: a vision for Christians in the arts. ( an extremely good read so far). The author, Steve turner, has some great things to say and a lot of it lines up with my heart for the arts and especially "Christian" art.
I long to be in the world, with the people, not really in the church, with the saved. What I mean is I love the body of Christ, I support and encourage community with the global body of Christ, but I have no desire to work within the four walls of what we call church today. My heart, my passion is with the ones searching, is with those who don't know about Jesus. Those are the ones that I long to be with.
When I think about art, my art and my expression, I don't really see it impacting too many within the church walls. I would love it if it would, but I feel that all I am belongs with those outside of the church walls; the overcast, sidelined, and the ones who have been hurt by the "church" in their past. That is where I feel my art will end up, or impact the most. And I hope that God prepares me for that. I have no doubt that he will.
I want to see those who follow Jesus have a say in the world today, in our culture. I want to see them in politics, in commerce, in economics and trade, in musicianship, in communication, in marketing, etc. We need more Christians out there who can take part in the global discussions going on in our culture. Steve turner in his book said this as well...
The problem comes when artists who could be contributing to the discussion taking place in the mainstream arts are hidden away in the church, and artists who should be sticking with the church are deluded into thinking that they are going to transform contemporary culture.
That is where I long to be. Taking part in the discussions that happen in our culture. I want to be informed enough, educated enough, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be out there and living my worldview for all to see and question.
I read something ages ago that seemed to echo something I really desired to see in "Christian" art. The essence of what they said was that there is no depth in Christian arts because you only see the light, the "after" picture. There is no contrast between what used to be and what is now in light of the change. Most Christians avoid what we used to be without Christ because it is ugly, sinful and shameful and instead focus on what we are now with Christ (this isn't altogether bad but there is no balance and therein lies the problem) You can't appreciate the light when you haven't seen the darkness. As Christians we have such a powerful voice on this issue. We HAVE seen the darkness and we have see it for what it is; a cesspool of lies. Because we have been pulled out of this darkness and saved by the Grace of a loving God, we can fully stand in reverence before the light of all He is.
Redemption is meaningless unless there is a cause for it in the actual life we live, and for the last few centuries there has been operating in our culture the secular belief that there is no such cause. -Steve turner
and again-
The valley of the shadow of death is rarely traversed, nor is the valley of indecision. The casual non-believing browser is effectively excluded because there is no overlap of experience.
i'm done for now....
too much stewing in my head....
too be continued.....lol
