The arts are amazing. Just amazing. The wealth of talent, skill and ability that pervade artistic endeavor the world over is just mind-blowing. The things that people can do these days, painting, sculpting, songwriting, computer-design and animation, photography and filmmaking have the capacity to completely inspire and often, totally beggar belief. For instance, there are musicians I have met over the years that can do seemingly superhuman things, applying their minds and fingers in such remarkable ways and with such speed, precision and creativity that my only response is to jaw-agapingly question how they possibly acquired such ability. For instance, to see a virtuoso at work is to witness a skill that supersedes the everyday notions of ‘talent’ that we so often encounter on our Saturday night X factor type programmes.
From time to time we all come across art that makes us think "Wow. That's incredible".
The crux of this entry is that I have an increasing discontent with the quality of art that we in the western church produce and hence represent ourselves with to the watching world. Obviously that last statement is rather sweeping, and unfairly overlooks the few who are producing incredible art from regenerated hearts, passions, and creativity. Nevertheless, on the whole, we in the Western church are (in some ways) in a state of artistic naivety. Like apprentice painters, we proudly display our efforts not always realising that their are true masters out there, creating works that really are in another league. From where I’m looking, the old adage that “The devil has all the best music” is closer to the reality than we want to admit. We are still assuming that the music we make, the paintings we draw, the websites we design, and the art we produce is somehow on a creative par with what is happening at the cultural frontline. This unfortunately, is not the case. The truth is that we need to begin to shift more of our attention, effort, energy and time to really become influential in culture, (rather than be so influenced by it) to really win people to Christ by demonstrating God-inspired artistic skill, ability and gifting. We have a funny but frustrating knack of becoming quickly outdated and left behind. This maligned world must know that people who follow Jesus are alive, our hearts and minds teeming with passion and creativity, inspired by a revelation of God. We are passionate, skilled, dedicated, and inspired to create wonderful art, great music, stunning sculpture etc. not inspired and induced by emotion, romance or drugs- but by the one thing that inspires more than anything else; a relationship with the One who created all things.
Now, your response to this might sound something like; “Cheer-up and stop complaining, it can’t all be that bad, besides your hardly the church’s answer to Michelangelo!...you miserable so and so”…A valid response this may be!! It’s true that this kind of musing could come across as a diary entry from Ebenezer himself, but I don’t want it to sound like a rant. I’m not a miser or a humbug I assure you…. And no, I’m not claiming to be the answer, but that shouldn’t nullify the validity of the contemplation. Its more of a yearning, a desire to issue a challenge for us all to at least try harder, to be better at what we put our hands to (Eccles 9:10), to get organized, to compete, to put energy, hard work, blood, sweat, tears and even money, into being great artists, musicians, designers and photographers that turn heads, that get attention, that impress, and in turn, inspire the rest of the world. My dream is that the world would feel the electric buzz of creativity coming from God’s people again.
For too long, the world has regarded Christians as a beige collection of puny-armed, dreary, uninspired, lackluster, lifeless mopes with about as much glory as a BHS cardigan. Unfortunately I am too often confronted with people (often our representatives in the media) that fulfill that sorry quota to the last degree. This false perception must be remedied at a swift rate. In other words I love ‘songs of praise’, but it drastically misrepresents the modern expression of Christianity that is quickly replacing the last one. The following quote from Stephen Fry is indicative of the way in which Christianity is offending people by failing to reflect the Glory of God. As people who truly believe in and have seen God, we must go to greater lengths to reflect him well in all we do; arts included. Fry says "There was a time when he (God) had on his team people like Bach, Mozart, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Herbert, Swift and Wren: now he has awful, drippy wet smacks with no style, articulacy or majesty". Fry has clearly not been engaged with. And it's our fault, not his.
The church will become even more irrelevant, outdated and unreflective of Gods glory if we continue to be lazy in our response to Jesus’ call upon us to engage with our culture. (“Go INTO the world” Mark16:15) Part of the problem is that we get so wrapped up trying to spend our lives figuring God out, that we forget to obey what he would have us do during our time on this planet. The real reason for this desire in me to see us improve as artists is not just so that we are 'hip and cool' but that we would draw attention to Jesus through our work. That we would obey his command to be salt and light; to be IN the world.
So please, lets take up our guitars, violins, sitars, microphones, drumsticks, paintbrushes, cameras, chisels, and laptops and start making art that seriously catches the attention of the vast swathes of lost people that have designated the church to nothing more than a weekly sing along with Aled Jones and that bird off Blue Peter.
Amen to that Samuel.
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