Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Sat, Mar 27 2004
Art For Goodness' Sake
The Elfin Ethicist pointed me to a commentary at Christianity Today, written by Kate Bowman. Religious people, and Christians in particular, have a way of thinking the right path in life is to run from one sacred place (whatever that means) to another. But if one is a Christian, one must acknowledge that the whole world was created to be a sacred place, and part of spiritual growth is learning to see the sacredness of life in the most unexpected moments and places.
It seems to me the mark of an insecure and immature individual to avoid everything except openly faith-related activities. It takes far more imagination and maturity (and courage) to see every new journey we take and every place we go with an eye toward looking for glimpsing God, and a heart toward finding ways to leave things a little better than we found them. If we approach an artist's work in this way, we also become a participant in expanding and uplifting the original work into a more powerful instrument than it could have ever been without our added value as an Christian observer. Seen this way, art that we might have thought of as secular becomes, not some forbidden fruit, but an imperative that makes the phrase "come and see" a witness of abundance, and a witness that is much more compelling and powerful than a stance of avoidance because we think something might look too evil. We sit in our comfortable sacred places and talk about Jesus, and think of ourselves as a step up from the artist who at least makes an attempt to emulate the Creator of the universe by daring to create art. We could learn a lot from the artist, and they from us. But that would mean opening ourselves up to what we perceive as evil. And we're afraid we won't be strong enough to handle it. So we sit in our perceived sacred places and discuss what we believe to be sacred things. We call ourselves creationists, and we imagine ourselves growing ever closer to the Creator. We cheer when the rest of the world makes fun of us and we tell ourselves we're suffering for the Lord's cause and that He told us things would be rough. So if we're ridiculed and even hated, we must be doing the right thing. Right? Right?
Or maybe we're just a bunch of selfish wimps. No wonder the atheists and agnostics make fun of us, and no wonder people aren't exactly beating the door down to get into our little sacred places and hobnob with us. We brag about the power of the Creator and then ignore the fact that what He wants us to do is reflect that power by being more like Him. We should be wild with enthusiasm about the fact that artists give us glimpses, large and small, of the True Creator. Better yet, maybe we should stop playing critic and try some art of our own.
posted at: 05:42 | category: /Religious and Spiritual | link to this entry
The Elfin Ethicist pointed me to a commentary at Christianity Today, written by Kate Bowman. Religious people, and Christians in particular, have a way of thinking the right path in life is to run from one sacred place (whatever that means) to another. But if one is a Christian, one must acknowledge that the whole world was created to be a sacred place, and part of spiritual growth is learning to see the sacredness of life in the most unexpected moments and places.
It seems to me the mark of an insecure and immature individual to avoid everything except openly faith-related activities. It takes far more imagination and maturity (and courage) to see every new journey we take and every place we go with an eye toward looking for glimpsing God, and a heart toward finding ways to leave things a little better than we found them. If we approach an artist's work in this way, we also become a participant in expanding and uplifting the original work into a more powerful instrument than it could have ever been without our added value as an Christian observer. Seen this way, art that we might have thought of as secular becomes, not some forbidden fruit, but an imperative that makes the phrase "come and see" a witness of abundance, and a witness that is much more compelling and powerful than a stance of avoidance because we think something might look too evil. We sit in our comfortable sacred places and talk about Jesus, and think of ourselves as a step up from the artist who at least makes an attempt to emulate the Creator of the universe by daring to create art. We could learn a lot from the artist, and they from us. But that would mean opening ourselves up to what we perceive as evil. And we're afraid we won't be strong enough to handle it. So we sit in our perceived sacred places and discuss what we believe to be sacred things. We call ourselves creationists, and we imagine ourselves growing ever closer to the Creator. We cheer when the rest of the world makes fun of us and we tell ourselves we're suffering for the Lord's cause and that He told us things would be rough. So if we're ridiculed and even hated, we must be doing the right thing. Right? Right?
Or maybe we're just a bunch of selfish wimps. No wonder the atheists and agnostics make fun of us, and no wonder people aren't exactly beating the door down to get into our little sacred places and hobnob with us. We brag about the power of the Creator and then ignore the fact that what He wants us to do is reflect that power by being more like Him. We should be wild with enthusiasm about the fact that artists give us glimpses, large and small, of the True Creator. Better yet, maybe we should stop playing critic and try some art of our own.
posted at: 05:42 | category: /Religious and Spiritual | link to this entry
