Artists part 2

I had an interesting conversation today at the Center. It's interesting on two fronts because to me it is a delicate balance between post modern church and Christendom as well as a balance between artistic and more practical people. This is a slight on neither, just observation and hopefully a conversation starter.

I had suggested that we invite artists in our congregation to take part in our worship by adding their art in whichever capacity that meant. We've been good at recruiting new singers to add their ministry, but what about the artists that used other mediums. the painters sculptors poets dancers etc. And the conversation came up, what if it doesn't match the vision of our congregation?

This is a fair question. What if a given person's artistic vision didn't match that of our congregation. It would be insulting to turn away their gift and that could cause a rift/division that could be harmful to that persons relationship with the church. But on the other side of the coin it would be difficult as a person working at the church to lift up something that didn't fit along with the vision of the church.

The other interesting aspect is those in our congregation that are more traditionalist and interested in becoming "just another Lutheran church." Would they outright reject any new artistic expression during worship or in our worship space?

Lots of potential issues here. I'm certain that this kind of debate has kept creative arts out of worship spaces across the world. What are your experiences with artistic expression in worship? Positive or negative experiences?

i'm going to keep pondering this a while.
 mike.

Artists

I posted on twitter yesterday a quote from Robert Shaw that said "In the medieval world, the church saved the artists. i think in the future it may be the artists that save the church." It seems to me that there is a very profound truth to this statement that many people are overlooking. You see across Christendom the resistance to any kind of change. Further there's a resistance to creativity and artistic notion. If we haven't done it throughout history why start now? A pipe organ was good enough for Jesus and his followers, why would we use a guitar. Why would we use spoken word? Why would we use poetry, painting, murals, and mosaics in the span of the church?

Conversely it is interesting that the vast population of the artists in the world are so intently against religious institutions. It's been my experience that people deep in the world of the arts, whether it be physical art or writing or music or theatre or whatever, tend to be largely uninvolved and uninterested in the world of the church. As a worship leader I want to start integrating church and art again. I want to see beautiful new expressions of the gospel without feeling like my tradition is under threat. I want to encourage artists to embrace their medium as a form of ministry for something beautiful.

What forms of art does your church utilize? What would you like to see done in the church? Are artists an appropriate piece of worship? Im interested in your thoughts! Until next time, Cheers.

mike
@MikeCelebrating on twitter