Hello everyone! The article to follow was written by one of our congregation members about her experiences with God through art! We hope this article may spark something in you, and that you may be able to find Jesus a little bit more in the art you observe! Feel free to comment if you also have a testimony regarding art!

The Creative Act of God is Still within Us

When I was a liberal arts student at Temple in the late 60’s, I became obsessed with the study of Art History. After completing Art History 101, I spent the next four years taking about every course the department offered from Medieval to African Art. I even traveled to Temple Rome in order to pursue what had become my career goal; to be a dual professor/curator at a university. One conversation I had with my mentor stands out in my memory. I would consider it a turning point in my self-awareness. I was raving to him about the need to preserve art at all costs and how precious pieces like the Mona Lisa were. He looked with is piercing blue eyes into mine and queried, “Would you consider saving the Mona Lisa more important than saving a human life?” Wow! I was so far from God that I actually had to think about that.

At that time my spiritual life had been put on hold while I tried to figure out what I believed. I had let it grow fallow. Probably the best thing for me was receiving an award to study in Rome at the end of my senior year. I didn’t suddenly become recommitted to my faith in Christ, but I was thrust into a world of Christian memory which included awareness of the martyrs of the Colosseum and the times of persecution which drove believers underground into the catacombs. I spent several more years studying the art of the Church and became aware of the power of image to capture your heart.

Today, after experiencing a dynamic presence of God in my life, I no longer overvalue a work of art, but I can appreciate the message and the vision of the artist who, using the wonderful gift of creativity, can inspire us to enter into genuine worship, not idolatry. Reminded of the third commandment to “not make for yourself a carved image” (Ex 20:4-6), it is important to understand that God doesn’t want us to avoid artwork as much as he forbids worship of any other being or thing. During the earlier history of the church, there were dramatic attempts to destroy thousands of Christian images out of awareness that through ignorance people were literally praying to statues and paintings. This resulted in times of prohibition wherein images were forbidden, but we cannot ignore that God later in Exodus commanded that His Tabernacle be embellished with gold, silver, altars and basins, some which contained images of angels and oxen. Worship can be intensified through image as well music if we keep the main thing the main thing. Remembering Matt Redman’s song, The Heart of Worship, we are reminded that it’s all about Jesus, not the artist or the congregation.

So, how does one incorporate art into one's worship experience. First, ask yourself what artwork motivates you to recognize God in it? Is it the beauty of nature or the narrative reflecting a biblical theme or parable? Upon discovering that a work inspires you, enter into a quest asking how and why it speaks to you. Jesus said in Matthew 6:22-24 “The eye is the lamp of the body. You draw light into your body through your eyes, and light shines out to the world through your eyes. So if your eye is well and shows you what is true, then your whole body will be filled with light.” That naturally leads to the question, “What in this object encourages my soul to respond to the Divine?” and “What inside of me is connecting?”

Consider the pensive mood produced through a landscape with calm green meadows and dramatic clouds. You can almost walk into such a scene and dwell in God’s presence in the calm. (George Innes Metropolitan Museum NY)

Sometimes a biblical story is so well interpreted by the artist through color,

shadow and form that we can enter into it as with the penitent Mary Magdalene by George de la Tour (Metropolitan Museum NY)

Take the time to really look at artwork that touches your soul. There may be hidden details which the artist has placed there. It could be a tiny church perched on a hilltop or a small child cradled in someone’s arms. That can point your heart toward the Lord without even realizing this silent symbolism. One thing we have learned when it comes to our Maker, He is more often than not in the details.

Our response to the power and grace of God is often one of joyful proclamation like Mary in the Magnificat, “My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoice in God my Savior.” And this is met with God’s blessing of His Presence recalling, “Yahweh your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His Love, He will dance over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

Remember that we serve a relational God and we can also create a response in poetry, music, artwork or other creative acts. It is because we are made in the image of our Creator. The whirling joy can sometimes bring us to our feet in dancing like Him.