2.24.06
Starbucks Kokomo
art: culturally optional?
-morgan young
"I know it may sound like heresy, but it is more important to change what people care about than to change what they believe! You can believe without caring, but you can't care without believing." -Erwin McManus, An Unstoppable Force pg 111
At the heart of healthy biblical church, there is an ethos of romance, compassion, and strong holy emotion; so strong are these convictions that they move people to action. That's why there is so much song, architectural beauty, and dancing in His Word; these artistic expressions nurture the seeds of soul-movement. We see holy artists and people moved to inspired action. We find no polite pictures of believers nodding in agreement to theological statements; nodding that at the end of the day resulted only in nodding.
Art is the reaction of a stirred soul. Artists are those whose convictions refuse to remain thoughts; the stew of their soul bubbles up and into outward expression. And so this is why the church in the Book, and the church on Emerald Lake, embrace the arts; they reflect the soul that God created. Art is the manifestation of holy discontent, unfathomable praises and everything in between.
As the church in America let the arts sneak out the back door (sometimes ushered), they took with them the romance, compassion and excitement that so characterize Christ. What stayed was theology in theory more than in action. They failed to realize that God created the arts with a critical purpose; they are the fuel of conviction, expression, motivation, and inspiration.
So now people who come to church in 2006 expect the Bride to be this "Mona Lisa" Girl; not really smiling, not really frowning, not really very alive. And so this man or woman walks into Oakbrook and finds an artistic explosion that looks more like a Picasso than the Mona Lisa; an artistic explosion of speech, music, drama, video and who knows what else. They wonder where the Mona Lisa is and they wrestle with their unmet expectation of finding only polite doctrine and nodding.
But perhaps more unsettling to me is my realization that more than "Mona Lisa" expectations, people in our little community have mistakenly categorized the arts as something for "high brow artsy-fartsy cultured people." They don't see art in the same way they see the necessity of clothing. They view art more like the optional, occasional, and sometimes even uncomfortable "dress suit." It has its place, but it's not every day and they don't necessarily like it. But the arts are indeed as necessary as clothing. They dress us in love, compassion, conviction; all the things we need to care, readying us and fueling us to move to action.
And so is it any mystery that ministry is hard in these parts? The heart of an artist is really the heart of a Christ-follower; feeling and sensing the soul-level churn to be hands and feet to a world in need. Our mission to help God create fully devoted followers in part involves reprogramming the arts mindset; it's about heart transplants, if you will. Ministry in Kokomo isn't brain surgery, but it is heart surgery...
