Faith and Art: The Blog

My friend Stacie has a calling. It's a calling that I can relate to with every ounce of my being. Stacie has a relationship with God that inspires her to create art and to worship Him through art. Stacie and I share the belief that God is the ultimate Creator and that by being created by Him in His image that means we should delight in our own creativity. We are not, by any means, the only people who believe this. However, we are both saddened by the amount of people who love God yet shy away from their own creativity. And, it is not about whether you can only draw stick people or your entire house (and everything in it) is beige. To this end, Stacie was given a prompting by God to start the Faith and Art Blog. And I think, for Stacie, it was a bit like Noah building the ark. She launched the blog and then spent a good chunk of time on her own spiritual journey as to how it should look and WHY.

Recently, Stacie was asked to share her view on the connection of faith and art at a Sunday service of a new church in a Cincinnati suburb. She shared her favorite quote from her favorite book "Walking on Water" by Madeline L'Engle. I am copying it below as it is on the Faith and Art blog, embedded in an insightful paragraph written by Stacie:

"Let's be honest, the arts haven't always been compatible with Christianity. Sometimes it's because bad art gives all artists a bad name. Sometimes it's because art is inspired and therefore powerful and sometimes powerful can translate as dangerous. I think sometimes as Christians we are afraid to feel anything powerfully unless we feel it in church (or on a retreat, or small group or whatever.) And for a Christian to feel something so strong about something that is not blatently Christian? Can seem like we're somehow betraying God or our beliefs.

"And as I listen to the silence, I learn that my feelings about art and my feelings about the Creator of the Universe are inseparable. To try to talk about art and about Christianity is for me one and the same thing, and it means attempting to share the meaning of my life, what gives it, for me, its tragedy and its glory."

For L'Engle, finding "cosmos in chaos" is basically what determines "Christian" art from "Non-Christian" art. If you can look at a piece of artwork, read a book, sing a song that, while not necessarily being blatently Christian, makes you see some sort of divine meaning - cosmos, creation, life - in the chaos of a fallen world? Then it is good art. And it is Christian art. Because life, cosmos, creation? Are God. "

SO well said, Stacie! I am THRILLED that Stacie has found a new groove with her Faith and Art Blog and I invite you to explore new levels of your creativity by visiting it:

faithandart.blogspot.com

Stacie's new groove comes in the form of weekly lessons/challenges that people of all ages can tackle. And in each lesson she encourages a fresh perspective on how we see God's truth and grace in everyday things.