I’ll cut right to the chase. I thought the children of my congregation had become inoculated from the disease known as Children’s Craft Christianity (CCC). Then one day I witnessed a disaster on the assembly line. Holding up the teacher’s model project, Bobby told Charles that one of the pieces of his project was in the wrong place. Charles said he didn’t care and that he could put the piece wherever he wanted to put it. Bobby retorted “we have a model to follow. You either do it right or you don’t do it!” Charles picked up his project and went to another table.
While the situation seems innocent child’s play, deeper reflection might cause us to consider the current relationship between the Arts and Christian discipleship and formation endorsed in our local congregations. It seems society’s assembly-line, cookie-cutter approach to mass production has infiltrated our concepts of discipleship and formation. Creativity has been exchanged for precision. Wonder has been replaced with certainty.
“Making Christlike disciples in the nations” is NOT a mass production activity. Each complex person will enter the Story of God uniquely and will express their union with God creatively and, at times, very differently than others.
I confess that I have backed into this discovery. My daughters have had a very gifted art teacher for the last few years. During these years they have learned a number of concepts about artistic design, interpretation, and expression. Armed with this knowledge and appreciation of art our vacation became a bit more interesting.
As we walked the aisles and corridors of the National Cathedral, National Gallery of Art in Washington DC and the Baltimore Museum of Art, I observed my daughters exploring the various paintings, especially ones narrating the story of Jesus’ baptism. More often than not the painting captured a scene with water being poured over Jesus’ head and NOT a scene with Jesus being immersed in the lake. They wondered . . . “this is an interesting hermeneutical move!” (But they didn’t say it quite like that!) Suddenly a point of theological conversation for our family about the practice of baptism!
Standing in front of a painting we pondered concepts such as the importance of historical context, artistic interpretation, and religious experience in the communication of the Gospel. As a practical theologian . . . this is at the heart of my work and I was excited! As a father . . . I couldn’t ask for a greater gift than to be in a museum pondering the depths of the Christian life with my 11 and 9 year old daughters. Our family vacation couldn’t have been more meaningful. And I began to dream.
I dream of the day when one of the Sunday school rooms in our little church is transformed into an art studio and the sanctuary becomes a gallery telling the stories of how God’s grace has invaded and transformed the lives of those who gather among us. I dream of the day when the music we sing emerges from the depths of our stories that have lead us to creative writing and musical expression. I dream of the day when our shared life together conjures biblical narratives and images to communicate the Gospel of Jesus the Christ in a world needing of a Story which might orient them amid the incessant clamor and flashing images of 21st century living.
Just as a commitment to literacy for the masses began a movement called Sunday school, might a commitment to the Arts birth a movement which speaks into a generation saturated with noise and images? Might an artistic movement create space for a recovery of awe, wonder, and creativity in the Christian life? Is there a way for something like the Scriptural meditative and reflective process of lectio divina to find its way into visual expression? Might such a visual expression then become a point of wonder and reflection for the gathered community? Is there a way to link the Scriptures with our own lives in creative ways that push us beyond traditional understandings of knowledge? And . . . dare we trust children with such a hermeneutical activity?
Now that’s off my chest. I need to hear your understanding of the relationship between the Arts and the Christian life!
