Disclaimer: I'm a musician, I am going to deal with music. I'm not meaning to shortchange anyone. Apply this to all arts by switching out artists and terms.
I really want to edit this and really work it into something more well written and professional. But this is a blog, so here's a start.
There will be a presentation on this next semester that may be the beginning or a seminar series on Christianity and the Arts/Vocation. Stay tuned for date and times!!!
We have so many arts in the world. There are people who argue that all arts have "purpose," and while I agree, when I say that, I don't mean it the way they do.
Since mostly Christians will read this, I'll write that first. If you're not a Christian, let me explain to you that if you've heard that Christians aren't for the arts, or think they only turn out really bad Christianized art, well, for a great deal of "Christian art" and people, YOU ARE RIGHT . . . but THEY ARE WRONG. In fact, I propose that Biblical Christianity (which may look nothing like the Christianity you've encountered in the past) is the only world view that actually, consistent with itself, justifies allowing the arts to truly flourish.
That's a big statement, but stick with me, if for nothing else than to disagree with me.
The Bible teaches that the world is good. The one you're sitting on, the chair you're sitting in, the computer you're using to read this. It's GOOD.
This good creation is broken, however. This guy, named Adam, who was the first Man God created rebelled against God and did something evil, what Christians call sin, and when he did, the whole universe cracked like an egg and shifted 15 degrees to the left. (See Genesis 2 and 3 in the Bible, continue reading to find just how bad it really was/is, brothers killing brothers, that sort of thing.) It was bad. Death entered the world, people started hating each other, tornadoes started tearing down people's houses (regardless of whether they were a "good" or "bad" person, don't buy any of that "God sent Katrina to punish America" stuff), and your best friend started spreading gossip about you to everyone. All that cause some guy ate a piece of fruit. But God is perfectly Holy, and told Adam to do ONE thing, and Adam disobeyed. Whether you like it or not, the entire human race was being represented by one guy. You can complain, the way you do about ambassadors to other countries not really representing you, but, fact is, legally, they do. Same thing here. This broke the entire creation, because the creation rebelled against God. Justice demanded punishment and death. But God is a God "merciful and gracious, forgiving the sins of many." Ultimately God, being merciful, yet perfectly just, had to pay the price of justice Himself, and sent his only Son, who paid the price of justice by hanging on a cross, so the sins of God's people (that is, anyone who had faith in God's promise of a Messiah, Jews and those who converted then, Christians now) could be forgiven, while God's justice was left intact. How does this play into the arts?
God is actually redeeming this broken messed up world. That's actually what Jesus is doing now, 2000 years after He rose from the dead, as He works through His Church. He's not waiting for his people to die so He can have them in Heaven, he's actually redeeming where we are right now. In fact, it will exist for all eternity, the sun will never go supernova and end the human species, the galaxy will never collapse in on itself, but all this broken stuff like death, and your boyfriend cheating on you, and breaking your arm, that's going to go away and the Earth will be the NEW Earth and it will be perfect (at least, there will be no more sadness, sin, and brokenness, only God is perfect), without sin and without suffering and all of us are going to actually come back to life, and everyone who believes in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord will live on this Earth, doing stuff like building cities, writing symphonies, having bike races, and worshiping God FOREVER. That may not be the Christianity you've heard about, except that last part about worshiping. But the worship will look different than what you may have heard, because it's all this cultural stuff that we do every day as it is, writing books, exercising, putting on concerts, inventing stuff, and building roads. Only our motivation for doing all these things will be perfectly geared towards loving, praising, and glorifying God.
Well, it's true.
There is something weird about this redemption though. God doesn't do it in the same order we would. If someone asked you how you think God should redeem the world, you'd probably say something like "Well, he should feed everyone, get everyone in a modern house, and stop all war." Good answer. God is going to do that. All of it. But, what about let us master music and flourish as individual human beings and communities with culture? Sounds nice, but I have a feeling that wasn't at the top of your list of things you want to see in the world, though you do want to see those things. Well, GOD DOES TOO! The God of the BIBLE. That probably surprises you if you've ever been to a (bleeped to protect the guilty) church. God wants us to write symphonies and take photographs and paint pictures and put on plays and all of it! What's more, it's actually part of the redeeming of the world!!! Whoa! How? Well, okay, so, you think redemption should look like all of that ending of pain stuff, which it should, but the thing is, God wants far more for us than that. He wants us FLOURISH, which, is one of those things that happens in culture. All culture, form the arts to the art of great cooking to the art of running a business, it all matters and it's all a part of us fulfilling our place in this world. Yep, the cliche is true. We all have a place in the world. But the reason is because whatever it is you've been called to do glorifies God, pleases Him, and until that redemption is complete, is a part of redeeming the creation. (After the redemption, all this stuff will continue, but without sin, and we will go on flourishing for eternity, with every day being better with greater things than the day before!) If that doesn't sound crazy awesome, whether you believe it or not, I don't know what does.
So, for a trumpet player like me, I've got all eternity to get better at trumpet (assuming that's my calling), painters have eternity to get better at painting, etc.
And doing that stuff is important because it is part of glorifying God. We also want to be feeding the poor and clothing people and ending suffering. That's really high on the agenda for God. But, for whatever reason, God decided to do all this at once, and not quite in order, but all sort of parallel to each other. That's sort of the mysterious part. I can't defend why God did it in this order instead of the order we'd prefer. That's not my province.
