Tag: Art

christians create
Christians Create in Response to Creation

Christians Create in Response to Creation

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The sun and warmth of summer always gets me thinking about Psalm 19. Creation really does declare the glory of God day after day after day. I also have recently read a couple books which emphasize creativity: one a book on glorifying God in daily tasks (I have written a post about it here) and another on flower arranging. As I was taking a walk the other day, a thought came to my head: what do Christians do in response to the beauty of God’s creation? Christians create.

Defining Christian Creativity

Non-Christians can create and produce incredibly imaginative paintings, poems, designs, etc. It is part of God’s common grace and goodness that all people who are made in His image can express themselves through artistic mediums. But the richest form of creativity is reserved for Christians: creativity as worship. Before I move on to specific examples of how Christians create, I want to give a basic theological understanding of Christian creativity.

Theological Basis

As expressed so clearly in the first chapter of this book, God is the ultimate and original creator. God creates from nothing: the first two chapters of Genesis detail in beautiful language how God merely spoke and all things were made. The question of why God created is one many theologians have tried to answer throughout the history of the Church. Jonathan Edwards in his book “The End for Which God Created the World” gives the most compelling answer in my opinion.

God created the world to display His attributes to humanity so they would delight in who He is.

That is just my summary sentence; I recommend you read Edwards’ compelling argument yourself. Essentially, there are two points to emphasize:

  • God by creating expressed and displayed some aspect of who He is
  • God created humans to see and delight in who He is
  • One of the ways humans do this is seeing God’s attributes expressed in creation

This overarching theology of why God created is where Edith Schaeffer gets her helpful definition of art, which she says involves creativity and originality:

Whatever form art takes, it gives outward expression to what otherwise would remain locked in the mind, unshared…Art in various forms expresses and gives opportunity to others to share in, and respond to things, which otherwise would remain vague, empty yearnings.

“The Hidden Art of Homemaking”, Edith Schaeffer

You notice in her definition of art, Shaeffer gives the same parts that Edwards uses when describing God creating:

  • Humans create something to give outward expression to something inside them, whether a thought or a feeling or an attribute
  • This outward expression gives other humans the opportunity to share in and respond to something inside that other person

So, Christians don’t just create because it is something built into humanity. Christians create because they understand it is a way to reflect the image of God. God, the original creator, has given humans the ability to create as well.

Derivative Creators

I must emphasize a second point: God created out of nothing. Humans cannot. So what do we, as humans, use to create? We use the materials God Himself has already created. Therefore, all human creativity is ultimately dependent on God. Unbelievers are unaware of this dependency, but this is one of the ways Christians can create as an act of worship. You and I are derivative creators. We take expressions of God’s attributes from creation and then we create in response to them.

If you stop and think about it, this should boggle your mind.

God the infinite creator, made an entire universe to express His attributes and character. Then He creates humans, not just to enjoy that universe. God creates humans with the ability to take things from that universe and create themselves.

Creativity, in my opinion, is an undeniable testament to the fact humans are created in God’s image. What a privilege you and I have. Christians are derivative creators who can express themselves artistically in response to God’s creation and using raw material from God’s creation.

Having defined Christian creativity, I want to spend the rest of this post giving some examples of Christians creating in response to God’s creation.

Examples of How Christians Create in Response to Creation

Here are four non-exhaustive examples of how you can create in response to the beauty of God’s creation. My hope is to give you some examples of creativity you can try and to get your mind thinking of how you can create as an act of worship.

Arranging Flowers

As I mentioned before, I found an excellent introduction to flower arrangement. This is one easy way you as a Christian can create something using God’s creation. By taking the various beautiful flowers from nature, you can create a small, contained, creative expression. There are many philosophies and techniques of flower arranging, but when it comes down to it, you simply make something beautiful out of beauty God has created.

Go to the library and pick up a book on flower arranging. Get some nice vases. Find a flower farm near you where you can go and cut different flowers to display. If you work in a dreary office like I do, bring in a vase with some flowers in it. Brighten up your coworkers’ lives by exposing them to the beauty of God’s creation. If you want an easy and satisfying way to create in response to God’s creation, start with flower arranging. It is immensely satisfying.

Painting the Creation

Confession: I have no talent or ability to paint. However, as a “consumer” of art, I have always been astonished at people who can capture the beauty of a landscape in a moment of time. Painters have the privilege of taking something transient (a sunset, a field full of flowers, lilies on the water) and capturing it for the enjoyment of those who missed the beautiful moment. You are using your skills as a painter to capture for all time a moment of beauty in God’s creation.

If you can paint, please capture the beauty of God’s creation for others. Take others to a moment and place where the sun was shining and you were in awe of the world around you. Humans do not have enough time to travel every beautiful place in the world to exalt in the detail, complexity, and variety of God’s creation. By painting, you can share an expression of God’s glory that others might have missed.

(I will add to this: if you can’t paint perhaps you can achieve similar goals through photography or other visual mediums.)

Poetically Reflecting on Creation

This is one of my favorite ways to respond to God’s creation. Good poetry does not merely describe a beautiful scene: it gives the reader a sense of the emotion felt when experiencing that scene. By engaging a reader’s imagination and emotions, you can paint a picture with words. You can transport your reader to a place in God’s creation. And when this poetic reflection is in response to God’s creation and pointed to God, you get amazing stanzas like:

Oh Lord, my God
When I, in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed

How Great Thou Art

Good poetry directs the reader’s emotions to a worthy object. As a Christian, you write in such a way to direct your readers to God. To God’s glory. And oftentimes, God’s glory in creation. I would recommend getting some poetry anthologies, especially poetry which describes nature. Then, read about different poetic forms and structures you can use. And, of course, try your hand at writing. Write first simply as an act of worship for the Lord’s eyes only. But as you improve, there will be poems to share with other believers to help them notice the beauty of God’s creation.

Conclusions

So much more could be said. Christians can create in countless ways beyond flower arranging, painting, and poetry. These are just examples to give you ideas for how you might respond to God’s creation. Certainly enjoying nature and praising God for it is a good first step. But God is glorified not only when you enjoy His creation, but when you take what He has made and create with it. The thing which distinguishes art for mere self expression and art as worship is where you are pointing people.

Don’t create to draw attention to yourself. Use your creative energy to draw other people’s gaze to the glory of God.

“The whole world” is filled with God’s glory. But people seldom notice it or attribute it back to the Creator. Christians create because it is our great privilege to guide others to “see and savor” the beauty and magnificence of God.

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2 Interesting Reflections from Attending a Ballet

2 Interesting Reflections from Attending a Ballet

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I never thought I would enjoy attending a ballet. Ballet always seemed so odd to me. I prefer symphonies or Broadway.

But because of COVID, it has been over a year since my wife and I attended a live performance. We used to really enjoy going to concerts or musicals together. So, when our local ballet was having a Valentine’s day recital, we decided to give it a try.

I was pleasantly surprised.

The evening was a collection of different dances. And as I reflected on attending the ballet that evening, a couple thoughts came to my mind.

Ballet is an example of metaphor

Background to metaphor

I recently read an amazing book on metaphor and its usage in language and society. It was written by a non Christian as far as I know, but the book has profoundly helped my Bible study, my understanding of the world, and language in general.

Essentially, the book defines a metaphor as understanding something you don’t know in light of something you know.

For example, you can take an abstract idea like “knowing” and link it up to a physical reality, like “seeing”. The metaphor, therefore, is “seeing = knowing.”

That is why in your day to day life, you say things like “I see what you are saying.” You literally do not “see” what a person is saying. It is a metaphor.

Metaphor is one of the most useful tools God has given humans to understand the world.

In a previous post, I discussed how God uses metaphor to get across spiritual truth in the Bible. Honestly, if you were to pull out your Bible right now and turn to almost any page, you would find a metaphor.

Parables are extended metaphors.

Proverbs are condensed metaphors.

The Psalms and Prophets use metaphors constantly.

A metaphor is just an equation: X = Y. You equate two dissimilar things. Then you think about how the one is like the other.

A good example is Psalm 1. The Psalmist compares the righteous man to a tree.

At first glance, a person and a tree don’t seem to have much in common. But as a reader, you should stop and ask “in what ways is a righteous man like a tree?”

Once you have set up that equation “righteous man = tree”, you can use the one to help understand the other. In this case, God is communicating a truth about an abstract concept (the righteous man) using a very common object (a tree).

Through the one, you better understand the other.

Music = Movement

Back to the ballet. I think I never understood ballet or even dance for that matter because I did not understand metaphor.

Ballet uses this simple metaphor: Music = Movement.

As I watched the dances move to music by Rachmaninoff or Shostakovitch, I realized what they were doing. Whoever choreographed the dance was doing metaphorical thinking, whether they were aware of it or not.

That realization changed my perspective and enjoyment of my evening.

Every movement, every twirl, every point of the toes was the artists interpretation of the music. Or, to put it another way, ballet transforms something abstract, music, into something more tangible and physical, movement.

The result? The emotions of the music were further highlighted by the movement of the dancers.

Attending a ballet becomes much more enjoyable once you understand ballet isn’t merely to impress. It is interpretive.

As someone who absolutely loves music, I found it infinitely intriguing all the choices a choreographer had to make while listening to music.

What movement evokes the crescendo of the piece? How is the orchestration portrayed by the dances? What dance can capture the longing or the elation of a piece of music?

I found my enjoyment of ballet increase a hundred-fold once I understood it is simply metaphor for my enjoyment.

Ballet is a complementarian art form

For those unfamiliar with the term, “complementarian” is simply the Biblical affirmation that manhood and womanhood are distinct. Men and woman have the same value, but different roles. Desiring God has a good round-up of articles if you want to read further.

While attending the ballet, I noticed the God-given differences between men and women on display. And not just on display: beautiful. Complementary. Elegant.

The woman dancers used their flexibility and grace, the men used their strength.

The unique physical attributes of men and woman worked together in the ballet. The result: something more beautiful than if only one gender was dancing.

Sitting there with my wife on Valentine’s day, I was struck by what a good reminder this was.

A Christian marriage should be like a ballet: two individuals using their individual giftings from God together for the benefit of others.

I think if a preacher is going through Ephesians 5, he can look no further for an illustration than ballet. As an art form, I was surprised at how balanced it is.

The men aren’t dominating the woman or vice versa. There is only graceful movement together. Leveraging each others strengths. Covering up the other’s weaknesses.

What a great picture of Christian marriage! I never thought attending a ballet would become a spiritual lesson.

But isn’t that the beauty of the Christian life?

One of the amazing features of the Christian life is seeing the world through a God-focused, gospel centered worldview. You enjoy more things and learn more things than if everything was mere entertainment.

So, my encouragement for you is simply this:

Try something new. Something you might not understand. Then reflect on it. Examine it by what you know about the gospel and God.

“The whole earth is filled with God’s glory” Isaiah 6 says. It is indeed.

Praise God for ballet and the lessons He teaches us as we go along our way.

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