ETERNAL LIFE: This Death Must Come

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

                                                                       

                                                                     -Julian of Norwich

What is the story underlying your journey as an artist? Are you on a path to glory? If I’m honest with myself, the pervasive narrative in which I locate my struggle to create and share art is often rooted in my own imagined “path to glory”. As you can probably guess, viewing my life with this story in my heart often leads to more than a little frustration. It can even lead me to depression. Why does it seem that God is working against this “path to glory” narrative I’ve created? Doesn’t he want me to flourish and shine, if only for the sake of others (and for the years I spent watching VH1 and MTV). How might God see my path unfolding? As we continue our meditation this year exploring the essence of LIFE, please join me in a series of reflections on ETERNAL: LIFE looking forward to our next quarterly InterArtsFellowship with Cherith Nordling and guest artists.

i. This Death Must Come

God’s path to glory always includes death. This is staggering news to us, continually. But he is the Master Redeemer and this is his way. Our way of redeeming is about self glory. That is our natural choice. Whether we are aware of it or not, we actually default to our own self glory in all things. But the Master Redeemer knows us quite well. We were not always so inclined. He also knows the whole of His creation. And he knows the future.

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.

Yet now is the hour of redemption by death alone. This death will come, to the self we seek to glorify. And this is his most loving way. This is his mercy. For his glory is not a matter of self-actualization for the Almighty, as it would be for you and I. That is a ludicrous comparison. No, the Almighty has no maker, he is eternal, the creator of all though not himself created... His glory is for the becoming of all things which are not himself, that they might become glorified by being drawn into his destiny. And this is the magnificent work of the cross.

Through Christ’s death, the death of God, all that is not within God is brought back into him not only for his own glory but for the reclamation of glory for all that he made. The cosmos is swept into the eternal life of God through Christ’s eternal reign over death. All which lives to die, now lives in the shadow of the cross and the hope of resurrection through the risen one. So this death must come, and through it shall come the resurrection of all things by the catalytic, Eternal LIFE of Christ, who is the glory of God.

Kenyon

Kingdom Waiting

I’m always amazed how Jesus’ parables convey a kingdom not estranged from this world, but very much bound to it.  Despite the eschatological-end times dimension found in Matthew 25, the three stories within focus on the work accomplished in the present.  

In the first narrative we come across ten virgins awaiting the bridegroom in order to enter the wedding festivities. The wise maidens carry extra oil for their lamps. They are able to join the celebration unlike the five who missed the procession due to their search for fuel. The Scout Motto be prepare can be invoked here. The parable of the talents is the second narrative. A master, about to embark on a long journey, entrusts three servants with talantons, dispensed in proportion to their proficiencies.  Here, the good servant multiplies the wealth of the master.

The last tale ushers the listener into the future as the Son of Man sits as king on his throne. Here, we watch him separate people as a shepherd segregates sheep from goats. Those positioned to his right are ones who cared about earthly matters: they fed, clothed, cared.  Yet we must remember these humanitarian concerns are fueled by anticipation for the coming bridegroom, master, king; thus rendering them kingdom works.

Kingly people live life fully in the present, shaped and marked by a future. What, then, does it mean for the wise artist to be prepared? Are we hording, neglecting, or diminishing our talents or are we investing our time and energy to multiplying what the master has apportioned? And, most importantly, does our wisdom and entrepreneurial skills work to re-establish the best of humanity?

If Jesus is the good king his priority becomes care of his kingdom. A thriving kingdom provides the basic needs for its inhabitants; therefore, by seeking human flourishing through our practice of medicine, economics, law, or art, we become kingly servants.

It took the life, death, and resurrection of Christ to re-establish humanity. Let’s follow his lead as we wait for him, the bridegroom, master and king.

--Maria

Time Continuum

Space-Time Configuration

What does the worker gain from his toil?  I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to the end.  Ecclesiastes 3:9-11

Time present and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in time past.  T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

Investing time in the studio always yields benefits. The work focuses or branches out into new forms. Pleasurable discoveries shifts the expenditure of our time, expenses, energies as we grasp towards that elusive something. The pursuit is future-oriented, but to obtain it we must be fully vested in the present, all the while sustained by positive past experiences of accumulated processes of art making.  

Yet sometimes the need to create is mere burden. No explanations needed for He has also set eternity in the hearts of men. We experience something good when we make art. And just as our studio practices hones the work, it is a pattern parallel to God’s perfecting of the cosmos through time, space, the particular, through Christ. We cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

What does this mean for artists? First off, eternity is continuous with our present world. Time present and time past are contained in time future. And time future double backs into time present: our time. God is with us through his promised Spirit, the hallmark of a new age. This means we don’t have to get it right the first time. Just as the whole of creation is groaning waiting for God to perfect it, our art is practice. One day the grunts and groans will eventually give way to true worship of the Triune God. Christ has already set the Spirit life in motion--we have the firstfruits of the Spirit awaiting the future redemption of our bodies. He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Secondly, since forever belongs to us, time is not a burden. One of the characteristics of our culture is the weight of time. We never have enough of it so we weary ourselves with too much work, too much play. The more we invent time saving devices to increase leisure, Colin Gunton notes the less capable we are of being able to dwell “in the body and on the good earth.” (Gunton, The One, The Three, And the Many, p.77). In God’s timelessness, he sets patterns of living: birth, death, plant, pick, kill, heal, extirpate, build up. Life does not happen all at once for we are to dwell in each zone discovering its merits and faults.

Isn’t this what we also learn in the studio? Idea, concept, action, introspection, more action, wait for the paint to dry, curse, smile, scrape off the paint, start again with the marks of the old refined by the new. What does the worker gain from his toil? John Dewey remarks how “Every work of art follows the plan of, and pattern of, a complete experience, rendering it more intensely and concentratedly felt.” (Dewey, Art As Experience, p.54) Artists, think of your art making practice as a sensitizing or priming agent for the ultimate experience of eternity.

Let the future break into the present; make art.

--Maria

Not As The Flowers

It was not as the flowers,

each soft Spring recurrent;

it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled

eyes of the eleven apostles;

it was as His flesh: ours.

-John Updike, Seven Stanzas at Easter, Stanza 2

The lilies that will adorn our churches this Sunday are redolent of fresh life, yet for Updike this symbol is much too subdued. Christ’s resurrection signals so much more: we can forget about Easter fineries, for we will one day wear Spiritual bodies. And just like the angel at the tomb in John Updike’s poem, Seven Stanzas at Easter, we will be weighty, “opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen, spun on a definite loom.”

The resurrection indicates a new way of being. A life animated by the Spirit, tabernacle in a physical body— the earthbound people of God. Easter for artists signals the re-creating capacity set into motion by our Triune God: the Father’s undying love, spurs the Son’s self-giving, and the Spirit’s creative activity overcomes death for all. For artists this dynamic movement reverberates into our own lives as we continually advocate and sacrifice for art to then experience some semblance of renewal. If our God re-creates out of brokenness, even death, please consider this Easter what this means for your art. “Let us walk through the door:”

The stone is rolled back; not paper-mâché,

Not a stone in a story,

But the vast rock of materiality that in the slow

grinding of time will eclipse for each of us

the wide light of day.

-John Updike, Seven Stanzas at Easter, Stanza 5

--Maria

Longing And The Spirit Life

Fresh Pair of Eyes

'Cause I want to be seen
With a fresh pair of eyes
The single white tree
In a black hood of disguise

I want, I want to be seen
With a fresh pair of eyes
The single, the single white tree
In a black hood of disguise

I miss God, I miss God
I miss God, I miss God

-Brooke Waggoner

Longing is one of the visceral affects induced by Wim Wenders’ film Pina. Pina Bausch’s choreography beautifully, and at times with forceful asperity, depicts the body reaching for what lies beyond. Leaving the theater one cannot help but address our hollowness set beside such hallow-ness.

I miss God, I miss God
I miss God, I miss God

The songstress, Brooke Waggoner, also elicits yearning. Longing comes from diagnosing what we miss. Like the Psalmist, we need to voice our apprehensions acknowledging God all the while. To be spiritual means to live and work in the realm of the Spirit—God’s own presence in the world. Through Jesus we are given the Spirit in order to grasp God’s holiness and righteousness. This happen in spite of how we live in the mire of our own muck. When we receive mercy, we know God is near.

The Spirit gives us “a fresh pair of eyes” to enable true relationship with the triune God, with others, and with the physical world. Steven Guthrie relates how “Apart from God’s Spirit, we sink further away from our humanity.” (Guthrie, Creator Spirit, p.36) According to Guthrie this is why the Spirit allows us to see God through artists like Pina Bausch who is able to trace and recover genuine human movement. God’s Spirit does not de-humanize, instead it reorders and transforms our human desires so that we may see Him. In fact, it is because of Jesus’ humanness the Spirit can reveal what has been missed under sin’s "black hood of disguise."

The Spirit life, therefore, is a life dependent on our triune God. Our work must be handed over to Christ’s renewing love that reconciles all things. Cultural renewal comes out of Spiritual restoration. Perhaps Ms. Waggoner also comes to this realization when she croons in her song Wonder-Dummied how “I tried my best alone but it got me nowhere and I can’t do it on my own.” True longing erupts in God’s accepting presence for we finally sense our own inadequacies, “Oh to be of the purest of pure in his arms,” Ms. Waggoner aches:

But I’ve never felt this feel so heavy
And I’ve never felt this feel so low
Yeah it is a wake inside my whole soul
But you are my strength I won’t stand alone

The Christian artist works in the medium of painful longing for we are given the Spirit who directs us ahead to what should be, what can be, what will be. This is why Colin Gunton understands the Spirit’s action as eschatological. The Spirit works to perfect “the particulars by relating them to their source and destiny.” (Gunton, The One, The Three, And The Many, p. 212). Let us not be overwhelmed by the heaviness of longing, but relate it back to its source and destiny for ultimately it is God we seek.

Please join us at InterArts Fellowship on April 16^th when Brooke Waggoner, along with William Edgar, will help us to further examine the Spirit Life.

--Maria

New City Arts Forum

This week Redeemer Arts has invited two close partners to share with you about a new and important art & faith movement which will culminate next month in an exciting way at the New City Arts Forum. To whet your appetite for this event we've asked our good friend Dan Siedell, who will be a featured speaker at the Forum, to contribute a blog introducing the issues he will address at the Forum. You can learn more about Dan Siedell's life and work in his book God in the Gallery or by listening to podcasts at International Arts Movement. One of our favorite articles by Dan is Art as an Aescetic Practice, which you'll find at his blog. Please enjoy reading this article, and we hope you'll consider attending the upcoming New City Arts Forum in Charlottesville.

Kenyon & Maria, Redeemer Arts Staff

A Word from Dan Siedell

The New City Arts Initiative, a network of artists and advocates in Charlottesville, Virginia that is committed to supporting human flourishing through the arts, is hosting it's inaugural conference April 20-22, 2012. Organized around the theme Art, City and Society, a small cohort of artists, scholars and advocates has been invited to facilitate a conversation around the following questions. What is the responsibility of the artist? What is good art? What is the relationship of art and social engagement? Who is our audience? And finally, what is the role of the church?

NCAI has invited me to reflect on the role of the church in the arts from the perspective of God in the Gallery, a book I wrote a few years ago, in which I argued that the church needs to understand modern and contemporary art more deeply and on its own terms in order more effectively to embrace it.

After fifteen years as a museum curator, art history professor, and practicing art historian, I have recently joined the staff of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida as a cultural theologian. This vocational and institutional shift has rotated my approach to the role of the church and the arts in obvious and not so obvious ways. Through the unique opportunities and challenges of Coral Ridge, I will discuss what I have come to believe is the most important role that the contemporary church can play for the arts: love them. It sounds obvious but it is not. The temptation is to make the arts do something for us; make them work for us. But we should love them for their own sake. Love them by examining every nook and cranny of their distinctive practices. Love them by studying their history and theory. Love them by refusing to make them serve as tools for our theology or worldview. It is only through love that the church can support the arts, cultivate a relationship that can bear witness to Christ and the freedom He has won for us—a freedom to love art.

Join us next month in Charlottesville as we explore this and other important and challenging questions together. I will also give you an update on my search, which I discussed in God in the Gallery, for that most elusive and mysterious of creatures, the so-called “Christian artist.”

Dan Siedell, Guest Blogger

Information for Follow Up:

Daniel A. Siedell is Director of Theological & Cultural Practices at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is at work on a book on Christianity and modern art with theologian Willian Dyrness of InterVarsity Press.

To register for the Forum: click here

More about New City Arts: Click here

Read article in Christianity Today re NCAI

Up, Light/Light, Up

The idea of “Christian Art” is a subject that has been continually shrouded with a sense of discord. Few people can reach an agreement on how to define this term, or agree on what type of art this term should define. Yet, for those of us who consider ourselves Christians and who make art (or who participate in the art world in some capacity) it is a phrase we are forced to confront at some point. Given the contentious nature of this label, it is highly unlikely that a consensus will ever be reached, but just because the topic is a difficult one does not mean we receive a free pass to ignore it all together.

The exhibition Up, Light/Light, Up currently on view in Redeemer's new W83 Ministry Center strives to move beyond the stringent label and overt Christian imagery that is frequently associated with “Christian Art.” Instead, the exhibition endeavors to view art through a wider lens of both context and formal qualities. We are able to see how greatly the nature of a space affects the way in which we view objects. If the artworks had been installed in a white walled gallery few of us would perhaps have seen a connection between the collected works and Christianity. But, as the art is installed in a space dedicated to worship, the viewer automatically begins interpreting the works in a way that corresponds with its environment.

As the viewer continues to respond to the environment and the art works themselves, different formal elements in the works begin to take on new meanings. The diamond of light contemplated by a gathering of people in Joyce Lee’s Hover begins to feel like a modern day burning bush whose message the observers are struggling to comprehend. The chevron pattern in Heaven is Fey and Untitled by Wayne Adams lifts the viewer’s eyes higher and higher, seemingly to encourage the contemplation and worship of the One Most High. Or, through the house-like forms in Stephanie Imbeau’s sewn drawing, we are reminded that wherever we worship is considered the House of God, and in turn we are connect to a larger community of churches and believers, creating an expanding network of houses that belong to God. It quickly becomes apparent that in each work there is some bold light source, or upward moving line or shape that continues to encourage the viewer to contemplate ideas of faith and Christianity.

So it is through the quiet encouragement of light, movement, and context, that Up, Light/Light, Up is able to bring the viewer to a place of worship and contemplation. The success of the works in this space makes us wonder how we could ever consider these works to be anything but faith-based art. But it is also here in this same moment, if we are able to take a step back, that we realize just how much we allow our environments to affect the way we view and interact with art. This is not necessarily a bad thing: perhaps it will help us to also realize how precarious our attempts at defining “Christian Art” truly are. Maybe more important then establishing a clear definition of “Christian Art,” is establishing the ability and willingness to see God in the art and gallery spaces all around us, no matter how unlikely it may seem.

-Allison Peller

Up, Light/Light, Up exhibition will be on view this Sunday in Fellowship Hall after all services. Allison Peller is co-curator of Up, Light/Light, Up enlisting many CIVA artists.