Little Treasures

Do you ever get the feeling that you were meant for another time or place?

My wife, Emily, and I were walking to a restaurant on the East Side this week when I noticed a small gathering of people, furtively surrounding a row of cardboard boxes on the sidewalk. I immediately recognized this scenario. The all-too-familiar posture of contained, pedestrian greed was all the evidence I needed that time was short. I had to act. Emily suppressed her hunger momentarily and followed me across the street. Books! There were books! Freshly left on the sidewalk from some nearby office or studio, some of them looked new! I waited for Emily’s voice to patiently remind me that I’m not allowed to collect any more books, but it didn’t come. Too late now, I’m digging through boxes like a looter in a national disaster, only with a faint sophistication and poise as if to say, “I certainly don’t need these books”.

In a box that seemed to have belonged to a graphic designer, a lover of beauty, I came across my little treasure. The striking cover was all purple hues, natural textures, lavender in a field…it was a book dedicated to lavender, and to how its fragrance and bloom so richly adorn the region of Provence in France. Well! I wasn’t going to miss this! I scooped the book up nonchalantly, giving eyes to Emily that it was time to make our exit. She was relieved that I’d only accumulated a single book. At dinner, we talked and dreamed of France…again. What would our lives look like in France? “What would we do?” she said. We both agreed that it would be reason enough just to BE there.


Ok, so we certainly have a romantic view of the French countryside, but I wonder if some couple in Provence isn’t dreaming of New York City. We have these inexplicable desires to be elsewhere, don’t we? More than that...we believe in our hearts that we could, in fact, be meant for another existence altogether. The little treasure I found in the box on a city street made me long again for my true home, my true city. C.S. Lewis affirms this longing in his timelessly lucid Mere Christianity, suggesting that if we have desires which cannot be satisfied in this world then it must follow that we were meant for another world.

Perhaps our art-making, too, serves as a reminder of our other worldliness. Not merely that inspiration emits from a mysterious source, but that we as artists are consumed by work that addresses elements of our world which are not entirely of this world. As we discussed at Inter Arts Fellowship this month, art extracts information from text or experience which is not expressly present in time and space. In this way, art groans with the universe in eager expectation for the final and eternal proliferation of beauty and grace, the Redemption of all things! As I live my days in the city, I’m thankful for lavender reflections in cardboard boxes, and for the beautiful reminder of art. May we always be graced to discover it.

--Kenyon

Art and Care

Last spring I attended a retreat for Christian art leaders held at Laity Lodge, outside of San Antonio, TX. How gracious for an organization to provide space where leaders could share their stories of healing and spiritual deepening through the use of art. Listening to these various accounts I realized just how much artists are currently using their gifts as tools towards pastoral care and spiritual growth, regardless of whether they classify it as such.

Professor Howard Clinebell defines pastoral care as “ministry of mutual healing and growth within a congregation and its community.” (Basic Types Of Pastoral Care And Counseling, p.26) To witness God’s people utilizing the language of art for the well being of its community is exciting. Having to be always an advocate for the arts in this pragmatic society, I found these testimonies to be a healing balm for my own soul. I am in awe of God’s provision for the Church. This organic impulse to utilize art in the most humble ways also widens the scope of art within our postmodern context. In our society art is a thing onto itself — it exits for its own sake. To counter the bias of our scientific and technological society this belief is sometimes necessary, but art also lives to heal, unify, as well as to inspire.

One year after the Laity Lodge retreat, the Center for Faith and Work decided to incorporate a more creative hands-on approach in our yearly retreat. Our desire was to grasp great teaching by engaging it through a variety of activities that included embodied interaction. After all, as Margaret Kornfeld reminds us, “God is a God who wants to be remembered and has created our bodies — with complex neurochemical systems — so that memory is possible.” (Cultivating Wholeness, p.86)

The weekend began with individuals creating a personal collage representing the good/bad of their vocational field. This activity enabled retreaters to process their circumstances and articulate them to group members. Later on, we commenced our evening worship by passing out glow sticks that illuminated our parade to the meeting hall. Once we reached our softly lit destination, participants beheld a giant mosaic floor scroll made from their collages. Surrounding the mosaic were simple musical instruments, waiting to be picked up and played with. The glow sticks, now collected together in a glass urn, illuminated our evening filled with songs, prayers, and praises. All these concrete activities helped reinforce our teaching for the weekend: our stories, held together, can become aligned with God’s story.

Art is a receptacle for our stories. But, art also helps us to understand God’s story in deep and meaningful ways. Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon put it this way:

"How does God deal with the human fear, confusion, and paralysis? God tells a story: I am none other than the God who ‘brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of Bondage’…In telling that story, Israel comes to see itself as a people on a journey, an adventure. Its ethics become the virtues necessary to sustain Israel on the road." (Resident Aliens, p.54)

Art reminds us that beauty is possible even in the midst of our broken and confused lives. Art helps sustain the community of believers on the journey of being and becoming the children of God.
--Maria

Looking without seeing

[We’re sorry it’s been so long since we posted something new – it was a very busy spring! We hope you’ve been enjoying your summer so far…]

So, those of you who know me well have been wondering just how long it would take before I went on a rant. Here we go….

My husband and I have enjoyed visiting Washington, DC twice in the last two years. It’s cheap and easy to get to from NYC, you don’t need a car to get around, and the museums are free (relatively speaking – they are directly supported by our taxes). A year ago when we visited DC for the first time since childhood, we were disappointed that what we remembered as one of our favorite museums, the National Museum of American History, was closed for renovations. So, when we went this spring, we were eager to visit that museum and the Museum of Natural History, which we had also skipped a year ago because we were frustrated by massive numbers of school groups. (Okay, so neither of these are art museums…but bear with me for a few minutes, I’ll be making a point that applies to art.)

We were first shocked to find that American History Museum no longer actually displays artifacts – at least, not many. What we both loved about the museum as children was the sheer quantity of really cool stuff. Now, one or two objects might be displayed alongside large displays of “context” – signage with photographs and text, an interactive video, etc. – telling you about the importance of the artifact, suggesting how to think about it, and encouraging you to have a personal interaction with it. Although (according to their website), “The Museum has more than 3 million artifacts in its collection,” I’d be surprised if even 300 are actually on display today in the new, re-envisioned museum which is finding “new ways to present the objects of our nation's past.” Um…was there a problem with the old way?

Then we went to the Museum of Natural History. We failed in our effort to time our visit around the swarming schoolchildren and teenagers, so we stepped over and through them to get to the exhibitions we wanted to see. I remembered being gobsmacked, as our British friends would say, by the Hope Diamond as a child, and the rest of the gemstone collection, so we visited it.

The gems were incredible – but I was amazed to see that, instead of actually looking at the pieces, the schoolchildren (and their adult chaperones!) were instead compulsively photographing them, one after another, rushing as quickly as possible through the exhibition to be sure they got to see everything.

We had noticed this on our previous trip, too, at the amazing Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, which is made up of numerous statues and other creative interpretations of FDR’s presidency. A group of pre-teens – with T-shirts from a Christian school, no less – raced through the memorial, posing with the statues for photographs, and never actually took time to see the pieces and be affected by their meaning.

Imagine yourself here…sitting on FDR’s knee…or petting the nice doggie….

To have an experience of anything – whether it is a historical artifact, a beautiful piece of human craftsmanship, or a tribute to a great man – requires attention. Attention, in turn, requires an absence of distractions (like multiple layers of “context”), plenty of time (which might require being selective), and focused sensory engagement (looking, listening, touching, tasting, smelling, or moving).

Has life started to move so fast that we are afraid we’ll miss something if we pay attention? Does interacting with something, inserting ourselves into it, make it “ours”? Are we so fearful that another beautiful experience will never come again, that we feel the need to capture and hold onto it, even if only in a photograph?

1 Corinthians 13:12: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

Perhaps, really attending to what we have here – even if it is only as a digital photo of the Hope Diamond is to the real thing – can lead us to a greater eagerness and hope and joy now about what we will experience then.
--Luann

The Drama of Believing

What greater drama is there than the Christian narrative? The Bible starts with toe-tapping rhythmic ordering and ends with the show stopping, coming down from heaven, glittery gemstone city. It’s as if our world held a concealed secret reality to be discovered only in the sweetest of dreams. In between these scenes we see humanity’s struggle to love God more than their desire to play God. God’s faithfulness, always present, brings the drama to a climax with the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The coming of Christ is epiphany. By knowing Jesus, humanity gains access to its own humanness, putting off its need to be God and growing in its need for God. Indeed, the Christian “actor” puts down the mask and picks up the rhythms of life in order to flesh out true character. Christian incarnation eliminates disguise. The actor no longer needs the mask as he leads those who willingly follow him into life’s tragedies and comedies.

Theater itself is a large collaborative effort. Here is an earthly paradigm for the rich interrelationships of which the Bible speaks. Theater, just as in Christianity, depends on a rapport between text and the writer of that text. The director, crew, and cast must all connect and relate to the same script. All parts work together to incarnate these words connected by speech and gestures. What actors say and what they do reflects what is written.

On Sunday mornings when we gather together to worship, we too enact a drama based on a text. We sing songs, make speeches, and perform gestures that embody the Scripture stories. We work Scripture into our own beings every week through the body of Christ, the gathered church. We practice now a bit of what we will be doing together forever. And, art and beauty—the songs, symbols, and settings of the scripture—is now and always will be a part of our corporate activity. What an exciting drama we behold and God unfolds.
--Maria

Affordable Art

Can you experience great art in NYC at prices you can afford? Yes! If you know where to look and can plan ahead and be flexible.

[Do you have tips for affordable arts experiences? Share them as a comment below!]

Visual art: Some major museums have "free nights." The Museum of Modern Art is free on Friday evenings from 4-8pm, and Brooklyn Museum has a great "First Saturdays" event (coming up on March 6!) that is free and includes live music, dancing and other programs. Both would be great to attend with a group of friends!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cloisters (in Washington Heights) are always "pay what you wish" (check the fine print - it's a "suggested donation"). The Frick Collection - a great "unknown treasure" - is "pay what you wish" on Sundays from 11am-1pm, the Guggenheim on Saturdays from 5:45-7:45pm, and the Whitney on Fridays from 6-9pm (regular admission is only $8 at the Whitney through February 24!). Don't feel guilty - the museum would rather have you come for what you can afford than not visit at all! The staff won't hassle you. (If it would make you feel better, go to the museum three times in a year, and split your "suggested donation" into three installments.)

Check the Visitor Information page for other museums to see what they offer. Art galleries are always free and NYC has the best galleries in the world, featuring the most cutting-edge contemporary art.

Performances: A number of discount programs offer tickets to theater, dance and music performances for affordable prices. Theatre Development Fund, which also runs the TKTS booths, has a membership program that features tickets to all kinds of performances, between $9-$37, up to a month in advance of the performance. Annual membership is $30/year and is open to students, artists, teachers, those working in non-profits, retirees, and more. Click here for details.

Other ticket discount programs like Audience Extras and Play-by-Play have a higher annual fee, but only a small service charge for day-of-show tickets to a wide range of performances, including Broadway.

Many of the major venues also offer inexpensive tickets to their regular performances, including New York City Ballet ($15/ticket plus $20 annual membership), Metropolitan Opera ($20), New York Philharmonic ($31+) and more. Yes, you have to plan well ahead to get these tickets. And, no, you won't be on the front row. But let's face it, how big are the people on your TV set at home?

Some performances offer discounted day-of-performance "rush" tickets. Check the website of the organizations you're interested in for more details.

You also might consider ushering - it's a great way to serve the people and arts organizations of our city, and see some shows for free! Contact your favorite venue for more information.

Redeemer also offers group-priced tickets through our "Culture Club" program, which attends an arts event each month. Sign up for the email newsletter here to receive announcements about these events. Most Culture Club outings are not also announced in the worship service bulletin or elsewhere.

Enjoy some great art!
--Luann

The Good of Art

Jonathan Edwards poetically expressed how the creation of the world came into being as an overflow of the relational love dynamically expressed among the persons of the Trinity. The material world is the manifestation of the active love present within God’s own triune being. Is it any wonder, then, that God consecrates his creative outcome in Genesis 1 as good? In a similar manner Colin Gunton understands God as the ultimate artist creating for love’s sake. He believes, “creation is a project, something God wills for its own sake and not because he has need of it” (The Cambridge Companion to Christine Doctrine, p.142). Creation then is intrinsically good in and of itself as an outpouring of God’s own love and beauty. Therefore, Richard Viladesau is correct to exclaim, “To experience beauty is to experience a deep-seated ‘yes’ to being” (Theology and the Arts, p.42).

One beautiful aspect of art is its ability to operate on many levels. Art reveals, inspires, and heals. It facilitates in a sensory way mediation of the world and our experiences in it. Art also reserves the power to elevate, motivate, and touch us in deep and meaningful ways that mere communication of facts cannot produce. Most importantly, art reminds us what it means to be human while at the same time discloses the divine and the transcendent—what is beyond us, what we hope for. But to continue to list the human benefits of art becomes a bit of an apologetic appeal. In our rationalistic society, pragmatism tends to rule and there is little room for art. We must therefore take the paradigm of God creating the world in and through love, not because he needed to, but because the constitution of love is generative and giving. Love and beauty beg for regeneration. Art is a gift to be given away, to inspire more works of art and to provide hope and meaning.

If it is true that art is self-expression as well as a reflection of the community it comes from, is it not likely that our work, our artistic creations as those who have a relationship with God, also contains the aroma of Christ? Despite the troubles and tribulations of our lives (that may also be evident in our art) Christ leads us in “triumphal procession,” and according to 2 Corinthians 3:14 distributes through us a fragrance—a sensory knowledge of himself. The love of God is so active it pours over us and inundates us with a scent. A scent, though not seen, is physically present—sometimes even discerned by taste. This presence clings to us, latches onto our work. Christians, therefore, should continue to participate in artistic actions not because they are necessary, but because love bids them to do so.
--Maria

NYC Church architecture

In our Arts Month devotional series, debuting today at www.faithandwork.org/artsdevotional, we talk about "beauty" - that God cares about beauty, and experiencing beauty brings us closer to Him.

One of our suggested activities is to visit a church that is "beautiful" in its architecture and decoration. We suggested "the usual suspects" - St Bart's, St Patrick's, St John the Divine (sensing a theme here?) - but we'd like to know what other beautiful churches you've found in NYC. Let us know in a comment below and we'll add it to the list when we move these devotionals to their permanent location on the website.

Thanks!
--Luann