If we think in terms of the “kingdom” of God, we are by inference implying that we are under the rule of a “king.” When Paul speaks of himself as a “bond-servant” to Christ, he is accepting the position of a willing servant to his new master. This idea of working under authority and the idea of “kingdom” is no longer a common model in many parts of the world. For those who are practicing artists, discipleship raises an interesting tension between authority and freedom. Life experiences can make “authority” a very threatening matter. Artists have come to treasure their “freedom” of expression, their mobility and their romantic (even mysterious) notoriety as a breed apart, setting the ideas of authority and freedom in opposition to one another.
Discipleship, from a biblical point of view, is a “relational” process that should be nurturing and serve to bring healing. Liberated from sin and guilt, we can know in a special way the joy of being reconciled to God and adopted into His family. Our Christian walk invites us to companionship with Christ through the Spirit. However, it also involves the challenges of humility, study, correction, emotional vulnerability, passion, and even conflict. Learning about Jesus takes place in large part through our relationships with others within the context of Christian community.
Autonomy
Life in community plays a significant role in the non-western world, while
western individualism serves as an obstacle to community. The artistic temperament,
wherever it is found, leans toward thinking and acting independently. Artists,
especially in the west, have often come to treasure their autonomy in one
or more of the following ways.
1. Conceptual autonomy
The arts have followed the path of philosophical divorce from the authority
of biblical revelation, following instead the movement toward secularization
and individualism. This development places humanity at the center of all thinking
and action and moves God to the margins. Visual art, music, dance, theatre
and literature have all sought greater fulfillment in reason, human emotion
and personal expression. The slide away from acknowledging God as the source
of all things, including creativity and imagination, has been relentless.
The biblical model is found in the invitation to bring every thought captive
to Christ.
2. Aesthetic autonomy
In recent times, in nearly every artistic discipline, the language of art
has moved into increasingly more subjective forms of expression, making communication
and accessibility to community life more and more difficult. Once again the
centre is humanity apart from God. The aesthetic side of life, where creativity
and even playfulness are present, itself needs to be shaped by the biblical
story and knowledge of the One who has made all things. The search for the
self fails if it comes only to a reference point no bigger than the limits
of human perception. Human flourishing and obedient aesthetic life require
a relationship with the triune God of scripture.
3. Relational autonomy
Artists have often wrongly interpreted creativity as the by-product of a splendidly
sheltered, solitary life somehow removed from the social, interpersonal realities
of communication, cooperation and especially conflict—all unavoidable
parts of community life. Increasingly, subjective artistic language has encouraged
more distancing of artists from communal, religious and social accountability.
Creativity winds up becoming idealized as a relationally separate thing, done
in isolated and protected environments. We recognize that issues of autonomy
and isolation do not apply in the same way within dance, theatre and music
ensembles, which are by nature more communal.
If not autonomy, what then? The redemptive process requires the belief that
God is interested in all aspects of social, economic and vocational life,
and that work is an integral part of involvement in the kingdom. The opposite
of autonomy is not silent submission and compliance. It is conceptual, aesthetic
and relational interdependence in community and healthy relationships, in
which a social conscience is almost unavoidable. However, we must first consider
what needs to occur in the heart of the artist for his or her artistry to
be faithful.
Character
Artistry moves closer to seeing in a more fully Christian way as the artist
lives in the story of scripture and shapes a worldview consistent with that
story. There is a sense in which knowing the Father gives us access to envision
the great sweep of creation, in which earthly temporal reality will be seen
as a part of a much larger picture and understood accordingly. In Jesus we
have access to the master of picture language—an empathetic communicator
reaching out to us, taking on our humanity and addressing us in our own languages.
In the Spirit we have comfort, empowerment, gifts, wisdom, insight, and intercession
on our behalf. Ours will be a spirituality and an artistry that engages the
realities of life, not one that seeks to escape them. In light of this, the
inner landscape of the heart and our day-to-day walk are to be crafted to
Christlikeness. This can not happen in a spiritual vacuum. Character must
be forged with the support, discipleship and accountability of Christian community.
The empowerment of the Spirit
Maturity comes not only through the seasoning of experience in living, but
also through the “renewal of our minds” by the power of the Holy
Spirit—the one who is able to guide us into all truth about sin, righteousness
and judgement. Any insistence on autonomy in order to find either personal
or artistic illumination is naïve and foolish. God’s grace comes
to us as a gift and invites us to let go of our desire for autonomy in favour
of relationship with him. Three biblical principles make it clear that to
“do it our way” without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit dooms
us to failure.
1. To overcome spiritual opposition
Scripture reveals that there is an undercurrent of spiritual conflict in our
world involving warfare that removes any possibility of neutrality, and ridicules
human pride in its own self-determination of history. It mocks the contemporary
artist’s insistence on subjectivism, and clearly suggests that unless
we stay close to the Vine and put on the full armour of God, we are highly
vulnerable to a ruthless predator in Satan, and to the forces of evil, both
subtle and blatant, that show up in our various cultural settings.
2. To mature as disciples
Jesus continually suggests that allegiance to Him means doing things that
run counter to the comfortable compromises to which our culture is inclined.
We are called to enter a “narrow gate,” to “bear a cross,”
to share in Christ’s “baptism of suffering,” to take on
“a yoke” as we journey with Him. Emotional and spiritual health
depends on the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus makes it clear that independence
is at best an illusion, for “without me you can do nothing!”
Discipleship for an artist, as for any believer, implies the necessity of spiritual commitment, apprenticeship and humility. It involves the cultivation of wisdom for discerning truth and making wise choices—between addictive and true pleasures, between a life of caring and one of abuse, between idolatry in any form and Christ-centeredness. The options set out here are really choices for purity, humility, and obedience rather than idolatry, pride, impurity and independence. Isaiah’s lips had to be cleansed before he could bear God’s word to the “people of the unclean lips.” If the creativity of the believer is to be faithful and God glorifying, attention to these moral and spiritual matters is essential. When we choose to enter the world of the arts, we must exercise great care lest we become participants in the practice of distorting God’s good gifts.
3. To be commissioned for service
The examples from biblical history of great artistic endeavour are all closely
linked with the specific calling of the Spirit in someone’s life. In
fact, the first recorded example of indwelling with a commissioning of God’s
work was with the great designer and craftsman, Bezalel. Similarily, the governor
Zerubbabel and his partner the high priest were publicly honoured and vindicated
as partners with God’s Spirit through the prophet Zechariah, as they
struggled to rebuild the post-exilic temple for Ezra. David, the artist, warrior,
king and architect clearly evidenced the presence of God’s Spirit in
his life, in poetry, music, dance, planning and architecture. And it is significant
to note that God’s act of creation began when “the Spirit of God
hovered over the face of the waters.”
Faithfulness in the artistic calling
Artists should not take their gifting lightly. For some “a calling”
may include a strong sense of God’s leading, while for others it consists
in a deep commitment to offer their talents for the glory of God. Artists,
like other believers, should prayerfully, soberly seek God’s direction
with thankful hearts. Most biblical characters who were called by God were
ordinary men and women who were usually terrified. Most responded out of deep
sense of their own inadequacy. These men and women were made aware of the
power of God—the real reason for their success. The best way to thank
God for our gifts is to develop and express them for his glory.
Artists need to take responsibility for the attitudes of the heart, the emotions, behaviours and relationships that shape their artistic perceptions, imagination and use of language. Considering how common it is to hear of the woundedness of artists, discipleship work needs to incorporate a clear understanding of the psychological need for healing within this group of gifted believers. The issue of how suffering can either build character and creative responses or break people down into sinful or emotionally self-destructive life patterns is a familiar one among artists.
Finally, there is a need to risk being part of a spiritual community where all can learn, sitting under spiritual leadership in a community or congregation. Artists need to put themselves in a position where their artistic concepts, language and technique will be influenced by a biblical worldview, practical wisdom, and the spiritual intercession of our brothers and sisters in faith.
OBSTACLES
The need and desire for discipleship and accountability in the life of
the artist can be seriously compromised by:
• Emotional injury that can lie buried or be an open wound, causing
the artist to be bitter and distrustful, to sow seeds of discord, or to seek
false sources of comfort.
• Love and passion for art that supercedes commitment to Christ. Whether defined as loving art too much or loving God too little, this is an issue the artist may have to face.
• Character and sin issues that negatively affect the life, discipline and Christian walk of the artist, creating spiritual and moral vulnerability to the distortions of the art world.
• Distrust of spiritual community and discomfort with authority that cuts artists off from help and prevents them from maturing as servant leaders for Christ.
STRATEGIES
We suggest that arts leaders work with existing congregational, para-church
and mission leaders to create the following:
1. An artist’s covenant (a written statement) with an artistic counterpart (performance, exhibition, reading etc.) between the artist and the Lord—mediated through a local body of believers—a community ritual, formalized in a public way.
2. An artist’s handbook (study guide) on discipleship, written by and for artists, leading them through the process of evaluating and deepening their commitment to Christ, held in a conducive small group setting and led by spiritually mature artists where possible.
3. An artist identification program, led by local, national and international arts groups, in which Christians in the arts are identified, contacted, prayed for, connected together and linked to a local church community if they do not already attend one.
4. Local, regional or national conferences, with an emphasis on spirituality and character development that also provides individual counsel and prayer ministry for artists.
5. An arts council that is made up of practicing artists, pastors or spirtual leaders, business people, and other gifted members of the Christian community for advice, prayer, support, accountability and project development.
BIBLICAL CASE STUDY (1)
Character development in the pilgrimage of David as an artist
David was a man of deep passions who sought after God’s own heart.
At the same time he was given gifts by God in music and the creative arts.
He pursued and developed his talent as a young boy and was anointed by God
through Samuel to be a strong leader. However, before David could realize
the fullness of his anointing, God had to refine and build his character through
great spiritual battles (1 Samuel 16).
David was placed somewhat prematurely into leadership by King Saul, which fostered a personal perception of his being valued for his abilities (I Samuel 16:17,23). Saul was unaware of David’s true gifts and abilities and tried unsuccessfully to fit him into his own armor. David initially stood in who he knew he was, using his own innate creative giftings rather than the prescribed methodology (I Sam 17:34-37). Unfortunately, he later gave over those honorable passions and desires and used them manipulatively, leading to death and blood on his own hands (I Sam: 21,22, II Sam: 12, 24).
Throughout David’s life, his desire was to please God. However, at times he made conscious decisions not to be accountable to others and allowed his passions and emotions to go unchecked. David further manipulated circumstances to protect a reputation that was placed upon him. After being confronted about his sin he repented and turned back to God in brokenness for restoration and revival.
Throughout his journey, David composed psalms that reflect his true creative heart. He was desperate to be transparent and understood. These psalms are a mirror to help artists understand the need to be honest to, and in, our creative calling.
TO: Act 2 Scene 2