Why Imaginations Matter in Church

Peak has an art gallery.

There's a lot I'd like to say about this (like this: thanks to Kristen, Beth, and Sandy for curating!), but I bring it up now because we're about to pack up the current exhibit and bring in a new one.

The current exhibit is work by Kansas artist Jack Baumgartner. He's a friend of mine and others in our congregation. Thanks to their generosity, Jack's work has been up for a few months.

I've been grateful to work and worship near those drawings. The one of the tree in the boat has become, for me, an image of faith (Luke 17:5-6). The one with the man underground teaches me how to write a sermon. And more than one of those drawings suggest the story of Jonah.

I suspect we will see them again in the future.

The new exhibit is work by our kids around the theme of the fruit of the Spirit.

What do these very familiar words--fruit of the Spirit--mean, anyway? Is there a way to answer that apart from imagination? And who better to ask than our kids?

There was a time when art and church were inseparable. Many folks, including nonbelievers, think the greatest work of art of all time is J.S. Bach's "Saint Matthew Passion," not for what it says about Jesus' death, but the way it takes us inside that most climactic event.

Even churches that shun art sometimes end up producing timeless work, like the Shakers: a deeply religious sect that didn't intend to make "art," and yet revolutionized furniture design.

When Paul described the consequences of life in the Spirit as fruit, he's asking us to use our imaginations. When Jesus tells a parable, or again when Paul talks about the weapons of the Spirit -- all this relies on our imaginations. Art isn't just for artsy folks, or right-brained types. We all need to imagine in order to be faithful.

Thanks to Jack Baumgartner, and now to our kids, we have help here.

If you're interested in this question, I have one more point to add. If you're ready for the news part of this letter, skip down. I won't be offended.

I have said how the Church needs art. But I also think art needs the Church. This is a big topic for a newsletter so I'll just make one point.

Or, rather, Walker Percy makes the point in a talk he gave to teachers.

He says that without the Incarnation, there would be no good novels. That's because when God raised Jesus from the dead, every bit of humanity -- birth to death, joy and betrayal, exhaustion and adrenaline, body and all -- was welcomed into God's divine life. And because God did this in love, it means not only that every human life matters deeply, but the ordinary particulars of every human life matter deeply, too. And novels are all about ordinary particulars. General, abstract novels are either propaganda or terrible -- or both.

I realize that's only an argument for novels, but isn't all art about the particular, and not generalization?

- Pastor Eddy

The image is from a synagogue Jesus preached in Magdala, Galilee Region of Israel.