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Religious art originated with the earliest civilizations. Through poetry, music, images, and movements, generations of humans expressed their dependence on God, and their awareness of God as the Creator of Life.
But it was the birth of Jesus Christ and the new covenant He established between mankind and God that inspired (by the Holy Spirit) wonderfully rich forms of Christian art to teach and to motivate worship. It’s interesting to note that through the centuries, countless artists have depicted Biblical events dated long before their own lives by portraying the life of Christ in the cultural settings of the artists’ real time.
Today visual artists, poets, musicians, and dancers can also help us to make sense of life and faith through their artistic explorations and labors. The imaginations and problem solving, technical skills of artists invite us to consider their art as ways to understand something in a new way.
Art is not a thing, as we sometimes think of it, but it is a way a person expresses himself. Sometimes we can learn to speak and pray through a new language/medium that is artfully offered to us. It can stir us beyond our comfortable, familiar surroundings because our spirits respond to colors, harmonies, and varied shapes that signal something important is happening.
Art pushes artists and viewers to see, think, and feel more deeply. It develops response-ability, an impulse and freedom to wonder; art distills life and initiates dialogue.
I believe in the power of Art… The church edifice and faith community benefit when the arts offer a diversity of fresh ways to connect with the mystery of faith.
Art can “help the soul dance between mood and idea, between experience and prayerful reflection” (Spaces for Spirit by Nancy Chinn). Art allows us to be human, beyond liturgical rubrics, and develops an openness marked by respect and reverence.
Kathy Reed
Sacred Art Committee
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