The patrons, fellows, and staff of the Anselm Society sent the card below to the members of the Anselm Society Arts Guild, to encourage them at Christmastime. If you'd like to leave a note for our artists to exhort them and inspire them, please do so!
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Card text:
Dear Anselm Society member artists,
As we wrap up the calendar year (and begin the Christian year!) with Advent, we wanted to write you a quick note to say thank you.
You, the charter member artists of the Anselm Society, have helped it do something special this year—and we want to make sure you know what that is. Yes, the big events have been a joy, and already we’ve raised the money to pay the bills for this year and much of next (!). But those things are not what we’re talking about.
We’re talking about what we felt when we listened to Joy and Joel Clarkson’s first album. When we started reading Evangeline Denmark’s new novel Curio, and when we rejoiced to learn that Ashlee Cowles will get her first novel published next year. And when we looked at the artists’ table at the Rod Dreher event, and Paulette Triplett’s paintings and Lisa Eisenhardt’s gift of her mosaic guitar. And in conversation after conversation with church members who attended our events and encountered your art, and the masterworks of the faith from people like Dante and Shakespeare.
What we've felt, what we've seen, is this: the first stirrings of an awakening, not merely of better Christian art, but of “the communion of saints”—of God’s church.
That is what you have been helping build. The bumper stickers overpromise—art doesn’t create community by itself. But strong communities, ones with a shared identity, a rich imagination, and the ability to grow and deepen over generations, produce (and are shaped and challenged by) distinctive art, literature, and music. This is what the Church desperately needs if it is to rise to meet the challenges of our time, and we know it can only happen if the Church and its members step out to understand you, to love you, to listen to you, and to support you in your faith and your craft. We have barely begun, but already we see people by the hundreds beginning to do this. And this is only happening because they encountered art that moved them. Including yours.
So what we want to make sure you know this Christmas is this: you are anything but alone, and your craft is anything but insignificant. See below for a link with personal notes from each of us. Keep creating. Keep letting your brothers and sisters in. Keep going deeper, seeking truth and meaning and sharing it with those around you.
We are honored to be a small part of your work, and we are praying for you. Thank you for everything you do for the Kingdom, and may the great Creator bless you with wonders anew this Christmas.
View the card and our personal notes: http://www.groupcard.com/r/KNxblGGDJlY?ec=s2YTBxw05vB
Warmest regards,
The Patrons, Fellows, Staff, and Member Churches of the Anselm Society
(Member churches: Holy Trinity Anglican Church, International Anglican Church, New Life Downtown, and Woodmen Valley Chapel)