Writer Mandy Brown Houk, who also co-hosts the Believe to See podcast, voices some big questions that artists, pastors, and churches are shy to confront. She offers five ways you can start to restore art in worship, beginning this Sunday morning.
The Arts in Worship
Here’s a noncontroversial statement: the church has had a volatile relationship with arts and artists over the past several hundred years. Can art be worthwhile if it’s not a direct, literal interpretation of Christ? Does it have redemptive value, or is it a distraction from spiritual, liturgical, sacramental things? To icon or not to icon?
In more recent years, it seems that the church is trying to make peace—to draw artists back into the church—and ministers and clergy aren’t always sure how to handle it. It’s about as awkward as a middle school boy trying to reconcile with a girlfriend after a bad breakup. What is she to believe after a history of mixed messages, or even flat-out rejection?
Though that crush probably wasn’t meant to be, God is passionate about beauty, creativity, and reconciliation. He calls artists to worship Him through their gifts, and He blesses the body of Christ through the fruits of artists’ labor. Bringing arts back into church isn’t merely for the benefit of marginalized artists: it’s for the sake of the church, the body of Christ, and the kingdom of God.
There are numerous ways to foster the arts in your local congregation and in the church at large—to minister to and through artists. The Anselm Society is dedicated to a renaissance of the Christian imagination, offering resources and events to that end, and there are other organizations with similar, complementary goals.
In the meantime, here are some ideas for incorporating various art forms into the worship service itself. This is by no means an exhaustive list but is meant to offer some ideas and spark new ones.
1. Beginning with What You Have
It’s likely your church already uses some visually artistic elements in services, but perhaps those elements are overlooked or taken for granted. Think about your communion implements, the cross that hangs above the altar, the (less common) stained-glass windows and the patterns or images they depict.
At Harvest Downtown in Colorado Springs, two hand-sewn banners flank the communion table. One depicts the vine from John 15; the other depicts a hand with the first two fingers crossed and the remaining fingers and thumb forming a circle. The explanation for the banners is printed in each issue of the quarterly church magazine, and the pastors sometimes refer to the banners during services to expand on their teaching. (The hand represents several core beliefs: Christ is both God and Man; the Holy Trinity exists in perfect unity; God’s love and justice met in the cross).
Take some time to look at the artistic objects that have a regular or recurring role in your worship service. Does the congregation understand the symbolism and purpose? Find ways to make it known.
2. Live Painting: Coloring the Word
This is becoming a bit of a trend, and there are some fair points on the side of skepticism (“Imagine what the Holy Spirit could have done with a few more days!”). But if the work—begun and completed within one service—is done with intention, collaboration, and the leading of the Holy Spirit, it can have enormous impact and serve to strengthen the day’s teaching.
One artist I spoke with was asked to create a painting during the service as part of her church’s Lenten series. She met with the pastors several times in the weeks prior and practiced the painting at home to get the timing right. The pastor who was teaching that morning intentionally made points that tied into what was happening on her canvas.
The congregation’s reaction was overwhelmingly positive to both the teaching and the painting, and it was clear that they served one another rather than detracting from both. The artist said of the experience, “I have not had any opportunities like this before or since, but it was one of my favorite experiences with art, which can be lonely and isolating.”
3. Dance: Truth in Motion
Music, of course, has long been a given in worship services. Dance, though, has often been overlooked—or even banned by entire denominations. As with all art forms, dance can be used to glorify or to debase. In Scripture, it’s associated with delight, rejoicing, praise, and worship!
One Anselm artist, Cheri Orr, is a dancer, dance teacher, and member of International Anglican Church in Colorado Springs. She choreographed a piece for four dancers set to the Apostles’ Creed for one of IAC’s Sunday services. These words have been spoken corporately for centuries, but here they were brought to life visually—and set in motion. According to another member of IAC, “It brought tears and new insight into words that can become routine.”
4. Spoken Word: Poetry and Drama
There’s a place for the occasional churchy skit (perhaps), but spoken and dramatized words can do so much more. The poets in your church could recite original or classic works just before or just after the sermon. Dramatists could take the “churchy skit” to a new level and present something more profound. Any of these could be presented live, or they could incorporate another, more modern art form: videography.
I am not a poet, which is what I told my pastor a few years ago when he asked me to write something for the service about the Trinity. He said it didn’t need to be traditional or formal poetry. What he wanted was a piece exploring the differences between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—specifically, the differences in how they relate to us.
I had never stopped to think of the persons of the Trinity in quite that way. I tend to get tripped up at the theology, since trying to understand the oneness and separateness is daunting. Writing the piece was a soul-stirring journey and sharing it with my church body reminded me that this God we all serve is real. He is not a figment of our individual imaginations; He makes Himself known in our imaginations when we cannot quite grasp the whole of Him.
5. Stories and Essays: Part of the Great Story
Don’t stop at poetry and drama. Stories and essays can be beautifully integrated into corporate worship. Anselm writer Amy Lee was asked by her pastor to read some of her work during last year’s Lenten series, which was entitled Reimagining Heaven. Having read Amy’s work on her blog, he knew her perspective would help move the teachings from the congregants’ heads to their hearts.
In one service, Amy read an essay about cultivating a longing for heaven; in another, she read a short story she’d written called “The Ferryman.” A key element that her pastor requested was that she first share what had led her to write the pieces she shared. This extra bit of sharing her heart not only helped to more fully weave the writings into the series’ theme—it also led listeners to ask themselves how they might use their “non-churchy” gifts to glorify God and draw others to faith in Him.
Prior to this experience, Amy says she had separated her “artist life” and “church life” in her mind. The whole process—from being invited by her pastor, through the writing and reading itself, and the responses of the congregation—all showed her that these two parts of her life are not truly separate at all.
Drawn to the Lord
All of these examples demonstrate something that the church would do well to realize and embrace: people—even non-artists!—can and do resonate with truth presented in creative, imaginative ways. The beautiful, the tangible, and the glorious all draw us toward the Lord and toward community in service to Him.
Mandy Brown Houk is a member artist of the Anselm Arts Guild and Co-Host of the Believe to See podcast. Learn about her novel, Hope Is the Thing with Feathers, and her other published works at mandybrownhouk.com.
Read More from the Centric Genius series
The modern romantic ideal of the artist is the eccentric genius; a loner, an outcast, different from everyone else. But no Christian exempted from the call to love his neighbor. This series explores the ingredients and avenues with which artist Christian can be a thriving part of the Body of Christ. View the whole series.
