The Arts

It's been a while!
My apologies for those of you waiting on me...but I've been questioning ministry development strategies, and realized a blog isn't exactly my first choice for how to communicate with those of intereset. Thanks for stickin' around though! All I ask, are some comments, the only way to let me know if this is really worth our time.

So...back on the topic of "The Arts" like I promised:

Expression: personal or corporate, the arts are all about expression.

From Giacomo Puccini, to Jim Morrison,
From Vincent van Gogh, to Onchi Koshiro.
From Gilles Tran, to Michelangelo.

From Turandot, to The Doors.
From Dutch Post-Impressionists, to Sōsaku hanga.
From digital art, to the Renaissance.

Could you imagine the world without art? Specifically, could you imagine the world without any of the forms of art from above? without music? sculpture? paintings? or computer graphics? (computer graphics may be a stretch, but it is young, and invading our world rather quickly. i.e. Pixar Animation Studios)

I can not. To imagine a world without art, is to imagine the American experiment without free speach; possibly denying the revolutionaries responsible for our freedom, of their contribution to this world. Denying anyone the ability to honestly express their contributions to society seems it ought be criminal. Let's say someone wants to cure cancer, should we deny them the opportunity to at least address that desire? NO! On the other extreme, let's say someone wants to share pornographic stories with children; should we deny them that opportunity? YES! What's the difference? The first - contributing positively to society... the second - defacing the future of our society. The first - honerable... the second - dishonerable. The first - good... the second - bad. The first - an effort to serve the hurting... the second - an effort that hurts the innocent. I hope you can clearly see the difference.

The fact is: when we express ourselves in a documented form, we offer others the opportunity to observe. The things that go un-witnessed, un-written, un-performed, un-published, all are deemed personal, and an expression of ourselves only to ourselves, and God. These are the things that help mold and shape us, just as much as the outside influences we allow into our lives. When it comes time to publicly address a topic, there is always a proper form that pertains to the context in which we want to express... i.e. you want to make a lasting impression on the sidewalk in front of your house... as it is freshly poured...we all know to write our name and the year, or perhaps our initials plus those of the one we are enamored with at the time... the possibilities are endless, as the phrase "to each his own" so eloquently portrays. However, endless is a relative term at this point, because there is an end to the possibilities...until we either a) begin to write in that cement, or b) often the case...the cement dries before we get to leave our impression at all.

So, the question of the day...

...how does this concept of expression fall within the art of worship?
.......my answer...coming up next...