The Local Church as An Art Gallery
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The Local Church as an Art Gallery
The gentle scuffs of lightly placed footsteps echo in the open space. Hushed voices swirl around me as I witness slow movements that are paired with wide eyes. People file in and out of corners and spaces, taking in the intricacy and ornate pieces that cover the walls. I see faces that are lit up with joy, while others hold sorrow and reflection. A small group of people walk through the room quickly, while an older couple sitting on a bench look like they have been in the same spot for hours. Strangers whisper to each other near a colorful display, while a married couple next to them stare at the walls in silence. Some people are alone, some with friends, others with family. People seemingly from all parts of the world have collected here. The overlooming quiet, and sweet whispers that embroider it, remain cast over the room. No one has to remind these people to keep on this blanket of silence, it just remains. The communal sense of wonder stirring around seems to keep the quiet tucked around the room, undisturbed. I can almost feel the unspoken reverence that bounces around the room, it’s palpable. I myself am speechless. This scenario described probably echoes memories of one of the following experiences: walking through a renowned art museum or walking through an old cathedral. I argue that it accurately describes both. The described experience could honestly be an accurate personal memory of mine from both walking through Notre Dame or exploring the Louvre. Honestly, the similarities of my experiences verge on the air of eerie. As I tried to uncover the root of why the experience of walking through an old church and walking through an art museum are so similar I thought about a few things. Both a museum of fine art and a historical cathedral are both homes and resting places for well crafted and aesthetically stunning art pieces. They both are places held in high regard due to the excellence in their craftings. Both have been described as “sacred” places. Both are places of gathering, of remembrance, of historical significance. However, above everything I kept getting stuck on a few concepts- beauty, mystery and truth. The overwhelming things that continually washed over me in both cases were the times I was frozen in the beauty that surrounded me and romanced by a sense of wonder that was rooted in a bed of mystery. Beauty, mystery and truth are not only things that I believe characterize both a fine art museum and an ornate cathedral, but are also attributes that define the person of Christ, and ultimately the trinity. Which leads me to think that no wonder people are drawn to spaces that encompass these ideas. Beauty, wonder and mystery are things that our souls long for. Emily Dickinson writes: “Beauty crowds me 'til I die, Beauty mercy have on me, But if I expire today, Let it be in sight of thee” (Dickinson No. 1654) There is in the human heart an unquenchable longing for beauty. And I am persuaded that the reason it is there is because God is the ultimately Beautiful One and he made us to long for himself. Even the most perverted desire for beauty—say the desire to watch the excellence of strength and speed and skill as gladiators hack each other to death—even this desire is a distorted remnant of a good yearning which God put within us to draw us close to himself. And we can know that our desires are remnants of this urge for God because everything less than God leaves us unsatisfied. He alone is the All-Satisfying Object of Beauty. Only one vision will be sufficient for our insatiable hearts—the glory of God. For that we have been made. And it is for this we long, whether we know it or not. Thus I argue, why do we not pursue beauty in the church wholeheartedly? Why do we not chase after the experience of the museum and the cathedral? Dare I translate and localize that metaphor to be the art gallery and the local church? The art gallery I argue is the downsized and localized version of the museum. However, there seems to be a separation with the comparison of the cathedral to the local church. Therein lies the disconnect. And one could say, the uneasy discomfort. So I find myself teetering out on a limb, in the name of the ultimate pursuit of the beauty, mystery and truth of Christ through the beauty and mystery of excellent art in the church. Furthermore, I climb even further out towards the line of conservative Christian heresy to say that the local church could benefit in certain areas by gleaning characteristics from the art community. More specifically, I believe that the local church should mirror an art gallery in literal, tangible and metaphorical ways.
Tangibly
With Physical Art
Firstly, the Local Church should act as an art gallery in a tangible way: elevating, celebrating, showcasing and creating beauty and art. The physical space of the local church should be curated as an aesthetically beautiful and elevated space, led by artists with a Christocentric worldview existing in the community. One of the first arguments we often come against regarding beauty in the church is that beauty and art may verge on being too lavish and a waste of resources, which is sinful. However, I believe Jesus himself adored beauty both in and outside of the church. Biblically, we see moments Jesus affirms physical beauty, and even more specifically in regards to beautiful spaces. Think of the temple Herod renovated in the time of Jesus. It was massive, and it was magnificent. And Jesus loved it. When he was twelve and went missing for days, Mary and Joseph found him in this same rich, ornate temple, which He called His Father’s house. Years later when Mary anoints Jesus feet with oil, something considered of great excellence and a sign of beauty, Jesus does not reject it, “Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me” (John 12:3-8). The modern world and culture we live in also affirms the inherent goodness of beauty and also the mystery it beholds. In 2005 the University of Alabama School of Medicine came out with a study that revealed that 65% of the United States population are visual learners. That is, they use images, pictures, colors, and other visual media to organize and learn information. A Professor Semir Zeki, chair in neuroaesthetics at University College London, conducted an experiment along the lines of: "We wanted to see what happens in the brain when you look at beautiful paintings.” So he decided to examine the brain activity of someone while they gaze at beautiful art. the results were intriguing. The artworks each person who participated considered most beautiful increased blood flow in a certain part of the brain by as much as 10 per cent – which created the equivalent to the brain activity that happens when gazing at a loved one. A stirring of wonder, one could say. To tie together both the biblical and scientific encouragements in regards to beauty, mystery and more specifically the gospel, I turn to the book “Bridge to Wonder: Art as a Gospel to Beauty” by Cecilia Gonzalez-Andreiu. In one aspect of the book, Gonzalez-Andreiu reflects on her childhood growing up in the Catholic Church in Latin America. She muses about the first time she can re-call being aware of Jesus Christ, and she speaks of immediately thinking of a specific painting that was in her church. She says, “Although the sermons preached at my parish Nuestra Senora del Carmen in La Habana were often beyond my reach, the art was not” (Gonzalez-Andreiu 21). She continues to speak of the way that art and beauty often bridge the gap to experiencing the wonder of Christ, and at one point she states: “Beauty transcends destruction, as Christ on the cross unflinchingly shows us, and shines most brightly in resurrection” (Gonzalez-Andreiu 29).
With Community
Not only should the church be a curated aesthetically beautiful place, but the local church like an art gallery should show off works of art from current artists within the community and body of the church. This is where a make-shift soap box comes in to stand upon, to argue that authenticity, originality and holy excellence overrides trendiness, always. When the church sings, or gazes or reads something that is birthed in their own community there is a deeper emotional connection and familiarity tie that holds deeper meaning. Creating something for a community you are a part of or receiving something that was created specifically for you fosters a sense of belonging. The tender intimacy and intentions that create hushed whispers, for example- an old woman in the community, carefully curating a small bouquet, piece by piece with her small weathered hands, specifically creating something for her community with tender intentionality. Rather than calling in a florist, with no relation to the church, to create extravagant bouquets that clutter the sanctuary. I would argue that when things become trendy they lose their authenticity. With that, excellence and authenticity always stands the test of time, trendiness does not. Mark A Torgeson’s book, “An Architecture of Immanence: Architecture for Worship and Ministry Today” delves into the goodness of beauty and excellence in the church, specifically in regards to architecture. He visits the history of Church architecture and worship spaces and also delves into nourishing a context for immanence, and faith engaging culture in regards to art. Seemingly to loop around the initial plea previously stated, the catholic church does a wonderful job of engaging the senses, fostering a culture of tangible beauty and mystery that envelops the church culture. Obviously in regards to their architecture, but also their paintings, incense, poetry, hymns, robes- their pursuit of holy beauty and aesthetic and the prophetic longing for beauty and mystery that is manifested in their art is something to behold. So, do we have to emulate the extravagance and heightened level of the produced beauty of the Catholic church? No that is not the clean cut simple answer or wide spread solution, rather we can glean in bounty from the heart behind it.
With Theology
One way we can uncover how this looks in our own communities is that the local church should formulate a theology of art for their community, the place it holds, a standard of excellence, how the church interacts with it, the creation of it in the body, and how it is perceived and interacted with outside the bounds of the Christian realm. Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer touches on few important points in “Letters and Papers From Prison” He presents the pressing thoughts that the centrality of Christ is still first and foremost essential to the understanding both inside and outside the church. Because in the end, Jesus provided the opportunity for humanity to find reconciliation with God and one another. Jesus modeled the way to true human community thru his self sacrificing posture, and we are to emulate that posture with others so that the world might come to find peace and love that God intends for it. Thus, in the pursuit of connecting the church to art and beauty we still must always have Christ as the center, this does not mean that art has to emulate a direct and obvious connection to the gospel but recognizing that beauty ultimately emulates a glimpse of the glory of God. “Honest to God”, a book by John A.T. Robinson, a bishop in the church of England from 1919-1983, saw worship through art as an opportunity to enliven the ordinary with the revealed truth of God. But one of his most pointed thoughts, and an area of necessity in the church, is the idea of breaking down artificial distinctions between the sacred and the secular. For too long and too often has the church been building up walls in defense of “sacred and secular”. This can cheapen and diminish specifically the role art and beauty can have in the church. We cannot, as fallen individuals ourselves, slap on labels of what we deem “sacred” and what we deem “secular” as it blasphemes so many good and beautiful things the Lord is enveloped in, what he has his fingertips on, what he has created. To narrow in for the sake of this argument, we must look at art and beauty with the same eyes that we look on each other with, broken pieces of creation but seen in the light of the coming kingdom, of redemption. (You can explore more on this idea of the sacred/secular in the stunning paper by my classmate Lindsey Ponder).
With Care
In regards to the artist’s in our community that are creating; The local church should cultivate, care for and pursue artists in their body. Seeking not only to understand their crafts and their role as a bridge to both wonder and the world beyond the church doors, but to collaborate with them in creating beauty, art and media for and from within the church and its body. In 1999, Pope John Paul II wrote a moving and absolutely stunning letter addressed specifically to artists in the church, affirming their crafts and urging them to action, two things I think we as a church are called to do for the artists in our community. Even how he opens the letter carries such weight and meaning: “To all who are passionately dedicated to the search for new “epiphanies” of beauty so that through their creative work as artists they may offer these as gifts to the world. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Gn 1:31)” We must encourage and engage the artists in our community.
Metaphorically
As a Bridge
My second large plea, is that the local church should mirror the community of an art gallery in a metaphorical sense in regards to the function and purpose of it’s space. Like an art gallery, the church should be a bridge. A bridge to beauty as we have mentioned, but also to community, to conversation, and to different cultures. One gallery owner in an artist's dialogue described a gallery as such- “They are a means to public dialogue, contribute to the development of a community’s creative learning, create healthy communities capable of action, provide a powerful tool for community mobilization and activism, and help build community capacity and leadership.” These are characteristics that gladly should describe a local church as well. Why would we not want the church to be a hub in the community, of learning, community, action, leadership- things that human beings are instinctively drawn to.
As a Space
Like an art gallery, the physical space of the local church should be open and welcoming to everyone who seeks it. Boenhoffer, in his book, that was mentioned previously, presses into the idea of church as too much of an “insider” phenomenon. As most Christ-centered individuals would agree, this is something we must deconstruct. Like an art gallery encourages an open door, so should the church for people to come in and explore and engage. The local church should create active community. One, that often brings unlikely people together to celebrate and partake in beauty and wonder. For the gallery that is tangible art, for the church that is the firstly the gospel and the trinity. In a Calvin Institute of Christian Worship panel discussion on Church Art Galleries one of the panelist speaks highly as a witness of the kind of community that can form in a gallery. Aspects of this raw community pictured in an art gallery is somewhat like the kind of community that could and should take place in the local church. The local church should be held in high regard by the larger community, and should be marked by its excellence. Not just in art, but in any aspect of out pouring ministry. The aspect of excellence is of utmost importance in both art and other outpouring aspects of the church. It is one of the biggest things we can mirror from the art community, a consistent and obedient drive toward excellence.
Literal
To Educate and Engage
Finally, The local church should mirror an art gallery in the way it serves to educate and engage. The local church should be a community that actively addresses and engages in current events and cultural themes. For example, the body of Christ should engage in discussions of current events. Especially this year, rather than removing all conversations of the election (like the local church tended to do), the church should have engaged in what a holy response of earthly authority is. There should have been education and discussion. In regards to the art community, art galleries during the time of election did exactly that. Galleries hosted series across the nation that circled the theme of the election. Just one of the examples happened in New York, and opened a discussion of both politics, celebrities and the manufacturing of the media. Like the gallery the church should create conversation amongst the community, encourage collaboration of thought and action, and explore new ideas. The local church should create an atmosphere that allows and encourages processing of emotions, life events and personhood. The local church should collaborate with outside forces. May the church serve as a home base from which people grow and learn from and then launch into varying communities. Holding fast to the beauty, mystery and truth that was sewn into the matter and manifestations of their soul.
What Now?
So after all of this, how do we respond? How do we faithfully incorporate all of these things? I do not argue that every church should open a literal art gallery (though the Webster Groves Christian Church in St. Louis is a good example of this). However, ultimately beauty needs to be exemplified in the local church. Beauty, mystery and truth are at the root of the gospel and of who the incarnate Christ was, is, and is to come. Tangible aspects of these three characteristics can be a bridge to the wonder of the incarnation. We can glean knowledge from the institute of the art gallery. I think we can engage better if we study the art museum. I think certain functioning aspects of the gallery and it's un-wavering pursuit towards excellence, engagement and community is something we need more of in the local church. So, hopefully this argument is not perceived as one of the extinguishing of the local church, or that every church needs a full blown gallery space. However, that the call and necessity of art, beauty, mystery and truth is recognized and acted on. That we as the church can possibly use the art gallery as a tangible example of how to pursue some aspects of this call with excellence. Is there a cut and dry instruction manual of how to make this happen in every local church, sadly no, but there's a beauty in that. Let each local church and community edify one another in this realm. Whether it be the church creating times of discussion of current events, commissioning artists in the church to decorate the walls, having someone on staff to oversee this pursuit, simply engaging with artists in the community- there are vast ways to pursue this call in a holy and engaging way. Ultimately, we as the bride must lean towards Christ, we must faithfully seek what it looks like to exemplify his gift of art, beauty, truth, mystery and wonder. We must be ever dead to our sinful flesh and faithful in his callings, gifts and ways to experience his glory- For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.