“The arts are not the pretty, but irrelevant bits around the border of reality. They are the highways into the center of a reality which cannot be glimpsed, let alone grasped, any other way. The present world is good, but broken and in any case incomplete; art of all kinds enables us to understand that paradox in its many dimensions.” N.T. Wright.
God the ultimate Creator has imbued humanity with the gift of creativity, meant to be displayed in us to glorify Himself and to be expressed from us to complete the world in which we live. Expressing creativity enriches life precisely by filling out with the fullness of what is formed, what should be and what could be.
At the New Year, we commonly develop to-do lists, join health clubs, organize the pantry, enroll in classes and accomplish a host of other things designed, we think, to help ‘get us on track’ and make the year profitable, fruitful and full. Many a brave soul commits to resolution, and many a brave one completes what is resolved…if only through the first three months or so.
All of this is good and very American and very typical of our lives following on from an often full and fuzzy holiday period. And all of it emerges from the ever-present question: “How can I make myself and my life better this New Year?”
But what if this year we spent some additional time considering creativity and its valued expression as both a kind of ‘completion’ of this incomplete and diminished world and a form of reflecting and honoring God?
And what if we stepped out in faith this year and spent some precious time writing a sonnet, developing a screenplay, learning to dance, honing a musical talent, trying our hand at watercolor…or any myriad of creative acts that can be offered up for the ennoblement, enrichment and completion of the lives of others?
What kind of year would 2009 be if – by the end of it – newly created gifts of grace were expressed and experienced by those around you for no other reason than this kind of enrichment for living life? Would this be a truly New Year for you?
For more information, contact PastorJimCPC@hughes.net or visit our website at www.centrepointe.org .