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Creativity and Worship
songwriter, Michael Card. If you are a little short on time today, skip to the last two paragraphs; but if you are a Christian artist of any kind, please read the whole thing and then get a copy of this wonderful little book. CREATIVITY AND WORSHIP Creativity is not about me. It is not about you. It is not us somehow acting like little gods, creating on our own in the same way God creates. Although he asks us to imitate him, we are not imitators of God in this dimension. The most we can hope for is to respond appropriately and creatively to who God is and what he means. Creativity is a response . . . . That is what true worship is—a response. That is what Bill Lane [his mentor] told me all those years ago. "True worship is a response to hearing God’s Word," he said with an intensity I will never forget. It’s like romance—no, it is romance. When I first saw Susan, my wife, everything in me wanted to respond to her at every level: emotional, spiritual, relational, yes, especially physical. I saw. I responded. That is worship. Creativity is worship insofar as it is, at its essence, a response. I hear the Word, and I respond with music, with silence, in adoration, in appreciation by picking up the basin and the towel. It is a romantic response to this Person whom I adore. He is beautiful! I want nothing more than to be in his presence. I love him! And so I sing and I write . . . . Because it is a response, it does not originate with me. He speaks. He moves. He is beautiful. We respond. We create. We worship. Perhaps we struggle to see the connection between worship and the call to be creative precisely because they are so intimately linked. We have forgotten that the call to creativity is a call to worship. One of the most irritating accusations the voice I mentioned before [That’s the voice of self-doubt for the creating artist] can whisper is, "Do you think you’re some kind of celebrity?" By definition a celebrity is someone we celebrate. I looked it up. Just above the listing for CELEBRITY I saw another word, CELEBRANT. A celebrant is defined as someone who officiates at the Eucharist. A celebrant is focused on Jesus and his sacrifice. Interesting contrast. Today I choose to be a celebrant. By God’s enabling grace I will hold Jesus up before the world and not hold myself up. I will seek to respond to his extravagant love by any and all means possible. I will arrive to create art that will communicate to the world, and most especially to him, how much I love and long for his presence. —Michael Card, SCRIBBLING IN THE SAND: CHRIST AND CREATIVITY, [Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarstiy Press, 2002], pp. 28-30. ISBN 0-8308-2317-4. [I highly recommend this book for Christian worshippers and creative artists. There is also a companion Video/DVD entitled SCRIBBLING IN THE SAND: THE BEST OF MICHAEL CARD—LIVE: AN EVENING OF CREATIVITY AND COMMUNITY WITH MICHAEL CARD AND FRIENDS. It is wonderful. It has seventeen songs performed in an informal concert setting, as well as spoken commentary on life, faith, creativity, family, Christian community, and radical discipleship. You can find it at www.michaelcard.com (click on "store" then "Video/DVD".] Have a great week. Chip Stam Director, Institute for Christian Worship School of Church Music and Worship Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky www.carlstam.org www.sbts.edu/icw |