Hey guys!

Here are three things to spark your inner missional flame:

💥 INSPIRED BY

Arts To Bless, Arts To Curse

In the book of Exodus, we see two particular expressions of artistic expression (these aren’t the only ones).

The first comes with the tabernacle. God sets apart the craftsmen, Bezalel and Oholiab, to furnish His dwelling place with wisdom and His Spirit.

In this instance, the arts would be an avenue for worshipping God. They served as a signpost to Yahweh.

The second strong arts instance comes in the very next chapter at the construction of a golden calf. The golden artform became the subject of worship. People grew impatient with God, so they ascribed honor to an unliving, man made, thing.

One artifact is filled with God’s glory.

The other with man’s.

The arts can serve as an avenue for pleasing God as well as making him burn with fury.
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🛠️ EQUIPPED BY

The Imagination Relief Valve

How do artists make culture?

We don’t create from nothing.

We are all born intaking the expressions of the world around us. That activity of intaking leads to the construction of our imagination, or, our internal image world.

From this intaking, our imaginations we get busy with our own making.

From that activity of making, something bursts forth in the form of a artifact, an expression of some kind.

Words, songs, dance, hugs, confrontation, sermon ideas, color selections, etc.

The cycle continues. Once we express something into the world, it exists for others to intake.

Under Christ's authority, artists should be released to make and express themselves. Jesus has certain parameters for local church contexts, but we exist in other spaces in the world where we can make art in multiple outlets.

If you’re feeling like there is a metaphorical ceiling for your creative acts, perhaps you are looking for a world place to express them.

Where are the spaces in your life to offer your art as a service that relieves; that lifts burdens?

🚀 SENT WITH

Rick Rubin on first meeting the Avett Brothers: