Reflecting His Image

To His Glory

Through Creative Arts 

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Below you will find both scripture and thoughts from Christian leaders that point to the reality that God is delighted to be worshiped through things we create.

Are you an artist interested in creating something to present at our next exhibit? Please contact Mike Lane at haoyisi2@gmail.com


The LORD said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft.”

— Exodus 31:1-5

 

“[For Christian artists, their] first priority ought to be excellence and delight in the craft itself, first and foremost, as a painter, musician, poet, writer, and so on, else the artistic craft suffer misuse and abuse. The kingdom content and implications will then be there … naturally, latent, even if indirect, bubbling up.…”

— C. S. Lewis, “Christianity and Culture”

 

“Christian art is by no means always religious art, that is, art which deals with religious [biblical] themes. Consider God the Creator. Is God’s creation totally involved with [so-called] religious subjects? What about the universe? the birds? the trees? the mountains? What about the bird’s song? and the sound of the wind in the trees? When God created out of nothing by his spoken word, he did not just create [so-called] “religious” objects. And in the Bible, as we have seen, God commanded the artist, working within God’s own creation, to fashion statutes of oxen and lions and carvings of almond blossoms for the tabernacle and temple… Christian art is the expression of the whole life of the whole person who is a Christian. What a Christian portrays in his art is the totality of life. Art is not to be solely a vehicle for some sort of self-conscious evangelism.”

— Francis Schaeffer, Art and the Bible

 

“God Himself was, is, and always shall be an artist and he speaks through prophets and poets. The Bible begins with Creation and ends with a New Creation. Everywhere in between God has chosen broken vessels, his creative creatures, to create in love. What would he say about you exiling his artists? Perhaps something like this: I AM an artist.”

Makoto Fujimura, “A Letter to North American Churches”