“Christian art.”
What does that phrase bring to mind? What image popped into your head? The Virgin Mother with baby Jesus, or maybe a renaissance oil of the Crucifixion? What about contemporary art like CCM (Christian Contemporary Music) and that (in)famous portrait of the white Jesus?
There was a time in history when religious art was the primo, the best of the best. That time has arguably passed, and I can’t seem to find new Christian art worthy of recognition. Secular art is amazing. I especially prefer the new grunge motif and the clean Web 2.0. Even in music the best artists aren’t Christian. Christian music hurts my ears. I’m admitting that as a weakness – other than some worship music, I loathe CCM. Not because it is Christian, but because it isn’t good art. Christian recording labels try way too hard to get a message across, and utterly lose their musical value in the process. (I understand this is the true of certain secular industries, and I feel the same in regards to them – but the independent secular market is producing excellent work).
One particular exception to the “I hate Christian music” rule is Derek Webb, the former and now re-emerged lead singer for Caedmon’s Call. He went off to do a few solo albums, and despite the fact that it was released on a Christian label, I can call his album “Mockingbird” one of my favorites of all time. The music is unique, folksy and compelling. It’s a 2005 release, but it is still hasn’t left my iTunes playlist.
But this isn’t a Derek Webb review, this is about Elements. We want Elements to become a community of artists. The secular progressive culture and the sacred can converge. They should. Derek Webb’s Mockingbird is a great example of composing a message with careful artistic production (and blatant disregard for what is expected of him as a Christian artist).
So when being creative, should we distinguish between Christian art and non-Christian art? Maybe not. Can’t it just simply be art? Or music? I haven’t fleshed out all the implementations, but I know for sure that you’ll see a lot of different musicians in Elements. Mini-concerts (pub/bar/coffeeshop style) will be common, and many of the folks we invite to play will also lead the worship that week. Drum circles and computer-generated techno-chill sessions. Community-submitted YouTube compositions on the big screen.
I challenge you to defy the status-quo in Christian art and be truly creative. And keep me accountable to that as well; I’m going to be the “usual” lead worshiper in Elements, and I don’t want to get stuck doing popular worship music, even the good stuff coming from Passion. We desperately need something unique with personal, worshipful moments created specifically for our community.
43Things: I don’t have anything generic to add to the Elements 43Things on this topic, but I have some personal goals. You can join me in these or make your own creativity goals. Add them to the comments section here.
