{"id":13974,"date":"2017-09-13T09:01:12","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T16:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=13974"},"modified":"2017-09-13T09:01:12","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T16:01:12","slug":"adding-beauty-to-our-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/adding-beauty-to-our-worship\/","title":{"rendered":"Adding Beauty to our Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2026the one important fact for us is the significance of the marked rejection of all distinctively esthetic devises by those religions which are rational, in our special sense\u2026But there can be no question at all that the systematic prohibition in devout Jewish and Puritan circles of uninhibited surrender to the distinctive form-producing values of art has effectively controlled the degree and scope of artistic productivity in these circles, and has tended to favor the development of intellectually rational controls over the pattern of life.[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026definitions of truth are derived, at least in part, from the character of the media of communication through which information is conveyed.[2]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

At my first time in a Reformed Church I noticed there were no pictures. I was told that it was against the second commandment to display religious images. I was not sure what to think except that I didn\u2019t want to sin myself or be the cause of someone else sinning.<\/p>\n

Not being a boat-rocker, I have just been going along with what I was told, but now William Dyrness has helped me to sort through the issues of where art fits into worship in his book, Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Dyrness is fair and balanced in his presentation of the historical and theological background for the relationship of art to worship in many Protestant churches. I concur with the folks at my church that we want to be careful not to break the 2nd<\/sup> commandment. I am just as concerned about the poor and can see why it may seem frivolous to spend money on art that could be donated to social causes.<\/p>\n

But I also agree, as Dyrness points out, that we are living in a different time now. I really don\u2019t know of anyone who worships the pictures. People in our society see pictures as representations. And honestly, there seems to be somewhat of a philosophical disconnect since we sing a lot of contemporary music and allow all sorts of instruments in our service. No one at our church has thrown their TV set out.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the Reformed are known for living in the past and not questioning their traditions. I want to help them wrestle with the issues \u2013 Does art have something inherently evil about it? Or is it how we interact with it? Can they accept the fact that we are a visual society now and not likely to go back? Is art always \u2018frivolous\u2019?<\/p>\n

How can I gently nudge my church into a new tradition that embraces the way that art can add to the beauty of worship?<\/p>\n

Dyrness suggests:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cGod\u2019s people need to recover their visual imagination.\u201d[3]<\/a> We should not play off the visual against the verbal; we need both. We have a strong ministry of the Word of God and we should keep it. But let us examine why we think the visual is sinful. We no longer worship pictures. The task will be to discern which art enhances our worship.<\/li>\n
  2. We should restore a tradition of Christian art. During the Reformation well-meaning Christians threw the baby out with the bath water. They swung the pendulum too far. How many beautiful works of art were lost? When I was in Europe I saw many beautiful paintings and sculptures. The majority were religious. Church architecture is among the most magnificent in the world. Have we lost a sense of the majesty of God that we could have with the visual? My imagination only goes so far. The artist has the gift to help me appreciate the awesomeness of God.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    One of the most inspirational works I have ever seen was Asisi-Panorama of the Reformation in Wittenberg.[4]<\/a> One of my favorite scenes is the one of the woman preaching!<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. We need to encourage those in our congregation who are gifted artists. My friend Debbie is such an artist. When I asked her what she does in her spare time she took me aside privately and told me she paints. Some of her work is displayed in the local art gallery. Our church could begin by commending Debbie and not making her feel ashamed of her gift. Why don\u2019t we display some of Debbie\u2019s pictures? We allow people who play guitar, flute, and drums to use their gifts; why not Debbie?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Last fall we produced Visual Ethnography projects for our Leadership & Global Perspectives course. I did a video on racial injustice. I would love to see folks be allowed to share their learning or what is on their hearts using visual technology.<\/p>\n

      I believe it is possible to honor our traditions and practices and at the same time actually imagine a richer, God-honoring worship service that engages more people in the congregation using their gifts to the glory of God.<\/p>\n

      And we need careful and sensitive leaders who can guide us in the practices of worship in ways that honor the diversity of our heritage even as they develop new spiritual sensitivities.[5]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      [1]<\/a> Max Weber. The Sociology of Religion<\/em> (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1922, 1991). 245.<\/p>\n

      [2]<\/a> Neil Postman. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of show Business<\/em> (New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1986). 17.<\/p>\n

      [3]<\/a> William A. Dyrness. Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue<\/em> (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003). 156.<\/p>\n

      [4]<\/a> https:\/\/www.luther2017.de\/en\/news\/360-degree-reformation-asisi-panorama-for-the-anniversary-of-the-reformation\/<\/u><\/p>\n

      [5]<\/a> Dyrness. page 160.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      \u2026the one important fact for us is the significance of the marked rejection of all distinctively esthetic devises by those religions which are rational, in our special sense\u2026But there can be no question at all that the systematic prohibition in devout Jewish and Puritan circles of uninhibited surrender to the distinctive form-producing values of art […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[485,486],"class_list":["post-13974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dryness","tag-visual-faith","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13974"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13976,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13974\/revisions\/13976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}