What is the Role of the Believing Artist?

The role of the artist? Creator in a worship relationship to God, citizen in a worship relationship to God. – Bret Lott, Letters and Life

Worship, then, is the ground from which the believing artist’s work springs. It is rooted in faith; it flings itself into the unknown, trusting the work to the Father.

The believing artist is, above all else, a worshipper. She praises God for who He is and what He has done. She finds her identity and worth in Him, uses her talents and gifts to share that identity, to thank Him for it.

This artist does not work on an island. Her work is not for herself alone; it never is. Her work is for God and others. She is a worshipper and a citizen, not one or the other. Her work bridges the seen and the unseen, the temporal and the spiritual, the physical and the sacred. They are not divisible things, the secular and sacred. Everything becomes sacred, everything is imbued with significance when the believing artist is fulfilling the role given to her by God.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism:

What is the chief end of man?

Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Not only in the age to come, but here, now. Abundant life. Springs of life, of water, flowing, flowing, bubbling up from the heart to the mouth, the hands, the body.

My heart overflows with a good theme;
I address my verses to the King;
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. (Psalm 45:1, NASB)

The role of the believing artist. Worshipper, citizen. Also: servant and steward.

Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy (1 Corinthians 4:1-2, NASB).

Paul is speaking of himself and Apollos, but his point is applicable to any believer and any believing artist. Followers of Christ are servants and stewards. They serve, in love, God and others.

They steward the gifts and talents given to them. They view them seriously. To be a believing artist is no laughing matter. It’s a responsibility, but one filled with laughter, joy, and delight.

They rejoice in being asked to join with God and His mission in this way. They get to go to work with their daddy each and every day, and it is no burden. It is easy and light. It gives rest to their souls.

It shows them the way when the world is dark, when they are dark. They hold onto it even when it seems like the bottom is falling out, when they think they are worthless and unloved, when they believe their work doesn’t matter.

Even in that darkness, they wait patiently. They are like trees planted by waters. They stand unshaken in the storms of spring with no fear that summer might not follow. It will come regardless. But it comes only to those who live as though eternity stretches before them, carefree, silent, and endless (Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet). It does. They know whom they have believed. They know whom they worship—the God who gives them eagle’s wings, who fights for them if they will but be still.

Image: Marc Bruneke (Creative Commons)