Christian Creativity

God is THE Creator. Creator with a capital C. And if you’re a Christian, you’re supposed to strive to be like Him as much as you can. Yet while the most Christians are good with ideas like charity and self sacrifice, few embrace the idea of creativity. Being like God when it is drudgery is lauded, but being like Him in any way that is joyful is not. We forget that He is an intellectual God. He is a designer. He is a maker, a craftsman. He is an artist and wordsmith.

Christian culture (and everyone, really) needs a dose of creativity. The church needs to open itself to worship arts that go beyond singing. The human voice is beautiful and music too is a high art, but it is not the only form of artistic expression and all forms of art are inspired by God. Why can’t we incorporate acting? Dance? Choreography? Artistic lighting? Poetry?

Why is almost all of contemporary Christian fiction historical fiction and/or set in an Amish community? I love historical fiction and I’m sure the Amish are great, but can Christian writers imagine no great stories set in mainstream, contemporary culture? And preferably novels with real grit and plot, with fascinating characters, not just vehicles for moralistic preaching. Otherwise it isn’t art – it is a particularly lengthy lecture that takes awhile to get to the point.

I love the work of many artists and writers who are not Christian. I am by no means trying to invalidate the wonderful work of non-Christian creators, whose work by the way I believe is also inspired by the Creator above. He made those men and women to be creative and gave them their gifts. Their art is not lesser. I’m not suggesting we exclude non-Christian art or that we see work by Christian writers, sculptors, painters et cetera as better than similar work by non-Christians.

Instead, I wonder why the Christian community has come to be lukewarm at best and hostile at worse to the arts and artists. If you truly feel a responsibility to be Godly, do you not need to do your Earthly best to embrace all His attributes? Not everyone will be a born playwright or cinematographer, but you can either exercise these gifts if you have them, or actively consume them to support Christians in the arts and sharpen your mind if you don’t. Art is good for everyone. And hold Christian art to a high standard. Sticking a cross on it or saying, “Jesus Jesus Jesus” doesn’t make something great art. In fact, you don’t always have to cite Him directly for it to be a truly Christian work of art. He is in the flowers that bloom and the stars in the sky. Branch out a little.