Edifying Others Through the Arts

Purpose:To revel in the God-given capacity each person has to express something artistically.

GROUP DISCUSSION

Have each person share a particular song, dance, sculpture, film, piece of art or poem that has communicated deeply with them.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

Reflect on your own experience of the arts, possibly trips to an art gallery, an evening at the ballet, an opera, a piece of popular music or a film. What art form speaks most deeply and personally to you? Why?

In this study we are considering only one art form—dance—in a seldom-considered ministry of King David: dancing before the ark of the Lord. But what we learn can apply to all the ways we may use the aesthetic to love and serve our neighbor and bring glory to God: music, graphic arts, scripture, poetry, film and digital media. Read 2 Samuel 6.

1. In this story David, now king, is bringing the ark of God to Jerusalem; for decades it has been “in exile,” captured by Israel’s enemies, the Philistines. Describe the two attempts to recover the ark and to bring it to the worship center of Israel, Jerusalem.

2. While the text does not tell us in detail why the first attempt failed, and why Uzzah died in the process, what could be some possible reasons?

3. Many have suggested that Uzzah arrogantly tried to “save” God and God’s holy worship center. How might we as human beings try to manage God and save his church?

4. In contrast, in the second attempt to bring the ark, David dances before the parade. What does this tell us about David’s spirituality and possible expressions of joy and worship?

5. When have you found yourself expressing beauty or joy through the arts?

6. Many people say things like “I am not very creative” when in fact they do have creative energies and express themselves in an aesthetic way that appeals to the imagination, either their own, that of others or both. Give some examples of this.

7. Michal despises her husband’s dancing as a base “show” unfitting for a king. What would cause a person to be so negative about a genuine expression of joy and praise?

How does David deal with his wife, the daughter of Saul?

How does God deal with it?

8. With which of the three main characters—Uzzah, David and Michal—do you find yourself most identifying? Why?

9. How specifically can the arts actually serve our neighbors and God?

10. What difference will this study make in your own expressiveness as a person?

Tell God he is amazing in revealing himself through so many media and especially in bodily form in Jesus. Ask him to help you to express yourself, serve others and bring pleasure to him through some aesthetic expression.

Now or Later

Dorothy Sayers has suggested that the unique contribution Christianity makes to the arts is that art is not simply a representation of things that exist but the actual creation of something new. “It is the artist,” she says, “who, more than other men, is able to create something out of nothing. A whole artistic work is immeasurably more than the sum of its parts.” Here she is not speaking of creating some thing out of literally nothing, but of putting imagination to the task of creating beauty or new meaning. Give some examples of this.

The following are some further resources in developing a theology of the arts.

Rainbows for the Fallen World: Aesthetic Life and Artistic Task by Calvin Seerveld

The Education of Desire: Towards a Theology of the Senses by T. J. Gorringe

“Theology of the Arts and the Vocation of the Artist” by Deborah J. Haynes, in Arts 11, no. 2 (1999)