art
/ärt/
Noun
The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture,…: “the art of the Renaissance”
Works produced by such skill and imagination.
I have always had an artistic streak. I have an eye for design, I love to write, I enjoy the occasional doodle or drawing, and once in a blue moon I visit the local museum. None of those things make me an artist, but I have art inside me. The ability to create.
Actor Michael York once said, “Movies are thoughts on film.” and I agree. Discipleship then is thought lived out, a living art. We create sermons, events, videos, etc. to create an image of written word, the Bible, hoping the Holy Spirit uses it to draw kids into the greater story. We plan dramas and Easter plays for the same reason. I would take it a bit further.
Every time we pray with a kid, we create art. We take thoughts and express them in verbal form to create an image of who God is, what he does, and what he will do if we believe.
Every time we show love to another, we paint a picture of the divine, a modern day Sistine Chapel, connecting God and man.
Every time we give our time, money, or resources we impose a holy graphic into the conscience and imagination of those around us.
Jesus did this all the time through parables. The crucifixion was the ultimate art. It was the ultimate representation of God’s love for us and when we die to ourselves, and serve others, we recreate this image.
Youth group is not meeting, it is an art class. We are teaching kids how to imperfectly draw the character of God. I did not say we were very good artists. Like many human artists we are flawed, brooding, and struggling to make art that people get.
Discipling teenagers is like handing them a box of crayons and asking them to draw the Mona Lisa. Can you see it? It does not look very good does it? Yet, it’s their best representation of the Masters Work and God is pleased with it.
Discipleship is an art and we are the art teachers. No one, but Jesus, has painted the ultimate picture of who God is and nobody else ever will. We should be gracious and kind when teenagers run to us, as a child to a parents, with their picture, their action, their thoughts, their prayers, and their service, and says, “I made this for you! (God)”, we should look at it and say, “That’s beautiful!”