Make the World Real

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedThank you for your prayers.

Last week I talked about psychological war.

In order to understand how this relates to us,
and our calling to raise up an army of artists,
we need to understand what is going on in culture.

When I was finishing high school, I had three choices.
I could go to seminary and follow my call into ministry.
I could go to art school because I wanted to become a great artist.
I could go to acting school in the City and pursue a career in the theater.
My acting coach, Fred Gantz,
sat me down and said,
"I don't want you to have the chaotic life of an actor.
I would advise you to go to seminary and have a stable, normal life."

Bad advice.

I passed on going to art school because,
even thirty years ago,
all I found were indoctrination mills.

Even though I didn't go to art school,
I found opportunities to learn from good books
and older artists who were willing to teach me their craft.
Real artists are generous and always willing to share.

What I learned turned into cash,
and whenever I needed money,
I took freelance work as an applied artist.
I made money from my art for over twenty years.

Being outside the system gave me an interesting perspective.
To do brilliant work is art.
And real art is a more of a trade and a craft than people know.
Real art produces something meaningful of value.
And people intuitively know this.

Until recently,
Christians understood
art was an expression of the core of our faith:
Jesus Christ is the Icon of the Father.
All true art is an outworking of the Incarnation.
Art was designed
to clearly communicate truth
and bring us all together.
True art is an experience where we encounter
the transcendant revelation of God.

All you need to do is look at
a Dutch still life from the seventeenth century
with a magnifying glass.
These Christians were telling stories
by recreating the creation in stunning detail.

We are living in a world full of artifice, not art.

The American Heritage Dictionary describes "artifice" as:
1. Deception or trickery.
2. Something contrived or made up to achieve an end,
especially by deception or a ruse.
3. Cleverness or ingenuity in making or doing something.

In other words,
artifice
is the attempt to be something it is not.

A little child knows what beauty is.
Great masterpieces draw us in
and point to a greater reality.

We are living in a time of war,
and part of that war
is the lie that
only a few smart people really understand
what "real art" is.
So we live in a world becoming
more and more
drab and brutal
where we are told ugly is beautiful.

And even some Christians believe this lie
and become useful idiots in a world of deception.

Belonging House International
is called to raise up men and women
who do not live by lies.
We are called to raise up artists
who have the interior strength
through discipleship and wholeness
to turn the ship of culture.
It takes a lot of strength to say
"the emperor has no clothes."

My heart's cry is to teach a generation
of artists and culture shapers to listen to the Lord
and do what he tells them.
This is the path toward reality.

And of course
artifice
is the root of "artificial."
Fake.

Oh God, send us the warriors
to make the world real again.
Amen.

He Never Fails,
Christ

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedGather Us In is three weeks away! Registration closes October 1.
https://brushfire.com/belonginghouseinternational/conference/608050