Well. I’m going for it.
This week is a writer’s conference, when I’ll be doling out book proposals to agents and receiving manuscript critiques. It feels a little like laying down in the middle of I-25 at this particular moment. And yes, one of the proposals is…fiction.
I usually don’t tell people about this aspect of my life. Somehow saying I’m writing a novel sounds to my own ears like I decided against getting a real job in favor of self-delusion. (To clarify, I have no plans to quit my day job.)
The chances of traditional publishing are increasingly slim. But at some point, I felt not trying it might not be brave. That it might be poor management of what God’s inlaid within me.
When we were considering returning from Uganda and I was examining my prospects as a freelance writer, I was angered as I compared what I was doing there to the possibility of trying out the arts on the side. I may have actually said to a (quite successful) novelist friend of mine–whose books have influenced tens of thousands spiritually–I feel like God’s pulling me away from Africa and handing me a paintbox.
(Yes. I said it out loud.)
But a quote regarding artist Makoto Fujimura kept rolling around in my head like a stray marble:
Fujimura is fond of the gospels’ presentation of a woman . . . who pours a jar of perfume onto Jesus’s feet—an indulgent, useless act and a waste of valuable resources that could be given to the poor. It is here, in the prodigality of the offering, that he finds the vocation of the artist.
— Daniel Siedell, “Makoto Fujimura, Golden Sea, and the Poetry of Loving Your Neighbor”
This seemed to have a direct correlation to my life. Though I can’t claim God wrote anything on the wall–it does seem God drew me away from some of my work with the poor to create art. And that this can be a beautiful, extravagant act to him.
Creating–and Knowing Your Whys
So I’m starting a post series on Christians and the arts so I can continue to explore this intentionally. I consider it important as a writer–or as a musician, or occupations in the visual arts–to know your own whys. Why do we create art?
See, isn’t God himself the Ultimate, first-ever and eternal artist? The first poet? The first musician? We could be in a world devoid of every color, where all food is tasteless and all lines are straight, where every voice is monotone and words are solely informational. When we create, we follow him. He considered art intensely valuable. He found our joy a worthwhile cause–and beauty points to him.
But wait! There’s more. Tim Keller writes,
The Church needs artists because without art we cannot reach the world. The simple fact is that the imagination ‘gets you,’ even when your reason is completely against the idea of God. ‘Imagination communicates,’ as Arthur Danto says, ‘indefinable but inescapable truth.’
…There is a sort of schizophrenia that occurs if you are listening to Bach and you hear the glory of God and yet your mind says there is no God and there is no meaning. You are committed to believing nothing means anything and yet the music comes in and takes you over with your imagination. When you listen to great music, you can’t believe life is meaningless. Your heart knows what your mind is denying.
We need Christian artists because we are never going to reach the world without great Christian art to go with great Christian talk. (July 11, 2017 Facebook post)
I want to hear from you, especially those who are Christians and artists. Give me your thoughts below!
Want to help others imagine?
Catch Part II here.
Love this topic? I’d recommend Steve Turner’s classic work in this area: Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts.
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