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Authentic Living as an Art Form`

I believe that authentic living is an art form in itself.  And for good or ill, it seems that people are drawn to art.  A friend once told me about one of his favorite pieces of art.  It is a Greek vase with a couple very near to a kiss.  I believe that it may have been called "The Kiss." (Then again, maybe not.  I am sooooo not an art historian.)  He described it as eternal tension.  On the one hand, the two had attained the ultimate: true love.  There was a sense of fullness of life that came with it, of invincibility.  And yet, they had been captured in the moment, frozen on the side of a vase, a mere breath-width from each other.  They would never actually kiss.  They would never actualize their fulfillment.  An eternity of ecstatic torture.  That was how he described the work of art.  I hear in his description an indirect exegesis of life itself.  I believe that people are drawn to such works of art as that vase because it creatively draws them into view of the deeper dimensions of life.

A friend once told me that, when it come to artistic composition, "copying is the ultimate form of flattery."  In fact, as I look back to when I was a beginning drawer, I copied everything.  Wherever I found a cool pose, I drew it.  I stole from comic books, magazines, paintings, anything.  Of course, I never really even came close to the original, but I did learn and develop as an artist.

Because I believe that life is art and that people are drawn to art, especially the art of life, I believe that the pastor as artist can expect to be copied.  Often I hear people say, "Oh, I wish I could draw/paint like that" when they see a work of art.  But when pressed, they will almost always say that they've never tried either.  It is as if the moment is right for them to try, for they are inspired, but no one is there to help them give it a shot.  I believe that Christians want, and I mean really want, to deepen their relationship with God, and they need others to help them see what that might look like.

Therefore, part of the pastor's function as an artist is to paint a picture of one possibility of authentic Christian living with his or her own life.  There is a wonderful scene in the movie Elizabeth where the Protestant queen is standing in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary and she speaks to her courtier, "Walsingham, why is it that they adore her so?"  And the Calvinist Machiavellian replies, "Because human beings need to touch the divine."  It is a powerful scene, especially since it draws out the human yearning for a vision of possibility that can meet them where they are in life.

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