“Art lets your heart’s guard down.” This thought struck me as I listened recently to a recording of Renovare’s webinar: Art and Faith. Three panelists were discussing the role of art as a vehicle through which our faith can grow, in addition to the more commonly used (but certainly, important) vehicles, such as Bible study, worship, and traditional approaches to prayer.
Looking at a beautiful painting, for example, can evoke emotion that can surprise us. Art can be complex, but our brain processes it differently than it does with spoken or written words. And creating art can open up an insight that we may have missed through other modalities.
This past week, for example, I was part of a group exploring the losses in life. I found that choosing colors for the background and just spreading that color over the paper caused my heart’s door to unlock. It was not a comfortable feeling, but one that I had apparently pushed down to go on with life. Choosing pictures from a magazine gave expression to what I was feeling far better than words ever could. The best part was staying silent while we worked, listening for what the Holy Spirit wanted to whisper to me through the images. Even looking through pages for words that expressed my pain brought out some words that I may have not spoken, but that truly resonated with me.
Over the past three years, I have been using art journaling often as a Bible meditation. I find it slows my brain down so that I can really digest more of the nutrients of his word. Often, I hear God speak to me as I work. The passage sticks with me longer. I find I can interact with it in a way that seems connected with more of my whole being.
So often I hear people say, “I’m not artistic.” It makes me a little sad because I feel they may be missing out on one aspect of their humanity that they have dismissed because what they create doesn’t look like what you might see on display somewhere or in a magazine. One of the panelists in the webinar I mentioned said that we are created to be creative, just like our Creator. So, art allows us to be more human. He said, “We are all artists of the kingdom.”
I remember entering a few art contests long ago in my elementary school days. I was always disappointed when I compared my work with some that I saw as prize winners. I eventually determined that I would never be an “artist,” and began to dive more into studying and writing. Yet one of my most concise memories was of scooping up some gray clay down by our creek and sculpting it into an image of George Washington’s face. Well…loosely into that image! Even today when I hear his name, I remember the coolness of the clay, the sound of the creek, and the joy of smoothing out the features with my fingers. As I playfully did this, I thought about what I knew of him, and I felt a connection that went beyond doing a report on his life.
I encourage you to try this:
· The next time you read a verse of scripture or hear a word that seems to invite you deeper, try getting out a blank piece of paper and just use a crayon or marker of some color that seems to remind you of the word or verse and write it out with that color. You may want to ask God to bring to mind other things that are that color, and how they relate to the word or verse.
· Find a picture in a book or magazine that seems to apply to what you’ve chosen and then sit with it for a minute. If you don’t mind cutting it up (assuming it belongs to you), cut it out and glue it to the page.
Art journaling is just that simple. It doesn’t have to look like something you would post on social media!
If you’d like to go a bit deeper, you might find some workshops on my “New Events” page.