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February 14, 2008

Arts-y Sundays Coming Up Soon

I apologize for the title of this post, I hate the word, "Arts-y." Anyway, I was meeting with a group from church last night; we were planning a 13-week Sunday school discussion on the arts...movies, contemporary art, theatre, and music, which is my part of the discussion. We planned out our overall theme that includes common grace and the fact that God's fingerprint, if you will, is on everything. All truth is God's truth, and therefore, we can recognize His image in most things. The reason it's all so relevant is that the art forms, be it film or ballet, have become the philosophers of our generation. The arts teach us about the culture we live in, and they help us understand what people are thinking. If we know what people are getting into, then we can hear what their ideas are about the world around us. An album can serve as a bridge to their soul on a certain level.
I led a discussion last Spring on music. I had a lot of fun planning and leading the class, but was surprised by the feedback. I was naive to assume that just because I go to a PCA church that everyone knew about Francis Schaffer's ideas with regards to interacting with culture. I went into it with the idea that everyone had taken Jerram Barrs' contemporary culture class. Boy was I wrong.
I share songs and images from The Shins, Dashboard Confessional, Mary J. Blige, U2, Modest Mouse, Madonna, Lauryn Hill, Avril Lavigne, and others of which I can't remember right now. Each week we had great discussions and by the end I was pleased with the final product. There were members of our church that had problems with some of my music choices, but after a couple of conversations I came to realize that I had failed to communicate what we were doing. The goal was to hear music and recognize the good of it all. It wasn't to critique or call into question what's being said, but to build bridges through God's truths. The questions and concerns didn't have to do so much the music choices, but the degree of discernment that seemed to be lacking.
I'm sure we all disagree on what's OK to watch and listen to at a certain level. It's hard to know how to teach wisdom in making decisions involving art; it's so subjective. I guess for me, if it involves an area of struggle for me, if images will bother me so that I don't stop thinking about them, if I will be tempted to sin in a certain area after viewing a film, then it's not a good idea to watch the DVD I just rented or bought. There are obvious movies and music to avoid, but that is less often the case. I would also look at the content of the film and ask myself, "Why should I buy this album?", "What will I get out of this movie?" For example, American Beauty is an incredible film, with nudity and images that are offensive, but the story is one that many people identify with. Is this a film that should be on my list? I can skip over the bad scenes in order to see this good movie. I think it depends on the content, I mean, do I really need to see 40-Year-Old Virgin? Does this movie bring truth into my life? Probably not. We all have a choice and responsibility to make wise choices when viewing art, but the decision is yours to make; how you make that decision is according to you.
For our lesson I will be having a Radiohead Sunday and a Coldplay Sunday, two bands that have much relevance in our culture today. I haven't decided on the third week, but I look forward to who it will be and the preparation that will take place along the way.

| By Nathan Gemayel | 5:34 PM

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