The Art of Faith
Dear church,
Faith is an art, that’s what I believe. Like art, it requires dedication. I have never seen an artist who hasn’t spent extended, concentrated time on a project, whether it’s painting or the craft of making furniture from scratch or composing a piece of music or brewing a good beer. None of this works without attention, concentration, dedication and time. It’s like that with faith. Faith is not like signing a few statements about what you believe about God and the world or repeating some slogans or Bible verses; that’s not even scratching the surface. You have to spend time in the presence of God, in prayer, in meditation, in awe of creation, and do this in negotiation with all the other obligations and sometimes hardships of your life. Then you will develop REAL faith, DEEP faith.
Faith is an art, that’s what I believe. Like art, it doesn’t thrive on cookie cutter models of religious people. It’s a creative art. Everybody is a little bit different when it comes to their spirituality and faith. You are not only allowed but encouraged to come into your own as you develop spiritually. Some people are deep souls almost from birth. Others are servants and doers and super practical; we could not run this church without them. Some people question God incessantly; some are very content and steady in their beliefs. There is room for all kinds of spiritual species in a community of faith. Just as in art. No piece of art is ever like another because the people who make the art are different, even from a young age on. Look at all the different renderings of the church dog on our art wall in the parlor! Every young artist saw different things, had different ideas and used different styles. In the same way, faith is a very personal experience even as we come together as one body of Christ, at one table of Holy Communion. Paul compared the church to the body of Christ and pointed out that we need all the different body parts; no single one is more important than another: The eye, the ear, the mouth, hands, feet, we could not function without one of them.
Faith is an art, that’s what I believe. And you know what, let me mention this as well. Some artists really struggle and agonize over their craft. We may call this the dark secret of all art. The most famous example may be Vincent Van Gogh, the Dutch artist, poor and haunted in his life time, who painted some ordinary people in the most extraordinary ways; who ennobled the sunflower as the crowning masterpiece of creation with the stroke of his yellow brush; who could evoke a blue starry sky more beautiful than the real thing; and who agonized forever in the process of bringing his vision to the canvas. The same is true for writers, composers or actors, - they sometimes must struggle to get it just right. Faith can be like that. When someone tells me, “Pastor, I’m struggling with my faith,” I’m delighted. I ‘m thinking to myself, “Finally someone is waking up here.” You’ve got to struggle with your faith sometimes. It’s part of the real experience, the faith journey. Ask Moses, Abraham, Mary and Martha, Peter and Paul, ask Jesus, ask any of the spiritual giants in other religions… or simply ask some of the people of faith that you know. It’s not supposed to be always easy. Believe it or not, it’s during the tough patches, when you question everything that our faith grows. Once we get through the valleys of low inspiration, what comes out of our souls can be quite beautiful. Never underestimate the power and purpose of the struggle!
Faith is an art, that’s what I believe. And if we go deep enough in our faith, we realize that God is the master artist and we are being formed by God. That’s what the beautiful metaphor from the Book of Jeremiah reveals. “Go down to the potter’s house.” At the end of the reading that we heard earlier, God speaks to the prophet: “Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.” Perhaps this is the more difficult aspect of faith: allowing God to form us, shape us, change us, allowing God to correct us so that our life can become the artwork that God the creator will be proud of. Jeremiah says that we are like clay in the potter’s skilled hands when we submit our lives to God. And yet, it can be so hard for humans to allow that to happen. We are so afraid to lose control. We might be led in a different direction. We might be asked to give up some things. And yet, the art of faith at its deepest is when we give the God of love permission to shape us in his image. So, faith is an art, a struggle to reclaim the true beautiful core within us, to reveal it to the world. May God form you, shape you, bless you and forever put his brush on your life. Even if hard, it will be beautiful.
Amen.
