Sermon:  Phoenix Affirmation 4:  Macro- and Microcosm Creativity

Texts: Exodus 31:2-17, Psalm 150

Date: January 28, 2007

By: Jennifer Merrill

First off, I’d just like to say I’m so glad you’re all here this morning.  And I’m glad we’re a congregation that takes the Bible seriously, but not literally.  If we took the Bible literally, after that reading from Exodus, we might be worried that our loved ones who are not in church, not observing the Sabbath, or not resting today will be struck dead sooner than those of us who are here.  Not that I don’t think it’s good for the body, mind and soul for all of us, on a regular basis, to pause and pay homage to our higher power, however we might define that higher power…

I certainly do think that’s good to pause and acknowledge our creator.  I think it’s good because I agree with Antoine de Saint-Exupery, who wrote The Little Prince, and who said, “Today man is dying of thirst.  There is only one problem in the whole world.  It is the need to restore a spiritual meaning to men’s lives, and to reawaken their capacity for spiritual disquiet. . . . It is impossible to survive on refrigerators, politics, balance sheets, and crossword puzzles, you see!  It is impossible!  It is impossible to live without poetry and color and love.”  Saint Exupery must’ve been writing before computers, eh?!

Saint-Exupery speaks to me because I, too, think much of the woe in the world, and in me for that matter, is due to an ignoring or starving of our spiritual lives, and because, like Saint-Exupery, I am moved by poetry and color and love.  Or, as the fourth Phoenix Affirmation puts it, I am spiritually stirred by sincere, vibrant and artful worship. 

That’s why I’m in this sanctuary today.  I imagine many of you are here for similar reasons.  Aren’t you?  Don’t you agree that much of scripture—including today’s readings—is poetic?  Haven’t we heard and sung some beautiful music so far this morning?  Isn’t our stained glass window to the north so simple and so gorgeous?  Doesn’t Alice Tawresey do such fine work with the paraments she’s creating?  Isn’t that hand-hanging above the choir loft, made by women on a women’s retreat a few years ago, so fun to look at?  “More, more, more art,” I say.  It wakes us up; it feeds us.

So, when Dee and I first talked about the possibility of me addressing the fourth Affirmation, I have to admit I said to Dee, “Well, duh!  Of course our worship services should be sincere, vibrant and artful, as well as scriptural.  I don’t think I can, or really even need to, try to convince our congregation of that for 20 minutes.”

But, I told Dee, I would like to talk about art as a spiritual discipline.  I know several people in our congregation, who, like the people in the Exodus scripture, are “filled with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and craftsmanship to devise artistic designs,” In my own language, that scriptural language translates into: I like to do art, and I know several others here who also like to do art, so let’s have a slide show.  As you all know, Dee’s a flexible woman, so that’s what we’re going to do.

But before we showcase our work, let’s take this opportunity to put what I might call the microcosmic creativity of me and my friends into a larger context of what we could call the macrocosmic creativity of God.  In other words, before we get down to the nitty-gritty of what my friends and I create, let’s take a look at the really big creative picture.  We’re going to start with some photos of deep space and deep sea life.  John Eisenhauer and I have mixed the sea-life photos in with the photos taken from the Hubble telescope.  They are gorgeous; they are, dare I say, works of art!   

While these slides are showing, to add to your viewing pleasure, Sarah Shei will play the first movement of Moonlight Sonata.  Let’s hit it…

(slides)

You could probably tell which were the deep-sea photos, and which were the deep space photos, but isn’t it striking how similar they are?  Kinda makes me—and an awful lot of scientists working today--wonder about a master plan…

Paul Davies, the author a book called The Mind of God, writes, “I belong to the group of scientists who do not subscribe to a conventional religion but [who] nevertheless deny that the universe is a purposeless accident.  Through my scientific work I have come to believe more and more strongly that the physical universe is put together with an ingenuity so astonishing that I cannot accept it merely as brute fact.  There must, it seems to me, be a deeper level of explanation.  Whether one wishes to call that deeper level ‘God’ is a matter of taste and definition.”

Amen to that thought!

And I also I like what my friend Roger Midgett, a local poet, says about God’s role in this incredible creation.  Roger says, “God is the ultimate artist, creating this universe, and probably an infinite number of others, as her living art work.  God is the novelist, the director, the composer, the actor, the painter in every tiny aspect….” 

So, in a nutshell, that’s the macrocosmic picture.

In terms of the microcosmic picture, Roger says further, “While we’re alive, each being lives her own story that’s part of an inconceivably huge and complex work of all the stories happening at once.  When we create, we share, in our tiny roles, in this mammoth creativity, and our works, and the act of creating, become part of the huge moving creation.”

I totally agree with Roger.

And with that thought, let’s move into the works of our selected artists.  I know those who are represented today are by no means the only creative folks here.  Those whose work I’m showing are, quite simply, the folks I see most frequently.  Some of the work came to us already in digital form, and some John photographed with a digital camera and then edited on his computer.  As John notes, this slide show is, in a sense, his art work, with the pieces shown being components of the whole.  Please do speak to the artists themselves if you’d like to make an appointment to view their originals. 

In addition to their art work, I asked each artist to contribute a statement addressing why they create and what role God plays in their creativity.  I’ll read each statement before showing the work of each artist.

Okay.  Here we go. 

We’re starting with Jean Atwater.  Here’s what she has to say….

“In Exodus God ordered his people to make art and to fill the temple with the most beautiful work possible.  For thousands of years, according to archeological evidence, all cultures have been making images, very often, it is thought, of their concept of God.  I believe that making art and expressing ourselves artistically is an innate human need.  God wanted us to make art; it is a blessed activity.  Because art was my chosen field, my life has been truly blessed—having work that I love and that filled deep spiritual needs.

“When painting in unfamiliar places, challenging, new and different ideas present themselves.  The landscapes of the West are full of spectacular beauty; easy to love.  But the vast sparsely settled grasslands, the miles of rolling wheat-land, the dry deserts and featureless high countries all have their own unique beauty.  No wonder some peoples have worshipped Nature as their God and their church.  Although I can be enraptured by landscapes, both picture-pretty and stark and austere, I believe it is all God’s bountiful GIFT to us to enjoy and to cherish with grateful thanks for Nature’s art.”

Now, Allison Beemer.  Allison’s a junior in high school.  You’ve seen some of her work before on bulletin covers at Christmas time.  Here’s what she has to say.

“An artist I greatly admire once wrote that joy in art comes not only from the beautiful, but also from the terrible and fantastic.  Laughter and love may be what inspires a drawing but, you see, the ones that result from tears or sadness are just as captivating.  All of creation is wonderful, if only viewed with eyes to see.  To sit down with a pencil, brush or pen, place it on the page, and look up but a moment later to find that hours have gone buy…that’s magic, or divine, if you prefer.

“Drawing is a form of meditation, of prayer.  What results in me is a great sense of calm.  If, perhaps, some thought had been troubling me, the lines on the page have, more often than not, offered up a new way of looking at things.  The imagination is an astonishingly lovely blessing, one that all have the ability to access.  One only needs faith in oneself, and the courage to go where one’s spirit leads.  Some insist, ‘the sky is the limit,’ but I offer a twist: ‘There are no limits.’  Why would God want to place any, when we end up in such wonderful places?!”

Now, Russ Freeman.

Russ says, “Nature is God’s way of providing an abundance of color and shapes of plants, animals, and earthly projections.  To fully observe a plant, I see those shapes and color as well as the uniqueness of the bark, leaf, or flower.  In a bird or animal, the antics provide another dimension.  To do a painting, I have to set my mind to be particularly observant of the subject to make the painting meaningful.

“The enjoyment of art is to be able to transfer those observations onto a paper or canvas a stroke at a time.  Yes, a photograph is fast and accurate, but, for me just as quickly can be forgotten, whether or not it is put into an album.  A photo does not come close to me being able to use my hand and mind to create a painting.  A painting takes time and thus provides hours of relaxation and enjoyment, and the finished product then is one of accomplishment and satisfaction.

“Over the years I have done some 300 paintings.  I can still remember how each one was created…and why.”

Now, Mary Waterson.  Mary, like Russ, works in a variety of mediums, as you shall see.  Mary says:

“Doing art in various forms both feeds and expresses my soul.  There is joy in touching into creativity, as well as from the focus and discipline of the process.”

And now Vicky Harrison.

“God is here, everyday, right under my nose.  I purposely take myself on walks to find glimpses of how God is talking to me.  I must walk to find silence—and THEN I can listen to what God has to tell me.  God speaks to me through being the creator of the earth, right beneath my feet and above my head.  All around me.

“I listen to what God is saying to me: Simplify.  Love.  Listen.  Reach out.  Gather in.  Move forward.

“I look at what God is showing me in the beauty of the earth: Light.  Volume.  Gracefulness.  Curvaceous line.  Brightness.  Hot color.  Clarity.  Tenderness.  Fog.  Soft color.  Subtle changes.  Treasure in the nooks and crannies.  And Exquisite beauty in the simple.

“I walk to listen to God.  I walk to look at God.  My paintings are an expression of purposely seeking God, my Creator, a presence all around me.”

And now, finally, me.  

For several years, during Lent, I’ve set myself the challenge, each and every day, to copy an illustration cut from a newspaper or a magazine, to work on a collage, or to draw some sort of geometric design.  I like such visual art precisely because it gets me away from having to use language.  I often get all tied up, like I am right now, trying to verbalize just what’s going on in my psyche and in seeking understanding or guidance on how to move forward. 

But when I focus on putting images together, or creating a geometric design, or copying an interesting illustration, somehow the non-verbal concentration of that frees me from the knots I’ve been in and puts my unease into a sort of satisfying context.

The Lents during which I’ve set and held to that creativity challenge, are the Lents when I felt I really was engaged in a spiritual discipline. 

I like what New York City artist and school teacher Brian Fee says about art-making as a spiritual discipline because it’s what I’ve experienced.  He says,

“Ask a painter and you will hear that painting is hardly a magical experience.  It is a lot of hard work, often boring, painstaking, frustrating, filled with error, unsure, ugly.  No inspirational beam of light; no angel choir accompaniment.  If that sounds a lot like prayer, or fasting, or mediation, that’s because painting is a spiritual discipline.  Yet almost always, we look back and see beautiful and amazing results, though we’re not quite sure how they happened.  Occasionally, like in the other spiritual disciplines, we actually get a vision, a revelation.  Either way it is a miracle, a perceptible visitation of God here and now, and we are invited to participate!...  This time of creating is a true place of worship.  Can there be a better way to know God, and thus to able to love him than to participate in the activity that defines him?”          

Again, amen to that!

So there you have it.  Let’s have a round of applause for our artists—Jean, Allison, Russ, Mary, Victoria and me, and for our slide show artist/technician, John Eisenhauer.

Thank you.  A lot of you know me pretty well, so you won’t be surprised that I’d like to conclude on a humorous note.  Here’s a little poem by Rudyard Kipling:

When the flush of a new-born sun fell first on

              Eden’s green and gold,

Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched

              with a stick in the mould;

And the first rude sketch that the world had seen

              was joy to his mighty heart,

Till the Devil whispered behind the leaves, “It’s

              pretty, but is it Art?

To which I respond, “Devil, get ye behind me!”  And to all of you I say, “Don’t be shy; pray with me!  Let’s get out our crayons and make a beautiful mess!”

Amen.