Week 8

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Week 8

Welcome!  Please help yourself to coffee and snacks  Please make a name tag for yourself  Please consider serving:

Sign-up to bring refreshments to a class

 How often do you consider “the arts” when you think

about Christian faith?  If you do consider them, in what context do they come to mind?

 Exodus 35:5, 10, 35 (NAS): “Take from among you a

contribution to the Lord; whoever is of a willing heart…. And let every skillful man among you come…. He has filled them with skill to perform every work of an engraver and a designer and an embroiderer….”  Service to the Lord for His Sanctuary  Service for the people who will use the Sanctuary

 1 Chronicles 15: 1, 14, 16, 28 (NAS): “David prepared

a place for the ark of God…. So the priests consecrated themselves…. Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their relatives the singers with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud sounding cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of horn, trumpets, loud sounding cymbals, harps and lyres….”  Rejoicing for the Lord for His Covenant

 Rejoicing by the people in God’s Covenant

 Daniel 1:8, 9, 17 , 20 (NAS): “Daniel made up his

mind that he would not defile himself… so he sought permission…. God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander…. As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom, and Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams. And for every matter of wisdom and understanding… the king found them ten times better….”  Glory for the Lord through and by His people

 [Let’s consider] the Bush theatre's marathon, Sixty-Six

Books… [which} contains 66 new plays by 66 writers, each inspired by a single book within the whole [Bible]…. Why has theatre taken up the cause so strongly? It's not exactly been sympathetic to organized religion in recent years. Cynics might point to theatre's tendency to trade on the currency of anniversaries or the bums-on-seats guarantee of an absolute familiar title, but there's no denying that the King James Bible is a major cultural landmark. The King James Bible was, of course, written to be read aloud, so its natural home is the pulpit or the stage. Matt Trueman, The Guardian  God’s inspiration

 1 Timothy 4:4, 14 (NAS): “For everything created by God is

good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude, for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and in prayer. Do not neglect the gift within you, which was bestowed upon you…..”  Matthew 25:20, 21: “The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your Master!’”

 “. . . because man is made in the image of God . . . man

not only can love and think and feel emotion, but also has the capacity to create . . . Creativity is intrinsic to our mannishness.” Schaeffer, Francis, Art and the Bible (Downers Grove: Inter Varsity Press, 1974) 34.  Think about the myriad of ways there are to be creative.  How do “the arts” shape culture?  How do we shape “the arts”?

 “As a singer, you are taking something that has been

created and bringing life to it. I do not write songs, but I present a message through song. An actor brings a character to life. A singer, unless it is part of a play or opera, looks for ways to communicate the heart of the music. The I Chronicles passage talks about the music as part of the shouts of joy. There is something about music that makes possible the shouts of joy in a way nothing else can. Yelling and screaming for joy does not touch the heart the way music does. Joy wells up in us as a response to the music.”

 “As a music educator, I have an opportunity to

influence the children I teach by introducing the richness of music to them. Statistics show that only about 10% of the students go on to pursue playing an instrument or studying voice. The other 90%, without some exposure to music, will live the rest of their lives musically illiterate, and that will possibly be passed down to their children unless musical opportunities are offered to them. I believe music is a gift from God that taps into a special place in the heart. The music educator can influence the next generation and keep music alive in our culture.”

A Fairy Tale Life? A Musical©

Story by: Paula Castner Music by: Nancy Beaudette Lyrics by: Nancy Beaudette and Paula Castner

 If the arts are God-given to bring glory to Him, how

should we then think about the place of the arts in our lives?  What cultural assumptions do we hold about the arts which might preclude using them to bring glory to God?  What cultural spheres in our lives avail us of the opportunities to interact with the cultural sphere of the arts?

 New Life Fine Arts, Concord, MA  http://newlifefinearts.org/

 Soul Fest, Gilford, NH  http://www.thesoulfest.com/

 Christians in the Visual Arts  http://civa.org/

 New England Christian Writers Retreat  http://www.newenglandchristianwritersretreat.com/