Art is an expression of what it is to be human, fuelled by imagination, inventiveness, despair and hope. Sometimes it is a mirror held up to show us who we are or might become, at other times it shows us beauty in our wastelands.
Interacting with art moves your emotions, widens your perspective and shows you parts of your heart that will delight you, horrify you and shock you out of apathy. It makes internal connections within you and external connections with the billions of people that live on this planet.
It tells and shows us stories in words, pictures and songs. It is the ocean to our narrow beach upon which we walk that pulls us towards something bigger than us, something spiritual, wild and dangerous, full of chaos and possibilities.
Art is not about theological indoctrination. It is not a didactic process where inventiveness and imaginative formation are pulled up as if they were weeds choking a spiritual life. Instead of a tribal adherence to behavioral conformities and ideologies, it reveals the heartbeat of others that transcends the thin veneer of our senses and rational constructs. Much of organized Christianity today has become fixated with codified belief, control and building shelters for people on the beaches when all the while the sea rages next to them - God waiting for the day they will burn down their huts and voyage into the waters.
Photo: Rachel Baran