Aisthetike

"The creation awaits the revelation of the children of God... through art and in art. This is your task. Humanity in every age, and even today, looks to works of art to shed light upon its path and its destiny." ~ Pope John Paul II

What is my responsibility to art? What is my responsibility to God? As a Christian (I can't stand that phrase... but I will use it nonetheless), what is my responsibility to art? And likewise, as an artist, what is my responsibility to God?
Questions concerning art and faith have been bombarding me as of late. Coming to a Christian university to study art (film, to be more precise), I will admit that I am not only skeptical... but I am also very critical. That aside, I must add that I am even more excited and full of anticipation than I am skeptical and critical. So there--I've got that straight.
There is a warm, fuzzy feeling that I get just sitting in class. I am with like-minded, artistic people--people who not only can discuss a film, but their relationship with Jesus Christ. Wow. Let me repeat that. Wow.
I have found that when dealing with the arts, I have always struggled with different issues. I have always come across adversity. And I have often wondered whether the marriage of art and faith is at all possible. Yet coming to Biola has been a sort of culture shock--I am with film kids who also (at least for some of them) confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is a beautiful and inspiring thing... I haven't gotten over it yet... and I continually thank God for His guiding me here. Yeah, I still question my being at Biola... and I question the route that I believe He has called me to take... yet I also know that I just need to focus on being faithful to His calling. (Though that is a huge challenge!)

The point of writing this post was to state my reason for writing this blog. Yes, I have a Xanga... and of course I have a Facebook. But as I continue this journey that God has planned for me, I want to stay off the cushion of like-mindedness. Not to say that I don't want to be around like-minded people, but rather that I don't want to get too comfortable being around like-minded people. I don't want to ignore my questions or water them down--just because I know that everyone else has the same main beliefs. I don't want to compromise and settle for mediocrity. Faith and art are powerful and dangerous... I respect both of them. Yet unlike the painter in C.S. Lewis' "The Great Divorce," I don't want to love art so much that I lose sight of why I love art. And now I will pull out my favorite quotes from the book:
Light itself was your first love: you loved paint only as a means of telling about light. When you painted on earth--at least in your earlier days--it was because you caught glimpses of Heaven in the earthly landscape. The success of your painting was that it enabled others to see the glimpses too.
I have to say, I love art. But that love is also dangerous. My art can only be a channel through which I glorify the Master Artist. If my art does not enable others to "see the glimpses" of Heaven, I am like a branch that bears no fruit--I am useless. So help me God.

Haha... this feels like a disclaimer. Okay, maybe it is. Let me put the title.
DISCLAIMER: I will be raising questions and challenging myself through this blog, ranting and raving about certain issues, and posting my art (or whatever art inspires me). I will, hopefully, point towards the Light. Grasp onto Truth. And marvel at the beauty of the Almighty.

How great is our God!