The oldest story is one of making. God created. God made. God formed.
We must never forget that creatives are possibility makers.
Our creating is a part of the unfolding, generative process of God’s goodness filling the earth. Our desire to create is an imprint of the divine, designed into the fabric of our existence. Artists and creatives feel this acutely.
Good art subverts empire. It runs counter to the narratives of greed, dehumanization, stockpile, consumerism and the power that enforces them.
As creativity becomes intertwined with our identity and livelihood, we forget its intrinsic value. We think everything must have a practical purpose – but isn’t life more than a series of accomplishments? We’ve forgotten that pleasure isn’t sinful, and so we scramble for ways to justify that which brings us joy.
Many of our stories began in the secrecy of our bedrooms, strumming an instrument or writing in the pages of our journal. For others, it was the meditative practice of exploring the world through a clear glass lens or painting with our fingers. These quiet moments gave us a glimpse of the divine, a gut feeling that God was sharing our space. Or maybe creativity felt like a wrestling match with God – more an argument than a conversation – or even a tense confrontation with ourselves. Either way, as we engaged with Him, we were changed.
The call of the creative is the call to imagine an- other reality. Whether it’s by shedding light on the ways in which our current living falls short of God’s vision for humanity, or by articulating the possibilities of a shalom here on earth — the creative ultimately helps us locate ourselves within the larger story of God’s unfolding work in all of creation.
When we open the book of Psalms, we are opening the heart of what it means to be human.
When we spend time in the Psalms, we are learning how to explore the depths of who God is. They are a library for our spiritual language. They show us how to speak of hope, loss, grief, victory, love, and failure — but more than that, the Psalms show us how to call out to the God who is present in all.
