Today in chapel, we got to see the Lion Players,
a Christian dance/mime team that came to CVCA to talk about God,
holiness (especially regarding sex), and the realization of
forgiveness through a loving Savior, Jesus. It was excellent. The dance
pieces were much fun, and the mime stories communicated the message
really well (for fellow improv nuts, their object work was superb).
I
was very happy about the audience. CVCA decided to have this as a
“joint chapel,” meaning it was the whole school, 7th-12th grade. The
Lion Players talked very openly about sex, pornography, dating, fooling
around, and so on, without becoming rude or obscene. All of our
students need to hear about these things, whether in seventh grade or
in twelfth.
Getting to see dance and mime used to minister to
people in the name of God underlined the need for Christians to be in
the arts. We need talented Christians in dance, drama, music, and
visual arts. I sometimes think Christians want to concede an area as
“off limits” to Christians (dance being a prime example), but we need
to use the talents God gives us to glorify him and to minister to
others (as long as it is not unbiblical).
Art is largely about
truth and beauty (apologies to Mr. Keats). Christians have the best
example of Truth and Beauty available. How can we not share that? How
can we not take joy in that?
For some good examples of visual arts, I recommend the Vatican Museums. I liked the Christian modern art – I found it compelling.
Good job, Lion Players! Keep up the good work.
It is sort of ironic that for 1000 years (500-1500), the Church absolutely dominated the arts and largely did for a few hundred years after that as well – one need only think of all the stuff Bach, Handel, and company wrote. It seems to be a fairly recent phenom. that artists eschew the Church and the Church is suspicious of artists – my guess would be the Enlightenment and the rise of humanism (and athesism) 1750-1970ish drove a wedge between the “outmoded” Church and “immoral” artists.
Ironically, both the Catholic church and the Protestant have, at one time or another, frowned upon Christians performing in theater. The early Catholics disapproved because theater evidenced all that was Roman in the extreme (bloody, violent, racy) and the Protestants, shortly after the Reformation, because theater was, well, Roman in the extreme (Catholic). It’s unfortunate that many are still wary of performing in or creating the arts. Shakespeare is yet another stunning example of what a Christian (was he Protestant or Catholic? The debate may never end…) can accomplish when applying him/herself to the the arts.