The arts & worship

I’m married to an artist. She paints and draws and she is awesome at it. Over the years we have had several conversations about our worship times at church. She is not very musical, so sometimes it’s hard for her to feel like she is worshipping, but when she gets to pull out the paints, she feels like she is worshipping.

Lately I have been sorting through how we incorporate the arts (painting, drawing, poetry, writing, etc.) alongside our music during our worship times in the youth group. So I decided to try some new things. I don’t know how they will work, but I want students and leaders to worship in the ways that God has hardwired into them. Here’s the scoop: Jill and I built a large (7.5 ft. x 3.5ft) canvas and hung it on the wall in the youth room. We bought a bunch of paint, and let them at it. I’m calling it a “continuous painting” where each week during the worship time those students who want to can paint even if it is over something from last week. The other thing we did was to hang several smaller chalk boards so that writers can write on them.

I don’t know if these things will help people connect in worship, but I had to give it a try. Tell me what you think. Here’s a couple of pictures from last night where we unveiled these forms of worship.