Art gives color, texture, form and melody to what otherwise can be a world of rhetorical gymnastics. Theology is important, but when rigid, it can leave little room for human experience, moments of doubt, and the need for a nonverbal expression. For thousands of years the Christian church has illuminated experience, told the faith story and comforted people through the arts.
Architecture, music, paintings and sculptures have told and retold stories from the Bible, of human experience and the witness of individuals living out faith in a transformative God. These artistic expressions help us to feel the tensions, drama and beauty of the stories that they recount.
Too often today the church holds onto historic forms of artistic expression, almost clinging to traditional wine skins at the expense of new wine. If we become attached to the form over
Songs, paintings, sculpture, poems, and rituals help the message of faith descend from the head to the heart. Vibrant colors and sweeping melodies allow my soul to sing when my confused or struggling mind doesn’t have the right words.
I cherish art as a great vessel that tells and retells the gospel story. I appreciate reflections of beauty that has at its origins God’s very own creation (Genesis 1). I love different takes on age old messages that reflect cultural insights and new perspectives.
This is a new blog that I started for the purpose of engaging faith and art as something living, something vibrant and something desperately needed today. There is so much happening under the surface in this area today that flies under denominational radar, but could speak to the heart of us all.
I will be blogging on art pieces, artists, movements, music as well as my own photography, art and music. Join me on this journey, seeking to illumine the Christian experience, reflecting God’s beauty in color, texture, sound and rhythm.
Chris Heckert Blog 
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