Easter 27 Art

In my theology, art and resurrection go together.

Creation, recreation. Incarnation, resurrection.

Parallels. At least in my theology.

And look at creation, the variety of beauty to be found there, from the multi-sensory richness of a rain forest to the spare and severe simplicity of a desert.

Artists also embody that diversity, from a renaissance oil painting or lavish opera production to a color field canvas or a stark modernist sculpture.

Time and place and experience shape an artist. The American Southwest shaped Georgia O'Keeffe. The American south permeated Flannery O'Connor. Louisiana made Tennessee Williams.

Our spirituality is similar. The harshness of the Egyptian desert created the Desert Fathers and Mothers. The green of Assisi shaped the slightly different monasticism of Francis and Clare. Having grown up rural and spending my adulthood in the city, I'm repeatedly reflecting on who I am in God in relation to environment.

And so art. People create in response to the creation around them. We create out of an understanding of creation, within a relationship with environment.

The artistry of the Creator flows through the creation like light through a prism. Modern dance and baroque music and experimental theater and minimalist sculpture and . . .

New life. Resurrection. Art. Creativity. These are all signs of one another.

At least in my theology.