The human impulse to create by Kelley Barton

Art is sprinkled throughout the Bible. The creation of the Temple. David’s poetry, music, singing and dancing. Solomon’s poetry. Thrones and items built with varying artistic design, described with exquisite detail.

The philosopher and theologian Francis Schaffer wrote a book in 1973 called Art and the Bible, in which he wrote:

“The human impulse to create reflects our being created in the image of a creator God.”

At City Church we embrace the thought that God is creative and we want to celebrate the creativity within our community. We believe that experiencing the creative arts can spark an emotional spot inside us that other activities may not touch. That it can deepen our connection with others and with Jesus.

This Sunday you will notice some art displayed on the set pieces behind our Worship Leader and Speakers. We hope to have a rotation of art every week. The art is not meant to tie into whatever message is spoken that week. It is merely meant to inspire, cause reflection, to enjoy. And we hope that is exactly what will transpire.

The first art on display comes from Julie Rinker. As an aspiring human rights scholar and teacher educator, Julie’s work is rooted in a decade of experience in Dallas and Nashville - environments where the influence of the Christian Right felt particularly apparent. In 2019, Julie visited Holocaust sites in Poland and the overwhelming weight of the depth of history she had never learned transformed her approach to education; she began to create quilts to process the heaviness of the world we live in, and to experience joy in the midst of the work of learning hidden, horrific histories. By integrating art quilting into her scholarship, she seeks to remedy the weight of staying conscious and foster a more visible, communal awareness of past and present injustices.

If you want to participate and share your work, please let us know. We want to be inspired.