One day a set of giant pencils turned up at my kids’ school.  Unannounced there they were protruding 6 feet out of the ground with the words like ‘integrity’ and ‘compassion’ written on them. Our school has been working on its values and this installation is a way of reminding students about those values as they enter the school grounds each day. No doubt some will say ‘that money should have been used for better teaching resources or computers’ or whatever.

A few weeks ago I read an article by Annabel Crabb in the Sydney Morning Herald about Clover Moore’s (Sydney’s Mayor) plans to install some large art pieces in the centre of Sydney’s CBD (The Sun Herald, August 3^rd 2015). One is a giant milk crate; the other is a spiraling fetuccini over George Street.  She argues that one thing about art, especially public pieces like these, is that people’s responses, whether they be appreciation or derision, are equally beneficial to society. Engagement. We will be all talking about them because these art pieces will have earnt our attention.

I wonder if in Sydney we might be in danger of losing the art in gospel ministry.

Have you ever noted how in Sydney we have fewer comedy festivals and theatrical productions compared with Melbourne? In Sydney we don’t like to pay for art. We might even wonder if it’s really necessary. If there is art, then it must be free. Similarly, do churches and ministers with their limited budgets and time choose to spend their time sharing the good news, minus the art?

Did we kill off art in the Reformation? Smashing stained glass windows and idols. Okay a lot of church art was idolatrous and needed weeding out. We stripped everything back to the word, the text. But in recovering the word and protecting the gospel’s DNA did we amputate its art?

The Bible is art. Written by artists.  Sometimes even performed by prophetic artists, like Ezekiel.

Every gospel preacher, minister, presenter is an artist. We have to discover the art of the Bible and present  that art in ways that engage our contemporaries.

Art engages.

Art is worth paying for.