Art can’t transform our capacity to love and forgive, but Jesus can. Art can help get the message of Jesus’ sacrificial love out from the pages of the Bible to the seeking heart of humanity. Art can present a familiar message in a new light so that crusty ears can re-hear something that prejudice has blocked out for many years. Let’s face it, the message of Jesus dying on a cross has been told and re-told for many centuries, but people in every generation need fresh ways of hearing a well-told story. The responsibility of the Christian artist is to speak the Gospel message in a fresh, attention-grabbing, relevant, and life-changing way.

I recently spent six months travelling around Europe, and visited many dozens of churches across nine nations. Some of these churches were incredibly ornate, with complex structures built in a time before cranes had even been invented. Some of these churches were awe-inspiring spaces to visit. Many had wonderful works of art, including paintings, windows, and sculptures depicting Biblical scenes. I could only wonder at the level of commitment and expertise that allowed this to happen so many years ago. It made me think of the art of this day, including modern painting, sculpture, music, drama, and film to convey the same Biblical message but in a fresh way. The challenge to the artist is to have a profound message, the love and forgiveness of Jesus, and convey it in a way that is intelligent, articulate, profound, moving, touching, challenging, confronting, and ultimately authentic. It takes courage for this to happen as so often the artist is compromised by the need to pay rent or buy food, the assumption being that an uncompromising artist may have to produce work that is sometimes unpopular or unsaleable to be authentic.