The twentieth century has seen a significant recovery of the arts in both secular and religious culture. The following essay delineates some of the areas in which the arts have emerged within the church and discusses the contribution that the arts make to the worship of God.
A renaissance of art has occurred in twentieth-century worship. A wide variety of new music is being written, much of it in “contemporary” styles. Sermons are being acted out as dramas. Permanent and temporary visual art graces the worship environment. Even solo, ensemble, and congregational dancing are being used to give bodily expression to our praise. Where did all this creative activity in worship come from? Why is it now in our liturgies and services? Many congregations are asking these questions and others. In what follows, we will examine some of the impulses and influences that have helped bring about this intensified artistic expression in worship.
From the beginning of this century, many factors have been operative in the regeneration of the arts in worship, some from within the church and some from without. Several artistic revivals have taken place in the Christian community, each bringing with it some change or enhancement in worship, as well as greater creativity and freedom of expression. Social changes affecting our culture have also affected the church and its creative response in worship. Changes and developments within the artistic community itself have made an impact on the role of art within the church.
Congregations, artists, and theologians have grappled with the issues raised when the arts are introduced more fully and more broadly into worship. Who should present it—professionals or amateurs from the congregation? Should it be a regular feature, or reserved for special events? For Catholics, Vatican II and the subsequent liturgical renewal opened up these questions, some of which have been addressed by the Bishops’ Council on the Environment and Art in Worship. Christian artists, as individuals and as a group, have struggled with how best to offer their gifts to the glory of God.
As the church has responded to the culture around it, seeking to reach out in relevant ways, it has made use of the arts with increasing regularity. The emphasis on evangelism and church growth has brought about an enlarged role for drama and other arts in worship. In trying to communicate with the unchurched, many congregations have used music, mime, drama, and other art forms to attract new people into worship services. Churches have found a focus on the arts to be a helpful way to win back former members.
Movement Arts. Artistic trends have affected the use of dance and other movement arts in worship. In the early twentieth century, Pentecostalist worshipers would raise their hands, wave, do the “Holy Ghost jig,” or run. This activity may not have seemed like a refined, choreographed dance, but it was a break from the staid and static worship that preceded it.
The “Jesus people” movement and the charismatic renewal added increased momentum to the liturgical dance movement. Contemporary worship choruses often invite those who sing them to lift their hands, bow, kneel, run, and even dance before the Lord. With the establishment of the state of Israel and the rise of Messianic Jewish groups, Israeli-style folk dance began to be included as part of celebration and worship.
The development of modern dance has also influenced its use within contemporary worship. The impetus for modern dance was the desire to express the inner soul of men and women through movement. Ballet was seen as too rigid and out of touch with the ordinary person’s experience to be able to communicate the emotional or spiritual side of humanity. It is interesting to note that Ted Shawn, one of the fathers of modern dance, had been a seminary student before his career shift into dance. He and Ruth St. Dennis, the founders of the Denishawn School, were very interested in religious matters and performed many works based on Bible passages. Ted Shawn also loved to turn theater audiences into a congregation, and vice versa, through the program of dance he presented. Many Denishawn students shared this interest in the spiritual, which was reflected in their work. The result of this phenomenon was that both students and audience wanted to take the spiritual side further and incorporate it into worship. This type of dance would be called creative, interpretive, or dramatic movement.
Music. The counter-culture movements of the 1960s and 1970s brought innovations to musical style in worship, such as the folk mass. Contemporary forms of linguistic expression, along with contemporary music and other media, began to appear in the effort to interpret the relevance of the gospel to a new generation. During the last decade or so, choruses and musical styles once thought inappropriate for worship have become dominant. This has occurred not only in newer church movements; it is evident also in the recent hymnals of historic denominations.
Visual Arts. The visual arts in the church have also been affected by contemporary artistic trends in society as a whole. The growing popularity of the craft industry has created an appreciation for handmade items which add a personal touch to church decor. As visual artists and sculptors have found receptivity to their medium within the church, their creations have emerged as more than mere “decoration” in the place of worship. Such works can serve as powerful expressions of the truth and reality of the gospel, in a visual language we in the West are beginning once again to understand and appreciate.
With the demise of communism, the opening up of the “iron curtain” countries to travel and exchange has encouraged a new interest in the iconography of the Eastern Orthodox church. The whole question of the church’s attitude toward art in worship, and the issues joined during the iconoclastic controversy of the eighth century, are being brought to light once again for artists and for the local congregation, not just for the theologian or seminary student. Our society is fast becoming (or already is) a visually-oriented, rather than literature-oriented, culture; this trend has profound implications for the role of visual arts in Christian worship.
Christian artists have been searching within worship for an outlet for the expression of the gifts they have to offer. Today many regional or disciplinary groups of artists around the world are meeting for discussion of issues relevant to their role in the Christian community. Challenged by thinkers like Hans Rookmaaker and Francis A. Schaeffer, such artists wrestle with the questions of art and faith. Worship-related issues can play a major part in these discussions, depending on whether the artistic discipline in question is already used in the church. Many artists wrestle with their role as Christians in the secular marketplace. Others are more concerned with how to find their place within the church, especially if their discipline does not yet have a recognized role in worship.
The philosopher of aesthetics, Calvin Seerveld, has said, “Art is worship.” We recognize the work of art as something which goes beyond ourselves, a work that transcends us and points towards another reality. Father Alexander Schmemann spoke of sign and symbol in art as an “epiphany of reality.” To be sure, not all art points towards God! But let us continue to respond to that creative expression called art as it speaks to us in our worship, and makes present the reality of our Creator and Redeemer.