Christian Artist vs. Christian in the Arts

            I grew up listening to Christian rock music.  It was the heyday of the genre, with bands like Petra, Whiteheart, Geoff Moore, and Degarmo & Key making a whole generation of youth group teenagers feel that they could be Christians and still be, at least a teeny bit, cool.   It was the age of very hard lines between the sacred and the secular.  Secular rock music was Evil, while "Christian" rock was all right (as long as it wasn't too rocky and the singers didn't have hair past their collars).  Thus, I grew up with a very strict definition of what it meant to be a Christian in the arts.  It meant 1) that everything you created had to have the word "Jesus" in it somewhere, and 2) that there was absolutely no confusion about the fact that you were a Christian artist.  It had to be stamped on everything you did.It wasn't a description of who you were; it was a category, a demographic, a genre.

            As a young adult, I began to wonder about this distinction.  I thought about bands like the Grateful Dead.  Nobody thought of them as "Hindu Rock", even though their music was obviously very influenced by things like eastern mysticism.  Nobody called Slayer "Satanist Heavy Metal" (maybe because their purported Satanism was about as genuine as a thirteen dollar bill, but still).  I realized that, in the "secular" world, people just created stuff, and the stuff they created was more often than not reflective of their beliefs and worldviews.  It was only the Christians who had created this "us and them" exclusivity.  And what was the result?  It allowed the people who probably most needed to hear the Christian message to conveniently tune it out.  And I started thinking: whatever happened to being gentle as doves but wise as serpents?  How is it wise to effectively assure that the world can easily ignore our message?

            I am a Christian and an artist.  But-and I hope this doesn't make too many people mad-I am not a Christian artist.  I'll admit, in all honesty, that I don't actively try to squeeze God into my art.  In fact, on first glance, very little of my art has anything to do with any blatant expression of the gospel.  On the other hand, ALL of my art is influenced by the pervasive reality of God in my life.  All of my art reflects that,albeit in subtle, even sneaky ways.  I am a believer in breaking some of the obvious laws of Christian art ("no smokin', no drinkin', no sex, no rock n' roll") in order to lay a more effective groundwork for the deeper, far more meaningful truths of what it means to have a relationship with the living God.  I love the idea that Jesus was the sort of guy who hung out with the dregs, who abhorred following rules for rules' sake.  I don't think, when he spoke, that he told everybody he was a "Christian lecturer" (and not just because the word "Christian" hadn't been invented yet, smarty-pants).  I think he approached them as a guy who had an awesome true story to tell people.  To me, that's what being a Christian and an artist is all about. It isn't just finding ways to cram the gospel into everything-it's about letting the gospel color every aspect of our existence, hinting and suggesting, showing how the security and joy and hope of knowing God effects every facet of our lives.

            In short, maybe people will seek God most by seeing his overall shape in the body of our "collected works", regardless of what our medium is, even if it's just the canvas of our day-to-day lives.  Maybe forcing them to look at a big neon Jesus sign, instead of the subtle but pervasive imprint that the real Jesus leaves on our lives, will only blind them and turn them away.  Maybe.  But what do I know?  I grew up listening to Christian rock music.

- George Lippert