I’ve been wrestling lately with the idea of art and what it does. I mean the emotional response that one has to a work of art. It seems to me that this is the purpose of art to speak to us through our heart and imagination. The artist with a message can use the medium of art to get their message across.
However, in more recent times the emotion seems to have become an end in itself. Art is not about a message so much as an experience. It seems to me there is danger in this – not least within worship.
If we do things in worship that are only designed to elicit a response without regard to the message then we would be guilty of false worship. If what we do is to assume that somehow the Spirit will sort out the message as long as we can just raise an emotion then we are failing.
Don’t get me wrong I think emotion plays an important role in worship. And if boredom is an emotion then most churches are doing very well at raising it. But emotion is just a factor and should not be seen as a means of manipulation or as an end in itself. The message is as important, if not more so.
I think those churches that believe raising any emotion in their congregation is wrong are mistaken in what God, or His people, want. Or rather what God’s people need. We are emotional beings and made that way by God but like all things emotions can be a source of great evil as well as a source of great good.
So, I do believe art has a place in worship but not if we separate the message of art from the means of getting a message across. Truth is important in worship and that truth comes from the message of Jesus Christ. Emotion without the message is false worship.