Thank God for Artists!

I have chosen...and filled him with the Spirit of God.  Exodus 31:1

Thank God for Artists!
By Rev. William Dohle

A few years ago, I asked a young woman from our congregation to design and draw the covers for our worship bulletins.  It was a first for me, having a bulletin cover designed like that.  I've always relied on the art of others and the skilled eye of a publishing house to give us the necessary graphic.  But this time we asked it of these young ladies...and we were not disappointed.  The picture to the side is just one of four pictures she drew for our bulletins that month.

During church, I would often see her sitting in the back pew, her head down on her latest doodle.  I learned early on that, just because an artist isn't looking at you during your sermon, doesn't mean they aren't paying attention to you.  Artists are notorious for doodling, especially when someone else is talking.  They are different from most, who stare at the presenter or preacher as they are speaking.

Her work reminds me of other artists who craft our worship space.  At St. Paul, the space we worship in is filled with symbols.  The sanctuary itself is designed like a rose garden.  The stained glass represents the light shining from outside while the solid pieces represent the rose branches.  Even the altar and pulpit area are designed in this theme.

Artists are important to worship.  They bring to life what is only spoken about.  Stained glass artists especially are known the world over at picturing God's work in a way that others can understand and comprehend.  The words from the page jump to life as the light shines through them.

Perhaps that is the reason why God himself trusted the work of the tabernacle to artists.  Two artists to be exact.  A man by the name of Bezalel and a man by the name of Oholiab.

See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. (Exodus 31:1-6)

The average Israelite wouldn't have a clue how to make what God had instructed them to make.  They couldn't understand the plans.  They had not the vision.  But these two were filled with the "Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge, and with all kinds of skills."  Their artistic ability had been given to them by God to be used in fashioning art for the community to worship with.

I can only imagine what they made!  Reading all the blueprints for myself in Exodus, I can only imagine what they must have looked like.

It's interesting to me to note that, the only ones who were authorized to touch the ark and all the holy things, were the priests...and the artists!  It was the artists who fashioned all the articles of worship to begin with.  It was their eyes who saw in their head what God was intending.  It were their hands which fashioned and created it.

I often marvel at how artists such as these touch the holy among us, even today.  For my part, I can barely draw stick-figures and have them look human.  I am no good at wood working or other art either.  But I appreciate what other artists have done in seeing the holy and bringing it to life.  They have a gift.  They are blessed.  They have the Spirit of God upon them!

Bless the artists you have placed in our midst, Lord, that they may be emboldened to envision the work of your Spirit in new ways.  Amen.