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Do What You Were Created To Do
341 Plays2 years ago
What if being an artist of faith is more about WHO YOU ARE and HOW you create than WHAT you make? Too many Christians in the arts are living in a no-win situation. They’re serious about their work, committed in their faith – but feeling disjointed and disconnected.
In part three of this series, we’ll consider how to integrate the many pieces of you through the three-fold way of calling. And find clarity, confidence, and freedom to truly become who we were created to be, make what we were created to make and do what we were created to do.
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Transcript
Introduction to Soul Makers Podcast
00:00:10
Speaker
Hello, welcome to Be Make Do, a Soul Makers podcast with your host, Lisa Smith. I'm your producer, Dan ABH.
The Threefold Way and Passion for 'Do'
00:00:18
Speaker
In this episode, Lisa wraps up the overview of the threefold way of call to become who you were created to be, make what you were created to make, and do what you were created to do. Okay, Dan, we're here. We're finally at Do. Do what you were created to do.
00:00:38
Speaker
And if it's okay, I'm just going to kind of go for it on this one, because this is kind of like my manifesto. Like I've just got so much to say, so I'm just going to roll if that's okay. It is. You usually have a lot to say, so we'll make no exceptions for this episode. Awesome. All right. Well, let's do it.
Childhood Inspirations and Saudi Adventures
00:01:08
Speaker
I've always been obsessed with the idea of calling, with the purpose of my life, of finding that thing I meant to do and living it out. Ever since I was a little girl, when I was like, I don't know, six or seven years old, that's the time when Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark came out and all those amazing adventure movies that had heroes and big quests and incredible locations. And I was just really drawn to all of that.
00:01:37
Speaker
And I was lucky because around the same time, our family moved from Akron, Ohio to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, a tiny oasis town in the desert with one stoplight, old growth palm trees and frequent sandstorms, where we went out into the souk for fresh fruit and eggs, enveloped by a complex aroma of freshly butchered goat, live chickens, rich, earthy spices, and raid.
00:02:06
Speaker
We were aliens in a world that made the ancient stories of the Bible very alive to me.
Life as an Adventure and Cultural Influences
00:02:13
Speaker
And for an imaginative young girl who wanted nothing more than to find a door to Narnia and live in a thousand other stories, this was paradise.
00:02:23
Speaker
And so for me, the idea of heroes, both imaginary and in the past, felt very real. And I always had a sense that I was also supposed to be part of something. I wanted my life to be one of those great adventures. And music and movies and books and plays and operas were larger than life and seemed so important and had such a shaping influence on me that I felt there was
00:02:52
Speaker
really nothing more important that I could do with my life than be an artist, specifically an actor. And so from that very early age, I had the sense that my life was going to be about something meaningful and heroic.
A Defining Travel Experience
00:03:08
Speaker
And that was solidified for me on one of our yearly Cross-Atlantic trips home from Saudi to the United States.
00:03:14
Speaker
Traveling 15 hours in a plane with two young children is never a joke, but on what turned out to be one of the most exciting and difficult trips, it was just my mom, my little brother, and me. So we took a taxi from Tabuk to Amman, Jordan, where our hotel reservations had been canceled because a prince had just come to town and rented the entire hotel. Maybe we should have known that it wasn't going to be an ordinary trip.
00:03:38
Speaker
Then we boarded a flight scheduled to make a quick stop in Amsterdam, Holland before continuing on to JFK. And then finally we'd make our way down to my grandparents' farm in Halifax, Virginia. But it wasn't a quick stop.
00:03:53
Speaker
I was little, so I only have bits and pieces of memories, but the story lives on in our family. I remember sitting on the tarmac in Amsterdam for what seemed like forever. I remember getting hungry and cranky and my poor mother trying to keep my brother and I occupied with tic-tac-toe.
00:04:13
Speaker
I remember other passengers starting to wonder aloud what was going on and when we would leave. I remember the captain announcing over the loudspeaker that we were to leave all our belongings on board and get off the plane quickly. I remember being met in the airport by men in uniform holding machine guns instructing us to stay seated at the gate.
00:04:36
Speaker
I remember waiting and waiting and waiting. I remember my little brother and I trying to fall asleep. That's the strangest memory, falling asleep in your mother's lap while a man with a gun stands guard in front of you.
00:04:53
Speaker
And when they finally told us that they found a bomb on the plane, it was actually more exciting than scary to me. My brother and I watched the big airport window is the huge metal box containing the abandoned suitcase rigged to explode, drove away to be safely detonated. And we all said a prayer of thanks for the person who triggered security to investigate when they didn't get on the plane after checking a bag.
00:05:20
Speaker
We were incredibly fortunate at a time, and this was in the early eighties when bombs on a plane was a thing, especially in the middle East. And so that was very real and something I didn't know a whole lot about at that age. But
Finding Role in God's Story
00:05:34
Speaker
that experience ended with my mom saying to my brother and I, God must have some big plan for your life that he saved you from this explosion.
00:05:44
Speaker
And for me, as a young kid who already had the sense that my life was supposed to be about something big, I took it to heart that I was meant for something and that my aspirations to be an actor and do great things were somehow promised to me.
00:06:01
Speaker
And over time, that built into a great sense of responsibility, an obligation to do that thing I was meant to do. I saw myself as the hero in the hero's quest, pursuing some great mission to do the saving.
00:06:17
Speaker
The problem is, even when that calling turned to serving God, I was still the center of the story. And eventually that pressure to do something great or to live out this purpose became paralyzing. I never felt like what I was doing was enough, and the target for success just kept moving. But still, I felt the sense of being compelled to do something great for God.
00:06:44
Speaker
It was something that drove me to both overworking and also extreme disappointment in the spaces where I thought I wasn't having the opportunities to do what I thought I'd been called to do, or I wasn't making the impact that I hoped that it would. And after a bout of burnout and landing on my back for months after surgery, I finally realized that what I really wanted was peace and a sense of purpose of worth.
00:07:13
Speaker
And God showed me that there's a much bigger picture of call than I realized. While my gifts and skills can be used to meet needs and hurts in the world, it's not my responsibility to save it.
00:07:29
Speaker
In fact, that's not my role. I am not the center of the story. It's God's story. And I don't play the role of hero in it. But I do have a lovely, meaningful part. And peace came with understanding that my role is a supporting one.
00:07:50
Speaker
Without the pressure and the need to strive, to win, to save, to succeed, I could enjoy the freedom to be, to create, and to love knowing God created me simply because He enjoyed creating me and delights when I create. I think that's part of what my mom was actually saying to my brother and I that day, but I didn't yet have ears to hear.
00:08:16
Speaker
that we have a responsibility to live our lives in a way that's grateful for the opportunities we've been given, because our lives could have ended that day.
00:08:27
Speaker
It's not that there's one great thing that you have to do, but a thousand daily ways of being faithful. There's this beautiful little book written by M. Craig Barnes called Pastor as Minor Poet. And he articulates my experience. He writes, after wasting far too many years trying to do the spectacular, it has finally occurred to me that God loves routine.
00:08:54
Speaker
And I do believe my mom was right. God has a plan for me. And I do believe He promised me that I would act and tell stories. And He has and continues to answer that promise, albeit on a smaller stage. But I spent
Art's Transformative Power and Artist's Role
00:09:09
Speaker
too long wrongly focused on this giant thing that I felt I was meant to do, and it took a lot of humbling and trying to do it on my own.
00:09:18
Speaker
to accept that I am not a lone crusader saving the world through my art or ministry or anything else. I'm not the hero. I'm an image of God, an image bearer, and I'm called to tend and create, just like you. We are called to do something as artists, creatives, and makers.
00:09:44
Speaker
But that doing requires being shaped in the way of Christ and humbly honing and giving the gifts we've been given as servants. And when it comes time to doing something with those gifts from that self that is truly spiritually formed, we need the courage to embrace the full freedom of that call. We need to understand just how deep and wide it might take us and develop the confidence to go places other people will tell us not to go.
00:10:13
Speaker
maybe even lovely, well-meaning people sitting in the pew next to us. Because art isn't tame. God didn't make it that way. That's not what it's for. So what is art for? What is it capable of?
00:10:37
Speaker
Art critic Katarina Gregos writes, art is a subtle power that changes the world one perception at a time. If you listen, people will tell you a thousand definitions of what art does.
00:10:52
Speaker
Art has the power to change the way we think. Art prompts us to ask questions and reflect on what could or should be, challenges the givens, opens up horizons, exposes that which is often hidden and connects us to realities different from our own.
00:11:09
Speaker
It beckons us past our boundaries and limitations, helps us look squarely at human failure, connects us to something bigger, a history, and reminds us not to make the same mistakes. It makes us feel, speaks to the unspeakable, gives voice to lament.
00:11:28
Speaker
Art has the power to foster dialogue, connectivity, and understanding between those with opposing views makes the world more civil, more humane, a better place to live. It helps us confront a reality we're otherwise numb to, demands time and attention.
00:11:46
Speaker
bids us to slow down, to silence, to internal work. It provides beauty and solace. Art allows us to tell their stories, to tell our stories. Helps us discover, define, and express ourselves. It allows us to make the world, not simply inhabit it.
00:12:10
Speaker
I can't tell you how many artists I know who struggle to let go of that hero complex like I did. Who struggle to really believe that their art makes an impact simply by existing. And others who struggle to even begin creating because they can't believe it's important enough that they do.
00:12:31
Speaker
I'm not alone in buying into that hero's quest, that idea that what I do needs to have tangible, visible, immediate impact to matter.
00:12:41
Speaker
But Lily Yeh, an incredible site-specific artist whose work brings the transformative power of art to impoverished communities across the globe, writes, making art in destitute areas is like making fire in the dead cold night of winter, which gives us warmth, light, direction, and we kindle hopes.
00:13:03
Speaker
Yeses, I can't solve these huge social problems, but I can open up new possibilities and spaces where, through creativity and working together, we might come to new solutions. What if the little things add up?
00:13:22
Speaker
What if our work has significant value in God's economy? What if our simple offerings are exactly what God is working through? What if?
00:13:35
Speaker
What if we're not heroes? What if we're servants and instigators and priests and prophets and hosts? What if art has a powerful, often surprising and sometimes unlikely capacity to prophetically critique, shape, and inspire the cultures small and large in which it inhabits?
00:13:58
Speaker
What if all the foundational elements of who you are and how you create were poured out into the world in big and small ways, on large public stages and in intimate local environments? And what if... Well, here's the big question. Deborah Haynes asks a provocative question in her book, The Vocation of the Artist.
00:14:22
Speaker
one which prompted the creation of soul makers and the basis of my entire artistic and ministerial work. To liberally paraphrase her, if art is capable of making an impact, change, healing, and all those other things, and if our world is feeling beat up and in desperate need of vision and hope and a revitalized imagination of better stories and better ways of being and hope for the future,
00:14:52
Speaker
And if God created artists on purpose to be an integral part of our everyday life and every part of culture, if these things are true, then what might we as artists, specifically artists of faith, be called to do in the 21st century? What is our gift and our responsibility?
00:15:16
Speaker
In the last century, the artist has been seen as hero, as misunderstood genius, a mystical prophet, all kinds of things. But what could it look like to approach the role of artist grounded in a deep tradition, ethical rootedness, spiritual depth? From a biblical perspective as wise-hearted ones like those found in Exodus,
00:15:41
Speaker
like those with special gifts given by the Holy Spirit, not for their own glory, but to create the aesthetic, sensory, experiential embodiment of God's promises, laws, and presence in everyday life.
00:15:57
Speaker
from child raising and how I engage my neighbor, to government decision making, to religious activity. They, we, are tasked with bringing to life and fleshing, molding, producing the soundtrack, the backdrop, the costume, the script, the language, the narrative, the longing, the hope, the lament, the fragrance, the appetite for rehearsing a life in the kingdom of heaven now.
00:16:27
Speaker
wherever and with whomever we find ourselves. To quote Lily Yeh again, being an artist is not just about making art. It is about delivering the vision one is given and about doing the right thing without sparing oneself.
00:16:51
Speaker
Imagine a hundred, a thousand, a million artists all living and creating in this way, in their homes and schools and churches and offices, in their studios, on stages, on streaming services, on radios, in movie theaters, on television sets, in museums and galleries and on streets and walls and iPhones. Forget the bang. Forget the silver bullet. Forget winning people.
00:17:21
Speaker
What might artists of faith just creating, entice, entreat, confuse, confound, complicate, stir, open up, bring forth in people? A million voices, images, bodies, sounds, experiences lifting into the air, the ethos,
00:17:44
Speaker
unselfconscious about what the impact of our work might be, what reward we might get out of it, how it might be used, what success or conversion might come of it, but just joining in the chorus of creation, witnessing to the truth, allowing ourselves to be swept away by the privilege of getting to create and letting the Spirit use the cumulative impact of all these things being.
00:18:14
Speaker
existing that didn't exist before, to God's glory in his time and method. Deborah Haynes calls for us to be prophetic critics and imaginative visionaries, those who give voice to the reality of what is and
Art and Existential Exploration
00:18:35
Speaker
stimulate our imaginations to alternative possible futures.
00:18:40
Speaker
With so many existential and very real physical threats to the planet and everyone who lives on it, what should we be about? And I say should knowing that's a very dirty word in our time. We live in a culture that says my happiness and highest good is the goal of my life. But what if it isn't?
00:19:04
Speaker
What if chasing after that is actually what's making you so unhappy? What if it's not all about you? What if it's about something bigger? What if your everyday actions have eternal meaning and purpose and your creation helps to articulate meaning and purpose for those who experience it? The environments you create, the words you write, the songs you sing,
00:19:34
Speaker
This is where the stories you tell yourself, the world you've curated for yourself, the habits you've embraced for yourself start to pour out in the do. It's the story you contribute to the world. The stories we tell are the stories we live. What's your story?
00:20:02
Speaker
In Reformation, a fantastic book written by Mark Nelson and Alan Hirsch, they deliver an incredible call to share the story, that bigger story, God's story that we're all in, the one that frames the actual reality of life, and to tell it in new and fresh ways, because story is so powerful.
00:20:23
Speaker
They write good, beautiful stories, plunge the reader into a fictional world in such a way that when they return to reality, they perceive the world with more clarity and joy than before. What if we're called to do that? To create stories, images, movements that invite people to perceive with a refreshed spiritual imagination?
00:20:49
Speaker
What if we commit to working from a deeply formed, spiritually mature place to become excellent at using our skills to do the best work we can and then opening the floodgates of our creativity to, as they write, stimulate the rediscovery of what is more real?
00:21:07
Speaker
Where once we felt stifled, we can open the windows for fresh air and new perspective. Where once questions were threatening, we can model the generative possibility inherent in honest searching. Good art, like good theology, comes from good questions.
00:21:27
Speaker
Where might we take our spiritual imaginations? The best movies and books and songs and stories are written around the universal questions we all have about what is true and real, what it means to exist.
Spiritual Engagement Through Art
00:21:41
Speaker
Where are the stories that deeply engage these questions with a vibrant, truly Christian, inquisitive, generous imagination?
00:21:51
Speaker
You find a ton of great questions to get you started in Reformation. I highly recommend the book to you because we don't have to limit ourselves to Sunday school answers or Sunday school questions. We are free to explore. What stories, images, songs, environments, questions, curiosity might you come up with around some of these existential questions?
00:22:13
Speaker
Like what exactly are we all looking for? What does it even mean to exist? And how do we know what's true and meaningful in a world of deception? And who's trustworthy to guide us? What do we do with our sadness and our brokenness? How do we find people to belong with?
00:22:30
Speaker
Who am I and how is my identity formed and defined and who or what is God? Where do I find a sense of justice in a broken world? All great questions. Or what about some of these theological questions? How would my life change if I lived in a world where it was truly better to give than to receive? Or here's another premise. What would it be like to live in a world where the first shall be last and the last shall be first?
00:23:00
Speaker
Or what would it be like to live in a world where death didn't have the final word? And how would that change the way we lived? What if Christians in the arts were set free to develop a bigger imagination of possibility and wonder? I'd love to read your book or watch your movie or see your dance on one of those topics.
00:23:21
Speaker
What would it do to have mainstream commercial entertainment and art that honestly engage these big questions with biblical curiosity? What if our in-local coffee shops and open mics and community theaters invited us to go deeper, dream bigger, hope higher?
00:23:44
Speaker
What if on a micro level, in our homes and offices and neighborhoods, we curated environments and shared poetry that fills our souls, images and songs that speak truth, gestures that ooze empathy, compassion, and hospitality? This can be your call as an artist, creative performer, writer, whatever you do, wherever you are in your life and career.
00:24:20
Speaker
As we discussed in previous episodes, to do what you were created to do in this way of prophetic critics and imaginative visionaries requires discipline, to be fully formed in who you were created to be and the dedication to develop the skills to make what you were created to make. Finally, I believe it requires deep consideration of the last two of the seven soul makers principles.
00:24:46
Speaker
the ability for innovative and courageous action, and an aptitude for critical thinking to constructively engage the tensions facing our world. As we explore these two principles, we learn to consider how we can frame our work in such a way that it invites action, participation, and questioning from our audiences.
00:25:10
Speaker
We explore how to bring into dialogue worldviews, perspectives, and experiences that seem incompatible. We develop the discipline and courage needed to persevere in the face of challenges, difficulties, and negativity. This is work that requires commitment, focus, and training. I truly believe that God is calling artists to take seriously the call to leadership.
00:25:39
Speaker
It's probably not leadership as we're used to thinking of it. A lone person leading an organization, a politician or a pastor speaking and telling people how things should be or where to go or what to do. It's a leadership of awareness, of ideas, of imagination, of sparks and insights and experiences and emotions.
00:26:04
Speaker
Now I'm certainly not saying that I have all the answers. SoulMakers is not the answer. But what I really want to do is raise the questions and create a framework for trying to live and make in this way together. And of course, not
Reflecting on Spiritual Realities and Art's Sacred Role
00:26:22
Speaker
everything we create consciously addresses all of these things. I'm bringing this up in the context of our vocation, of calling.
00:26:31
Speaker
I want you to buy into the idea that your work matters. Doing the work, telling your story, taking the photo, writing the song, whatever it is that you are doing, it matters that you are doing the work, even if it doesn't feel like it right now. But in creating, you are preparing for something else.
00:26:57
Speaker
Anyone who makes or experiences the arts knows there's something deeper going on there. People writing about theater always make these connections. Take Peter Brook and his classic drama text, The Empty Space.
00:27:15
Speaker
As he sees it, drama at its best does not see itself as an end, but rather a bridge pointing to something greater than itself. It's amazing. He uses religious language to describe the potential of theater. He writes, all religions assert that the invisible is visible all the time.
00:27:38
Speaker
Right? So we think God being the invisible who is ever present. All religions assert that the invisible is visible all the time. But here's the crunch. Religious teaching asserts that this visible invisible can only be seen given certain conditions. The conditions can relate to certain states or to certain understanding. He means like through prayer, understanding the Bible, the sacraments, et cetera.
00:28:05
Speaker
In any event, to comprehend the visibility of the invisible is a life's work. Holy art is an aid to this, and so we arrive at a definition of holy theater. A holy theater not only presents the invisible, but also offers conditions that make its perception possible.
00:28:31
Speaker
While Peter Brook may or may not have believed in God, he certainly believed in the idea of holy theater, of holy art, because that's what all art was intended to be. It goes back again to the tabernacle and Exodus. Holy art not only presents the invisible, the reality of the kingdom of God,
00:28:56
Speaker
but it also offers conditions, the culture, the ethos, the awareness, the invitation that makes the perception of that reality possible. To comprehend the visibility of the invisible is a life's work.
00:29:16
Speaker
What greater calling could there be than to use our hands and voices and bodies and imaginations to offer our fellow humans conditions that help make that perception possible?
00:29:42
Speaker
Thanks for
Conclusion and Teaser for Next Episode
00:29:43
Speaker
listening to Be, Make, Do, a Soul Makers Podcast. That wraps up our introduction to the three aspects of call. Be, Make, and Do. If you missed an episode, don't worry. You can always go back and take a listen. In our next episode, Lisa dives deep with Mark Nelson of 100 Movements Publishing.
00:30:02
Speaker
and co-author of the book, Reformation, Seeing God, People, and Mission Through Reenchanted Frames. So the problem is not the story we have to tell, but the problem is our stewardship of the story. Mark sounds the alarm on our crisis of interpretation and the essential Christian task of becoming better storytellers. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Soul Makers Podcasts. All links and resources pertaining to this episode are located in our show notes.