Sacred Creative Vocation | Genesis 2:7-15

There are some things I say a lot that sound a bit naive and optimistic. For instance: “everyone can sing.” Seriously! Tone deafness is a real thing, but most people who claim it likely do not have it. The ability to sing and even sing really well is actually a skill you can learn. You can learn to match pitch, you can learn to harmonize—all of that. And yet so many people who claim they cannot sing do so with great conviction.

And here is the thing: one of the strongest predictors of someone claiming they cannot sing comes from their childhood. Anyone who says they can't sing was most likely told this in either spoken or unspoken ways as a child. How profoundly tragic! Because God made us singers, just like God made us artists and artisans. God made us creative because we are made in the image of God, and any cursory glance at creation can reveal the incredible creativity God had in creating our world.

When God created humanity, God immediately put us to doing. God provided us purpose and a way to thrive into the creative image we were made. God put us in the Garden of Eden for us to “till and keep it.” God showed us all of our relatives in creation, all living things, and we were given the honor to name them. God made us for each other, and with Eve gave us the means to continue in our creativity through childbirth, bringing into life with our bodies new life. New life made in the image of our creative God.

So what ways are we stifling our creativity? Perhaps we are suppressing it out of the false belief that we are not enough. Perhaps we are distracted from it. Perhaps we are so overwhelmed and overworked that we don't put aside time for it. In either case, I think God desires for us to set our creativity free. I think God calls us to be artists in all of the ways we possibly can be.

Not all art is paintings and music, there is artistry that sustains life by growing food. Other artistry that enables communities to do good in their neighborhood because the artistic gift is with numbers and structures. Even other artistry that knows how to cultivate and maintain relationships that keeps our society moving.

Art is everywhere! And we were made in the image to create it constantly. Join us on Sunday at 10am to explore this with us further.

By the way: we are starting Children's ministry this Sunday at 9:45am if you want to bring your kiddos, have coffee and fellowship for fifteen minutes and then go into worship. I look forward to seeing you then!