Aesthetics, The Gospel, Beauty and Truth

I hate talking about this subject, because no matter what I say and no matter how honest I am I still come across as a jerk. So, there was a post and ensuing discussion on another blog about "picking a good church." One of the commenters listed ten questions that we ought to ask ourselves as laid out in Josh Harris' book, "Stop Dating the Church:"

Is this a church where God’s Word is faithfully taught?
Is this a church where sound doctrine matters?
Is this a church in which the gospel is cherished and clearly proclaimed?
Is this a church committed to reaching non-Christians with the gospel?
Is this a church whose leaders are characterized by humility and integrity?
Is this a church where people strive to live by God’s Word?
Is this a church where I can find and cultivate godly relationships?
Is this a church where members are challenged to serve?
Is this a church that is willing to kick me out?
Is this a church I’m willing to join “as is” with enthusiasm and faith in God?

I think that this is a pretty good list. I will admit that there is a church in town that is doing pretty well as far as these questions go. Yes. Yes. Yes... I've visited there before. The people are great and very seriously in love with Jesus. I know, I know, you are all waiting for a "but." Here goes, "but this church and many like it don't seem to care about aesthetics."

There, I've said it. I wish I didn't care about my environment so much. I wish that I didn't care about the music. I wish that I weren't so sensitive to my surroundings. I wish that Beauty didn't matter to me. ---Please note that this DOES NOT MEAN that I can only worship God in a Cathedral with organ music. NO, no, no, no, no. I remember the Psalms that my dad used to sing to the music of the acoustic guitar. Or the needle point lion and lamb that my mother made when I was a child. Beauty doesn't have to mean "high culture." We find all sorts of home grown beauty. -- Its just that these churches look like an office or a shopping center with movie-theatre type seats. Everything is covered in industrial carpet or linoleum. This is usually NOT because the church cannot afford anything better. These linoleum churches often have top-notch sound systems.

Consider this excerpt from Dr. Veith's State of the Arts, from page 23.

"The indifference of the contemporary church to the arts has traumatized many of its Christian artists. Boldly defying the dictates of the non-Christian "art world," which, however, determines an artist's professional success, these artists look to fellow Christians for support. Often they do not find it,encountering rejection from both the art establishment ant the church. Christians have become content with institutional ugliness- bland mass-produces decorations, prefabricated church buildings, tacky knickknacks, artifacts of the dominant mass culture- rather than patronizing the significant creative efforts of their fellow Christians.

"On a personal level, Christian artists often are not understood in their own fellowships. Artists, in some ways, are a peculiar breed, by nature sensitive and driven by their gifts. People who sell insurance or work in a factory or serve hamburgers in a fast-food- restaurant find ready acceptance in the church, but when a new member says, "I'm an artist," people shift uneasily. Vague associations of bizarre behavior, a sense of disapproval (Why don't you do something practical?), combined with a feeling of cultural inferiority, color many people's reactions to artists.

"Artists are quick to pick up with reaction. Furthermore, they may feel suffocated by the unrelieved ugliness of their worship surroundings. There is so much linoleum, they think, so much bad music, so little aesthetic stimulation, and none of these people seem to care. While the purpose of going to church is to feed on the Word of God, not to satisfy one's aesthetic sensibility, many Christian artists feel utter isolation in church..."

I value hearing the Word of God more than any aesthetic criteria, but walking into the linoleum church gives me this queasy feeling in my gut. Listening to that music does not keep me from worshipping God, but I feel deeply saddened by it. "Is this the best we've got?"

My preacher-man brother assures me that God created us for Beauty. In the garden, everything was Good in the eyes of God. God is beautiful. The Psalms and the Song of Solomon sing of the Beauty of God. We were created to enjoy His Beauty! The new Jerusalem is described as beautiful. But we live in a fallen world and we are deeply sinful. My god-given love for Beauty has been twisted and perverted into vanity and arrogance. Beauty isn't the problem, sin is.

So why is it that churches that seem to express the most Beauty seem to lack in the preaching of the Gospel and churches that preach the Gospel seem to disregard Beauty? Why can't we be a people of God who preach the Gospel, are lovers of God, and people who use our gifts to the best of our abilities to celebrate and praise God? We can't have Beauty and Truth? For Keats, they go hand in hand.