hope and the arts

Dara and I are fans of Carolyn Arends. I am especially moved by her song “What We Hope For”: What we hope for is not too much to ask for / What we pray for isn’t nearly big enough. / And what we dream of / Cannot compare with God’s love. / What he wants for us is so much more, more than what we hope for.

That’s one insightful woman.

Today one thing led to another on the internet—a Facebook message from a friend who shared a song and a video link which drew me to Andrew Peterson’s website which drew me to The Rabbit Room group blog which drew me to a post by Andrew which linked me to a Christianity Today article by Carolyn from June.

I’ve got these creative projects on the go and every once in awhile I wonder, does it matter? Never mind the question will it pay a living? Carolyn answers the question from several angles, including this one:

Paulnack asks, "Given what we have since learned about life in the concentration camps, why would anyone in his right mind waste time and energy writing or playing music? … And yet—from the camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art … Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. Art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are."

read the rest of the article

Hope. That’s one function of the arts, and hope is essential for health (“hope deferred makes the heart sick”) and faith (“being sure of what we hope for”).

Makes me think of the song “It Might Be Hope” by another singer/songwriter, Sara Groves: Hope has a way of turning its face to you just when you least expect it. / You walk in a room / You look out a window / And something there leaves you breathless. / You say to yourself / “It’s been awhile since I felt this, / and it feels like it might be hope.”

Here’s hoping …