Schaeffer on Art

Utter the Unutterable

"As Christians, we constantly struggle to utter the unutterable. We long to share concepts beyond our human ability to understand--the transcendence of God's holiness, the potency of forgiveness, the depth of God's love for us. Fiction helps us find ways to express those truths of magnitude because it is relatable, symbolic, and engages the emotion--qualities that make it a vital art form." -- Sharon Hinck in A Novel Idea

(Feel free to share this post using any of the buttons below)

Serving the Story

 

"A book comes and says, 'Write me.' My job is to try to serve it to the best of my ability, which is never good enough, but all I can do is listen to it, do what it tells me and collaborate." -- Madeleine L'Engle

Lord, do You have stories for us to tell? Inspire, equip, and help us listen. Let us serve the story and thus serve You. Amen.

Blessings!

Sharon Hinck

author of The Deliverer

Art as Reflection

"Art is a reflection of God’s creativity, an evidence that we are made in the image of God." -- Francis Schaeffer

Lord, thank you for allowing us the blessing and joy of creating. May our artistic creations bring You glory. Amen!

Sharon Hinck
author of The Deliverer

Beautiful Vistas

Part of the pain of being an artist (whether with paint, dance, or words) is that during the process of translating an artistic vision into a medium that can be shared, the result doesn't always match up with the image in our minds. I find it particularly frustrating when trying to communicate about "God stuff." God is so beyond description that my efforts will always fall short.

I seek to write truth-filled stories, but my words often feel clumsy. They are the best words I have to offer, but I express only hints of what I long to understand or share.

Then I remember why I feel called to work in the arts (music, theatre, dance, and now writing). God is so awesome and multifaceted that we need a WIDE variety of means to communicate with Him and about Him. One means isn't enough. Give me a pipe organ, but also compose a work on electric guitar. Write a sonnet, but also a thriller. Every kind of art, every genre, gives us one more facet of His beauty, and one more means to convey the truth of our falleness and His grace.

Yes, the efforts will fall short, but the attempt is glorious, because as we study the beautiful vista in order to interpret it, we are changed by it.

So let's continue the struggle of creating art in every form, hoping others will glimpse the beauty of God's grace at work within the reality of our sometimes ugly lives.

Blessings!
Sharon Hinck
(author of The Deliverer)

Interview with Cameron Banks - Composer

Today I'm welcoming Cameron Banks to my blog, a talented young composer who created the music for the back-of-the-book extras in The Deliverer.

Cameron will also be one of the judges in the "Song of Lyric Contest" and will compose the music for the winner.

Cameron, I was blown away by your powerful choral arrangement of the song for The Deliverer. Could you let the readers know how it came about that you wrote this?

Late in the Fall of 2012, I had received the poem, "Day of the One," and I was hooked to the words. They flowed like lyrics to me from the very first time I read this poem. I began to try many different melodic lines to fit the pictures the poem created. All in all, it took many hours to compile the endless ideas and bits of music when I realized that I had been approaching this poem from the wrong perspective. I had been too focused on the picturesque lyrics of animals and mentions of landscapes when this poem was meant to focus on our Deliverer, Christ Jesus. I sat down for a few minutes to regain composure, and I began to write. Instead of limiting myself to one or two melodic lines, I wrote the piece of what I heard in mind when I read it.

Tell us a little bit about your background as a musician:

Ever since I was young boy, I was fond of music. How pieces of brass, wood, and plastics could make pleasant, beautiful sounds really interested me. I took piano lessons for a few years until I began band. By the time I was in high school, I loved learning new instruments. Before and after school, I would sneak into the music room and try out all different kinds of instruments. I began to read books and look up how to repair instruments. I grew fond of composing once I started singing in the choir my senior year of high school. I had already known the beauty of the different colorful chords that instruments could make but I had no idea that the human voice could do that as well.

While performing at Concordia University in the top college Wind Symphony and a semester with the Kapelle choir, I began learning about the complexities of music theory, counterpoint, and how to compose music from the basic level. I grew fond of composing music early on and even began "breaking certain rules" since I thought,  "Hey, the greatest composers got to so why couldn't we?" Not too many of my professors were always fond of me breaking the rules, but hey, it was the best defense I had and I still laugh about it. Today, I still compose both choral and instrumental music but nowadays, I am fond of teaching music and providing my students opportunities to show off their love and appreciation using music to glorify God.

When you compose music, does it flood you in a delirious wave (like Handel’s experience in writing The Messiah), or do you battle for each deliberate note? What is the creative process like for you?

If I had to choose, I would say music comes to me like a flood than a battle. Not to sound vain but I feel that composing music comes to me naturally. I don't really spend too much time "battling" each note except for maybe when I'm putting the final touches on my music. If I'm working on chord structure to create a harmonious picture of what I'm writing about, then I would be a little bit more deliberate in my note choice.

In the creative process,  I always begin with the ending. In order to begin a piece, you must know two things: 1) How the music ends, and 2) Where the destination from the beginning notes will take you. Excluding multiple movement works, music must have an ending but also must create the desire for wanting more of the music. In a culture where we live in always desiring more than what we want, the only thing I embrace in this ideology is the want for music. There's so much creativity in all of us and I know that God has given us the ability to be people of individual creativity that unites us as inspirational, intuitive beings. In my life, music is that creative focal point. Music composition and performance are my creative outlet.

How does your faith inform your art? Any advice for artists, writers, and composers?

Faith informs my music through the simple fact that God has blessed us with individualized talents. These talents cannot be replicated exactly as another's, and music is God's way of providing us His message with and even without words. It stands to say that God does things that we cannot comprehend sometimes, and His reason and our reason are different. Most of the music I have written can and should be considered sacred music because I feel that there is a deeper message than us as imperfect, incompetent beings.

I also feel the need to include Matthew 28:19-20, the "Great Commission," in composing music because aren't we His chosen people to be missionaries of His Word? He has instructed us through the teachings in the Word and now has blessed us with the promise of eternal life. As the great J.S. Bach wrote, "He who relies on Jesus Christ, Heaven shall be his most surely." Thus, my purpose for composing music is to be informed through Christ, the anointed one, and until the Day of the One has come, we will continue our praises in heaven ours most surely.

My advice for artists, writers, and composers is to never give up on an unfinished project. No composer, artist, or writer has ever been satisfied with even close to 100% of their original works, personal transcriptions or adaptations, or even their commissioned pieces. It is easier to give up than strive towards the obtainable goal. Always set yourself reasonable goals and expectations. Inspiration and innovation takes time and a lot of small, well-detailed and planned goals. I also say to never settle for acceptable but don't make perfectionism take over your happiness and joy of creating. Each and every day is a new opportunity to learn, to be inspired, and to focus on how God has blessed your life even in the smallest ways. This little lesson can be used for life-living as well.

Thanks so much, Cameron! It's a joy visiting with you.
His,
Sharon Hinck

Trusting Him to Multiply

"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
"Bring them here to me," he (Jesus) said. (Matthew 14:17-18 NIV)
 
I sit in my little office, sighing over my two small fish and rather dry loaves of barley bread, feeling the futility of the offering in the face of the world's needs. Do you ever feel that way? 

We do the work in front of us, 
love the people around us, 
stay alert for tiny ways to help someone, 
sing an off-key melody of praise . . . 

. . . and wonder if we are making a difference.
 
We often don't glimpse the results. All the better. We walk by faith. Called to serve--not necessarily to succeed. God is producing fruit, "fruit that will last," but it is often growing in secret. It's not for us to tally.

I like to imagine there will be a time in heaven when God will page through a scrapbook with us, and He will trace the impact of some of the simple acts of love we offered. Remind us of the hours of closet prayer we weren't sure He heard. Show us the second act of the story. How He breathed power and life into a word, a prayer, a gift - and multiplied it until baskets were needed for the leftovers.

It's a recurring theme in all my novels. God can make a difference through our lives. Not because of our greatness--relying on our own resources would lead to stinky fish and moldy bread. But because of His ability to multiply. To imbue our simple lives with His grace so that we can tear off a piece of barley loaf and pass it to a friend. And they can break the bread and hand it to another. And somehow it doesn't run out.

Can you sing Him a chorus of praise today, even if your throat is hoarse from tears?

Can you listen to a friend, even if you can't solve her problem?

Can you pray one more time over a need, even when it seems your prayers bounce off the ceiling?

Can you do the simple act of love that no one sees and no one appreciates?

"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
"Bring them here to me," he (Jesus) said. (Matthew 14:17-18 NIV)

Jesus may be planning a miracle. Let's trust Him to multiply.

(adapted from Sharon's Book Buddy Newsletter, 10/07)

Blessings!
Sharon Hinck

---

Breakthroughs

“Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds  for mankind,
for he breaks down gates of bronze
and cuts through bars of iron.” – Psalm 107:15-16 (NIV)

As a writer, there are days when the story gets stuck, when finding words is like fishing in oatmeal, when our own doubts become a bully holding us under the water as we choke and gasp for air. What a gift it is to run to Jesus, to know that He has the power to free us and give us the breakthroughs we need.

Lord, we need Your breakthroughs. Break down the bars of iron that hold us captive, whether in relationships with You, others, our work, or ourselves. Free us by Your love. Amen.

Fruit that Lasts

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” John 15:16 (NIV)

I think it’s a longing in every heart to make a difference, to accomplish something each day, to allow God to create something of worth from our lives. We can distract ourselves with chasing activities that feel important in the moment, but Jesus has appointed us for more. He invites us to bear fruit that will last.

Lord, show us where You want us to serve today. Direct us, so that we use our time in ways that will enable You to grow fruit that will last into eternity. When we can’t yet see the fruit that You are creating through our lives, help us walk in faith. Amen

Sharon Hinck

Extravagance

“While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. ‘Why this waste?’ they asked. ‘This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.’” Matthew 26:6-9 (NIV)

In a world full of real human need, art is sometimes seen as an extravagant gesture. Artists spend hours, years, decades, honing their craft and producing their work. Time that could be spent in more “practical” pursuits. Yet when we see our life purpose as worship – as a pouring out of praise at the feet of Jesus – we know that bringing Him our best is never a waste.

Lord, let our creative efforts be our lavish gift to You – but also to the needs of the world. Help us bring out our very best treasures, break them open, and pour them freely, and trust that You are pleased. Amen

Beauty

“And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground–trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.” Genesis 2:9a (NIV1984)

Reading this verse, I realized God could have created a food source that was a little gray box that popped out fruit as needed. Instead He made a lush variety of shapes, colors, and types of trees–trees that stir as the wind tickles them, trees that change color. In short, He designed trees that are not only utilitarian, but beautiful.

Lord, thank You for creating beauty. Help us go beyond utilitarian uses of art and enjoy the beauty You’ve invited us to celebrate. Amen.

Let My Words Be More Than Clanging

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” I Corinthians 13:1

When writing a novel, there are zillions of concepts to keep in mind. Craft, creativity, diligence and skill are vital, but I’m glad for this reminder of our key focus. Our writing is an overflow of God’s love for us. If I’m not motivated by love for Him and for the readers of the book, the words are just more noise in a world already full of clamoring.

Lord, thank You for loving us. As we write, or serve You in any other way, let the core of our work center on loving You and others. Let Your heart of love shine through our work. Amen.

Why I love Bezalel and Oholiab

“So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the Lord has commanded.” Exodus 36:1 (NIV1984)

When I first stumbled across the euphonious names of Bezalel and Oholiab, I felt an instant kinship. I’ve worked in various arts most of my life. I was delighted to see that as early on as the construction of the tabernacle, God valued the talents of artists and craftsmen and gave them a way to use their gifts for Him.

Lord, thank You for Your gift of the arts. Whether we are writers or sculptors or dancers or actors or musicians or painters or use any other creative gift, please help us develop our skills and offer our abilities to You! Amen.