Going Deeper with: Aaron Mitchum’s “Pleasures of the Imagination”

As an artist, I have wondered from time to time what it is that makes art good. I live, think and practice primarily in the musical realm, but I believe whatever can cause art to reach past the surface and into the soul is transferable between mediums. I was delighted to read Aaron Mitchum’s “Pleasures of the Imagination” and learn from his observations. According to Aaron, “Honesty is why some art is great while other art is not. Before technique or form, honesty is first in defining good art.” At first blush, I was not entirely convinced of this simple calculation, but after further consideration, I believe Aaron is really onto something.

We have all experienced art that is enjoyable and that reaches us in ways that cannot be put into words. It can be difficult to determine how much honesty is involved in the creation of such art. However, I believe it is the test of time that will naturally and accurately winnow art that was created with honesty and art that was not. Even cheap, gimmicky, or surface-level art can be attractive, but it has little staying power.

For some, this is best proved through top-40 radio or contemporary Christian music. These genres tend to be self-referencing to the degree that anything new is the same as what came before with only slight modifications. This overplayed and under-created kind of art tends to lose its effect and annoy those who encounter it faster than heavily donned cheap perfume in a crowded room. If the goal is to create a song that tops the charts and brings in the most cash, honesty need not be part of the equation. The ability to create a facsimile will accomplish this.

As Mitchum states, “Isaiah 9 tells of Jesus’ coming as a light for the people who are living in darkness. Yet John 1 says when Jesus did come as the light of the world, the world did not yet know him. That light of Jesus Christ that is all around us but not always known is what the artist points to with her craft.”

There is a prophetic nature to honest art that is nothing like what has come before or what may follow after. It is not foreign or unattainable; it is mysterious and often elusive. There are numerous stories of artists who have tapped the well of honesty—if not unwittingly—and then spent the rest of their professional careers trying to get back there, often creating heaps of tasteless art along the way. The ability to create is born out of the awareness and ability to engage with the world outside oneself as well as the depths within. This takes a great deal of practice and discipline that should be cultivated over a lifetime.

My Community

My experience in practicing creativity and art is enlivened by the church community I am a part of. I joined the staff at Jacob’s Well Church in Kansas City in 2007 as a worship leader. Now almost 13 years old, my church has always been and continues to be a community that validates the arts by giving artists a voice, an audience, space to create and projects to work on. Additionally, like all churches should, it seeks to form and shape us as a community of people who are seeking to participate in God’s mission in our world as well as listen to the movement of the Spirit within ourselves as we imagine, create, work and play.

Creating and sustaining an honest space to form and to be formed is no small accomplishment. Those who regularly experience this kind of community often view it as normal while those who long for this type of community know how special and rare it is. The relationship between forming and being formed is symbiotic. As artists, we need something to fuel our imaginations and creativity. We need guides and mentors along the way who validate our work and challenge us to work harder.

The relationship between church and art is expressed best when the two inform each other. Mitchum states it well:

While artistic community can speak frankly and formatively about the artist’s craft and content as well as share and inspire artists through their works, the church community can give meaning to what the artists speak in their creation while the artists in turn can give language for the community’s beliefs.

This is demonstrated best when art becomes a layer of conversation that aids in fully forming the learning and practice of the community. I find this most powerful when a song is written for a particular sermon series or passage. I have gained a great deal of insight and wisdom from the worship pastor at our church, Mike Crawford.

For years, Mike has been writing songs that increase the relationship between a text or concept and our community. That he is able to do this in a musically creative, if not anti-church-music fashion, only adds to the flavor and brilliance of what he writes. As a community we find a language for our feelings, thoughts, yearning and knowledge that reaches beyond what we are capable of on our own.

The songs that Mike and others in our community create have become our primary songbook. We continue to appropriate songs by other artists that seem to lend themselves to our community, but more often than not, we find ourselves proclaiming what we have found to be true of God through our own songs and our unique voices. What is also beautiful about this is that, while songs may be written with a specific passage or concept in mind, they are often woven back into the fabric of our communal worship as new journeys hearken back to the old or relate in a way that continues to validate the theology and content of songs from an earlier time. This is an example of sustained relevance.

My church community doesn’t restrict its artistic imagination to worship music, although it may be the most natural avenue. There is a host of visual artists who also create for the church and add to the conversation by displaying their work in our gallery. At times, the church commissions artists to create based on a theme and encourages the congregation to participate in viewing the art as an integral part of our communal journey that gives voice to what we are experiencing and learning.

The same holds true for writers who have an outlet to create and share in our community and who are also engaging in specific projects that continue to shape who we are. There are also artists who create outside of the church walls and invite the community to celebrate their work in studios, bars, homes, theaters, parks and anywhere else that lends itself to creativity.

We are a community that understands the interconnectedness of creativity, art and the pursuit of our Creator.

If your community does not yet practice creativity in this way, there are some potential obstacles. In describing a community that celebrates art and creativity, Mitchum says,

Structure, freedom and shared space are difficult to regulate, and when they flourish, their very appearance can challenge traditional leadership structures. Remember: Art has no concept of hierarchy, and what a ninth grader has to say through a poem can sometimes be more powerful than a youth leader’s talk.

Opening ourselves to this possibility means laying aside the notion that God must communicate or move in a certain way. Again, if creativity is likened to the light of the world that is all around us and still not fully realized, we must also adopt a posture that expects the Holy Spirit to reroute our traditional pathways to and from the divine.

For the church leader, this may require a great deal of humility. The easiest and most powerful step, however, is to become a community that simply celebrates the arts. Attending concerts, plays, art shows, movies and discussing what is beautiful and unique about them will cultivate a love and passion for creativity that will feed and nurture those who are creative.

In addition to an inspiring and creative church community, I have the joy of working with young people during the summer at Youthfront Camp South as a camp director. I agree with Mitchum when he writes, “The good news is that the artist exists in abundance in our young people. Being an artist will always be an uphill battle. But youth pastors can make a huge difference.”

I see my role at camp as that of an environmentalist and guide. I care deeply for young people and desire to help create an environment where they can experience God in new and different ways. Most of this work involves helping guide young people into experiences where they can become creative. We often equip people with tools and opportunities to express themselves. This is the work of a youth pastor that Aaron describes.

As people who work with youth, we need to fire the imaginations of young people by opening them to new kinds of art and artists who are farther along in the journey. Young people need to be given the chance to try things they have not done before or may not feel good at, like painting, singing, acting, writing or sculpting.

Putting Feet to Artistic Expression

For the youth worker who lacks any creative inspiration, there is still hope. You need not be an expert in any creative field to help facilitate artistic exploration. One of the most profound ways I have been opened to creative possibilities is by people who are fans of good art. Of course, this is subjective and nuanced, but even the simple act of taking young people to an art museum, concert or movie can create space in profound ways.

There are many people in my life who are constantly introducing me to new art that inspires me. Not all of them are creative people or artists themselves.

Recently at Youthfront, our staff was guided though an experience at a museum of modern art where the facilitator, a member of Youthfront’s staff, shared that he did not personally have any connection with art in that way. Nevertheless, staff members shared their thoughts following some alone time at the museum, and it was amazing to hear how people encountered the different pieces and, for some, what God was showing them through the experience.

For me personally, there was a great surprise in what I encountered in a massive abstract painting. As I stood in front of the painting for about 30 minutes, I began to see shapes, colors and images that I would never have noticed at first glance. This had nothing to do with who facilitated the experience. In fact, there was barely any facilitation at all. This time was created simply by someone taking me to the museum and letting me sit still for a while. I am energized by the thought of what youth workers might learn from young people by making space for them to be creative and encounter different forms of art.

By engaging varying art forms, young people learn new languages of worship and wonder that allow them to express longings and emotions that are held deep within. These activities can be incredibly powerful. We see it week after week with thousands of young people during the summer at camp.

In a church context, how can those who work with youth become people who celebrate art? What would it look like to have a musician, painter, writer or actor come and inspire young people with a performance, a story or simply by sharing from their lives and experiences? Young people need this desperately.

Because “the artist exists in abundance in our young people,” this will be one of the primary ways we are able to continue in conversation with youth. May we continue to speak their language. May we tap into the depth and beauty of our Creator and perhaps find our own.