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In an earlier post, I highlighted Todd Hiestand’s essay about being church in suburbia. I discovered that he indeed was putting these ideas into practice in a church, called The Well, in which he serves as one of the pastors. The Well is situated in the suburbs of Philadelphia (Feasterville).
The Well chose to have a warehouse as their building, as they put it “a new kind of church building that we believe will allow us to best be a blessing to our community”. This is because they see fostering the arts as an integral part of their mission:
More than likely you’ll notice a lot of really diverse and exceptional art on the walls when you come in. We use our space as an art gallery and concert venue for the local and greater Philadelphia artists and bands. This is a way for us to be a blessing to the world around us and allows us to simply try and be representatives of Jesus Christ in our world. While people who do not call The Well their church home do much of the art, we do have a number of gifted artists in our community. Often, you will see some of our artists painting during the service.
It is well worth looking at their flickr stream. Especially considering it is a warehouse, this is a beautiful place!
They also have an emphasis on the service as a time of community. This is something that has been bothering me at my church, where people hold almost all their talking until after the service, which I think negates some of the value of having a service. I very much enjoy their approach to ensuring this doesn’t happen:
People often say that the centerpiece to our Sunday morning is community. Whether it’s the 5-10 minute conversation/greeting time in the middle of the service, worshiping together or even a Q & A time during the message we understand and want to practice the fact that we are in this “faith thing” together.
To ensure they are continuing to examine their role in their context, they hold “midrash mettings” quarterly:
Because we believe that theology is best discussed in the context of a community of faith, we come together four times a year to discuss issues of theology and practice that are important to our community so that we may be more effective in being a part of God’s kingdom becoming a reality on earth as it is in heaven.
This all ties into the church’s suburban location, which Hiestand’s article shows has individualism at its core. Art fosters community by being an accessible expression of someone else’s feelings and thoughts. Including fellowship into the worship service provides an environment for community to grow. And the church values being continually relevant through regular re-examination of its context.
Hunting around for some examples of Gothic art (inspired by James Smith’s post about why he loves Gothic architecture), I stumbled upon the incredibly beautiful Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (the Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry for those who don’t speak French). I have used the pictures of the crucifixion and resurrection in previous posts; but I would like to post one of my favourite pictures in there (many of the other stunning pictures are on Wikimedia Commons).
This entire piece is one great work of contrast. Foremost, Job is naked and half-buried in mud, whereas his friends are richly robed. The house behind Job is made of mud and falling apart, but right beside it is a castle, complete with moat (and curiously a fence that is partially knocked down). In the frame, there are skeletons, and smaller pictures of a grave-digging and a funeral processon, but the frame itself is intact and finely detailed.
But notice also that the “tone” of the picture is not extremely somber, like it seems the subject matter demands. The very bright colours, and especially the bright and clear sky in all the pictures, gives a vivid contrast to the pit of despair that Job is in.
But to me this is where the illustrator “hides” his message. It exposes the disconnect between circumstance and the hope we know we have. In both Job’s situation and in ours, despair is met with and is even present in despair.
