I
Cover photo by Lehrer Architects
showing details from the 2011 awardwinning Sanctuary addition.
www.lehrerarchitects.com
westwood
united methodist church
10497 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90024
310 474-4511
www.westwoodumc.org
www.TheLoftLA.org
t does not matter if it is an art
museum, a theater, a concert hall,
an opera house, or a little church
building on a prairie. At some point,
each of these places display or perform
works that are the result of the church’s
love of and support of the arts. People of
faith have always known that our music,
our dance, our written and spoken words,
as well as what we see with our eyes, is
capable of making a deep imprint upon
our souls. Inspired visual art, whether
Byzantine adornment in Istanbul’s Hagia
Sophia, modern interpretation through
the stained glass of our own sanctuary
here at Westwood, or the Renaissance
genius of Michelangelo’s adornment of
the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City – these
expressions have helped to tell God’s
story to countless generations. Poets and
playwrights have interacted with themes
rooted in the Christian faith to help us
better understand the human condition.
Cantatas, motets, symphonic works and
oratorios have found their origins in
sacred text and story, illuminating eternal truth and providing another way to
experience God. Perhaps no one said it
better than Johann Sebastian Bach, “The
aim and final end of all music should be
none other than the glory of God and the
refreshment of the soul.”
A number of years ago, when I was
serving a different congregation as their
Minister to Children, Youth, and Families, I was responsible for planning and
leading three family camp experiences
each year. Like many long-standing
traditions, the family camp had become
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somewhat tired. One year, a dedicated
group of volunteers considered what a
new vision for one of these camps might
look like. From that group was born
an arts and crafts camp that gave the
participants a chance to foster their creativity. There was candle making, wood
working, batik, quilting, painting, music
making, percussion instrument building
(bad idea) – you name it; at one time or
another we tried it all. While some inspired and beautiful works were created,
that really was not the goal. Instead, it
was the amazing experience of how art
could draw people together in relationship, and facilitate interaction with faith.
There was a real power in that art camp,
which became an activity looked forward
to by many.
W
hy should the church be interested in the arts? Because
our art can speak truth in
ways we cannot. As people of faith, we
yearn to be connected to truth. It’s not
a surprise that a verse of a beloved hymn
or the contemplation of a simple icon
can move us in ways that are the workings of God’s Spirit. I believe that our
human creativity is God-inspired, and
the creation which we call “art” helps us
understand the great mystery that is our
faith. In this issue of the Spire Magazine
members of our faith community reflect
on how art moves us in deep and spiritually-growing ways.
How is it on your journey?
—Pastor John Woodall