Playing the Emotions of Faith

Text and image by Rick McVicar

     My idea for establishing a creative arts ministry comes from writing and publishing “Artful Brain Health,” a blogging website I started in 2022. A link to the site can be found at the top of this website. Artful Brain Health features articles on how the arts of all forms are useful for recovery from various brain challenges, whether it is mental illness, addiction, intellectual disability, dementia or head trauma. There is ample evidence on how the arts can bring “wholeness in a fragmented world.”        

                              Click on image to to go to First Christian Church's website. 

    Personally, I think music, art and poetry are more effective than preaching. People are leaving churches, and I believe one reason is that they are tired of all the verbiage. John 1:1 states, “In the beginning was the Word (NRSV).” Notice that John writes of s singular word, one word. Poets know how a single word can pack a punch. The writer of John’s gospel was certainly a poet. Preachers, on the other hand, have no idea how to stick to a single word. With a musical instrument like a violin, not even a single word is needed, as the sound can be so emotive. When I find my groove, my violin talks for me. I consider my violin my best friend.        

     So what does this have to do with justice? When I first began my ministry, I was not thinking about justice. I was thinking more in pastoral terms of offering calm and healing to passersby. Many of them pass by on the sidewalk with their heads bowed. When they first approach, they often walk slowly with a look of sadness. As I play while they walk, I notice their steps quickening as they become more animated. Seeing them as I perform is like watching someone awakening in the morning from bed. My violin can move people from a sense of despair to a state of hopefulness. There lies the justice, infusing the forlorn with strength and resilience so they can be empowered to seek their own sense of justice for themselves.        

     While my music has elements of blues, jazz and bluegrass, it is mostly aligned with the electronic trance genre. When I play on the PrayGround next to an altar, the religious symbolism of the venue conveys a sacred purpose to my music. I intend my music to be soulful, to be the communication of both my faith and emotions. Improvising music is a complex cognitive process that communicates both the depth and the nuance of emotion. 

     I find that music is a more suitable vehicle for expressing my faith in God’s love than language. If God is love, then God experiences emotion. Those emotions are demonstrated in the person of Jesus Christ, who blessed those who cried, turning their weeping into laughter (Luke 6:21-23, NRSV). Jesus himself wes “disturbed in spirit” and “began to weep” following the death of Lazarus (John 11:33-35). In another instance, Jesus expressed anger by cursing a fig tree for not having fruit, even though it was out of season (Mark 11:13-14). Did Jesus laugh at Peter when he faltered while walking on water (Matthew 14:30)? Maybe. I know I would have. In the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, we find a God with emotion in full display.