Artists, we need you! A plea and a prayer for artists.

A couple weeks ago, Stuart and I visited the Museo de Memoria y Tolerancia in Mexico City. Dedicated to the memory of genocide victims and their survivors, the museum transports the visitor in time from the Holocaust to present day with a special exhibition at the end honoring Martin Luther King (I blogged about it here).

After an emotional, but well-spent two hours, Stuart and I headed toward the Zócolo (main square) and came across a very different kind of exhibit – El Arte de la Indumentaria y la Moda en México – The Art of Apparel and Fashion in Mexico. Like a daisy sprouting from the rubble, the artistry of design and color refreshed our minds and souls. 

Later that day, I paused to consider how each museum depicted humanity's great potential. The first displayed humanity's potential to dehumanize and destroy, and the second showcased humanity's potential to affirm and create.

Lately, we've seen too much of one and not nearly enough of the other. Have we not? I offer a heartfelt plea to all artists and creative talents out there: We need you. We need you to affirm life and overwhelm us with beauty. In the rubble of hatred and violence in our world, we need the daisies of hope and love to spring up. 

I am grateful for a God who appreciates beauty and artistry, so much so he filled the artisan Bezalel with his Spirit to enable him in his artistic calling (Exodus 31:1-11). Likewise, we are God's masterpiece created in his image (Ephesians 2:10; Genesis 1:26), therefore to create is to reflect the image of our Creator.

Again, I offer a humble plea to all poets and storytellers, painters and sculptors, photographers and architects, dressmakers and printmakers, actors and vocalists, songwriters and instrumentalists: Remind us of humanity's positive, life-affirming potential. Reflect the image of God back to us in your artistry. Let your creative powers flow and inundate our dark world with light and color, beauty and life.

A Prayer for Artists

by Vienna Cobb Anderson

Bless the creators, O God of creation,

who by their gifts make the world

a more joyful and beautiful realm.
Through their labors
they teach us to see more clearly

the truth around us.
In their inspiration
they call forth wonder and awe
in our own living.
In their hope and vision
they remind us 
that life is holy.
Bless all who create in your image,
O God of creation.
Pour your Spirit upon them
that their hearts may sing
and their works be fulfilling.
Amen.

(http://www.beliefnet.com/prayers/protestant/work/prayer-for-artists.aspx#OK2IELwXY7R9f0Mm.99)

It begins with a dream

Last Friday, Stuart and I stumbled across the Museo Memoria y Tolerancia as we explored more of Mexico City.  

These dedicated world-changers greeted us at the entrance to the museum.

Much of the museum is dedicated to the history and memory of Holocaust victims and survivors. (Did you know Mexico City has a large Jewish population?) But it also included various tributes to those affected by the atrocities in Rwanda, Darfur, Guatemala, and around the world.

The Lost Potential is a serene and understated dedication to the memory of murdered children lost to genocide.

The tour ended with a special exhibit dedicated to Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. A timely addition to the museum if there ever was one.

Visitors are welcome to sit in the back (or the front) of the bus and watch an interview with Rosa Parks.

Likewise, all are invited to express their hopes and dreams for their country and the world.

Can you read the writing on the wall? 

I have a dream of a world without prejudice, injustice, and discrimination.

I have a dream of a country without hate, drugs, or violence.

I have a dream that the change should begin with me.

I affirm that #BlackLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter

His life is not worth less than her life. Her life is not worth more than his life.

Updated daily, this piece included current events, headlines, and some now-famous viral videos.

A couple of hours of viewing the aftermath of intolerance and violence in our country and around the world left me inwardly grieving and about in tears. Fortunately, the curators of the museum had the foresight and wisdom to end the journey with Martin Luther King's complete speech, I Have a Dream.

Listen and dream with me for a brighter future. 

Because a dream can ignite hope and hope can unite us, then we can embrace justice and righteousness together.

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.