The Tension Between Art and Excess

 Writer, wife, mom, and my friend Kendra Broekhuis, in her monthly newsletter called “Present Tense,” writes a piece called, “The Tension Between Art and Excess.”  In it, she speaks of the great disparity that is often seen between those who “have,” and those who “have not,” and what the Christian response should be in those situations.

I have edited some of the post and will read it for you.  I’ll then discuss it briefly following my reading of her text.

 

Twelve years ago, I told my friend I couldn’t imagine painting our house.  Buying paint, rollers, and tape for the sole purpose of making a few rooms look pretty was just too frivolous.  A waste of money that could be given to the poor. 

My husband and I were living in Guatemala at the time, and for us, part of expatriate life was constantly processing how some people in this world lived with so much while others suffered with so little.  We wanted solutions, ones as simple as a math problem.  If we would only subtract excess from our lives and add it to the needs of the people around us, maybe we would finally scratch the surface of some of the world’s ills.

The house I was talking about painting with my friend was theoretical until seven years ago when we bought the one our family lives in today.

The reason I force myself to think about the tensions of my faith in this newsletter every month is because my brain tends to jump to extremes.  I believe that’s partly from the conditioning of living in environments with varying levels of poverty.  When the need around you is extreme, a lot of possessions, activities, opportunities, and yes—even the art of painting walls—start to seem like unnecessary excess.  Like an Ecclesiastes mantra: “Everything is meaningless!”

In Guatemala, for example, our elderly friends lived in a tin shack on the side of the hill next to the school where we worked, but back in the US we need homes with 1,000 square feet per person?  A man at our bus stop in Guatemala sold orange juice for a living to support him and his young son, but back home we need yearly, sometimes quarterly, vacations?  A woman once knocked on our door for bread and money for medicine, but a $30 million Mormon temple was built mere miles from our apartment?

It’s here in the United States too.  Three weeks ago, I came home from the grocery store to find a man eating discarded fast food from my neighbor’s garbage can.  It was the day before my book released into the world—a novel.  How dare we write novels.  How dare we paint rooms.  Is it all excess? Frivolous?

This is perhaps the tension I think about the most in regard to my faith.  On the one hand, we live in a world with both excess and suffering.  And as followers of Jesus, we’re told to not ignore that.  He said to not send a naked neighbor away with mere “hopes” if we have an actual coat to cover him with (James 2).  He warned us to guard ourselves against all types of greed (Luke 12).  He highlighted the peace that comes with contentment. (Philippians 4, 1 Timothy 6).

On the other hand, God’s first act of love for this world was to create it.  And what He created wasn’t a colorless, artless place, but. . .wait for it. . .a garden.  I imagine the first visual arts of that garden—flowers and fruits, vibrant and luscious.  I imagine the first arts of work and movement—the joy of sweating under the sun with my hands in the dirt, ending the day fully satisfied with my work instead of anxious from toil.  I imagine reaching the seventh day and experiencing the art of being completely at rest in mind, body, and soul in the rich depths of God’s love.  It’s all a reminder that the world God envisioned went beyond food and clothes.

This is Jay again.  I too, like Kendra, often wonder about the great chasm that seems to exist between those of us who are blessed with relative security and our needs being met…and yes, beyond our needs…and those who struggle to find an overpass to sleep under at night and make a daily trip to the Lord’s Diner for a meal, all the while suffering both physically and mentally.

I also know that just throwing money at a problem won’t necessarily fix it.  I know of people for whom $50,000 cash wouldn’t fix their issues.  And I certainly don’t have that kind of money.  What can I do?  How can I help meet the incredible need that is, as we say, “out there?”  And what is my responsibility as a Child of God to these people?  Just how far does loving one’s neighbor go?  Am I guilty of sending a naked neighbor away with mere “hopes” if I have an actual coat to cover him with (James 2).  And as Kendra said, Jesus warned us to guard ourselves against all types of greed (Luke 12).  And, he highlighted the peace that comes with contentment. (Philippians 4, 1 Timothy 6).  Just what does Jesus expect of me?

I’m not going to answer that question for you.  I’m struggling to find an answer for myself, and may never find one in this life.  The tension that exists between want and plenty is one each of us must wrestle with as we strive to become more and more like our savior and Lord.  May God bless you as you go forward “in tension” from this day.