Prayer for Pastors and Artists

Today I'm finishing up a great book compiled by W. David O. Taylor called "For the Beauty of the Church, casting a vision for the arts".  An excellent book of essays from Jeremy Begbie, Eugene Peterson, Lauren Winner and the like.  This Spring I attended an arts retreat at Laity Lodge organized by David Taylor where I picked up the book. It's been very encouraging and instructive.  The book ends with a prayer for Pastors and Artists that I'll quote here. But please pick up the book, it's a great resource. 

A prayer

- I pray that you, pastors and artists, will be far-seeing, courageous shepherds of the church. May God help you discern how to preserve the good of the old and to welcome the good of the new. May you be a shrewd navigator of the magnificent mess that will likely come from our many experiments with the arts. 

- I pray that you will help your people resist the dizzying rush of multimedia for its own sake. I pray that you will help them embrace instead a gospel that is artistically full but not manic. May you help your people live well not simply add more experiences to already busy lives. 

- I pray that you will know how to marshal the patrons in your church to invest in artworks that will nourish the world. We need more works like Michaelangelo's Pieta  and Bach's symphonies that can powerfully reshape the culture for the common good. 

- I pray that you will help your community move beyond feeble cultural imitations to aesthetically rich works of art. I pray that you will embrace the slow, patient work that this will require. 

- Pastors, may you freely release your artists into the manifold callings upon their lives, wherever these callings may land them. May you equip your artists to enter the larger society to become the incarnational  presence of Christ - a presence quietly hidden or boldly prophetic. 

- Artists, may you gladly cooperate with the work your pastors are doing to help you find a spiritual home. May your constant desire be to reflect the life of Jesus, holy and whole, humble and content, courageous and fruitful. May you lavish your neighbors with the glory of our Trinitarian God.