Willing to Be a 2nd Rate Artist?

I recently finished For the Beauty of the Church, an anthology on the importance of artists and pastor revitalizing the arts within the Protestant movement. (If you just thought, “Now that sounds different” or “I’ve never heard of that before” then you need to buy the book. If if sounds boring, then skip down to the next post.) The book originated in a conference of pastors and artists in Austin, and includes many great insights, but this quote jumped for me:

"For the evangelical Christian community to develop a living artistic tradition, a mulching ground that generates deeper-going artistry which in turn will not be defensive but have staying power, will take a long time. It will probably take more than one generation of artists, art critics, art public, art patrons, art theorists, art publicists, working together in a communal perspective, to develop the normal body for supporting the numerous second-rated artists that are needed to get the few first-rate ones. . . ."

"Perhaps some Christian body, with resources and authority, can enlarge its long-term vision to give priority to such a ministry in the arts, giving support to a gifted artistic community with a united direction and a holy spirited vision of compassion for those caught in sin and by evil." ~ Calvin Seerveld, Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves

2 + 2 = Tolstoy?
You know all those historic names authors bandy about in the “peers paragraph”-- the generation of wannabes surrounding the first rate artists? Those names that we all kind of chortle over and say, “Why did people think they were good?” Except it takes a lot of Ben Johnsons to get Shakespeare. A lot of Turgenevs and Pushkins to get Tolstoy.

Are you prepared to be that artistic John the Baptist so that someone else can be greater, a more acclaimed and better remembered Pentecostal artist? Our Dante cannot happen until those second rate artists dedicate their lives to do their best in their vocation—even if it means we’re the discarded names in the “peers paragraph.”

The best part? God just asks us to use our talents for his glory—He doesn’t demand that we become first rate artists to enter His kingdom. Love Him so much you’re willing to be a second-rate artist.