So we consider: The lilies of Jesus’ day were of the buttercup family, not like the Easter lilies that I depicted with Sumi ink, gold, and platinum. They were small, dainty flowers, that sprang up in the morning dew, and shriveled at night. They were like weeds. “They do not spin or toil” because they grew uncultivated anywhere and everywhere. These lilies were used to fuel fires because they were so spindly [….]
Jesus is telling us that these things we use and take for granted, like the arts, can have a central place in our conversation about the eternal. Because they are ephemeral and spindly, they ignite. Because they are throwaways, they serve a greater purpose. Precisely because the arts are useless, peripheral, and ephemeral, they are significant, essential, and permanent for God’s Kingdom.
The arts are a gift, not a commodity. To the extent that we commoditize art and value art as the price dictates, to that extent we will devalue ourselves. To the extent that the arts are devalued in the church, to that extent we will dehumanize and devalue the gospel. We will end up “selling” the gospel as cheap, utilitarian merchandise, filling our mall-like churches with trinkets only worthy of 15 seconds of fame and attention.
Mako Fujimura, from “Consider the Lilies”
