[Note: This was supposed to go up last night, but technical difficulties prevented it.  I’ll post my response to today’s lectures later this evening.]

This week I’m attending the C3 Conference hosted by St. George’s Church, Nashville.  The line up of speakers is impressive, and the opening plenary speaker, Makoto Fujimura, was very thought provoking as he spoke about Artists, culture and the Church.  In particular he spoke about the need for Christians to support the arts and help to create “Cultural Estuaries” where the broader culture and the Church can encounter one another in the midst of art.  In so doing, he argues, we will be creating both mediating spaces and a mediating language that can allow the Church and Secular society to speak to one another in understandable ways.

I thought his presentation was inspiring and right on.  The exile of artists and art from the Church, and the utilitarianism with which it has been approached is lamentable.

There’s more in store for tomorrow, but here are a few things to chew on until then:

Here’s some of Fujimura’s beautiful work:

 

You can learn more about the C3 Conference and the St. George’s Institute Of Church and Cultural Life by visiting this site.  I’m excited and thankful that a congregation in our Diocese is hosting such a conference… so check it out.

I’ll be writing up the C3 Conference for The Living Church as well, so keep your eyes open.