Why are we here, really.

We just finished "big" Easter services at the church where I serve. As often happens, the quiet after the storm of activity gives me the opportunity to pause and think about life, both what's ahead and what we just finished doing.

Today I am reading Dorothy L. Sayers' "The Mind of the Maker," essentially about how the creative aspect of being human mirrors and points to our Creator. One only has to read a couple of paragraphs of Sayers' writing to feel her passion, her brilliance, and her grasp of reality. In her introduction she quotes Berdyaev:

"God created man in his own image and likeness, i.e. made him a creator too, calling him to free spontaneous activity and not to formal obedience to His power. Free creativeness is the creature's answer to the great call of its creator. Man's creative work is the fulfillment of the Creator's secret will."

Of course, being in the arts myself, I resonate with this, and believe it to be true for my life. It does, however, raise questions about our role(s) on earth. Why are we here? Some standard answers

to proclaim the gospel
to know God
to worship God
to be transformed into the likeness of His Son
to bring glory to Him
to engage in kingdom living here and now

...to which we might add, "to be creative" as He is creative.

How does this fit in? I have been thinking about this very question lately. C. S. Lewis is quoted as saying that, as we get to know God more intimately, we become more "ourselves" (i.e., the 'ourself' He truly intends for us to be) in the process. And I wonder if this "becoming," as in so many other things in life, really consists of exploration, discovery, stretching, growing, etc. In other words, "creating" in life--doing new things, trying unfamiliar ones, shedding old, crusty habits for new, untested, and often raw practices. In a sense, should we not constantly be involved in creating--creating our life?

Now this is all on an individual level--so now transport this to designing worship, church leadership, church culture, etc. Isn't it possible that there is an unspoken charge from God to "change or die"? Or paraphrased, "grow or die"? Or even, "create or die"? Do we not "owe" it to God (by virtue of the fact that He gave us creativity and desire for discovery, learning, and growth) to be creative, not only in our lives, but also in the culture we create and maintain concerning the gathering of His people?

I might have to think about this for a while. How much of what I do is "creative," and how much is merely so much maintenance of the status quo? I work in both worship ministry and in the music marketplace, and the question is valid in both arenas. Do I truly create (or at least re-create, re-fashion, re-form, etc.) in the works I create? Or am I guilty of merely "filling in the blanks?" These, I believe, are the questions before me as I move through this post-Easter season of ministry as well as into a new season of creativity (I'm currently working on several new instrumental commissions).

My heroes in music have often been those who regularly "reinvented" themselves--though in reality we must admit that they are not changing into new inventions so much as they are alternately discovering and producing from first one part of themselves, and then another. My favorite example is the jazz composer and pianist Chick Corea. Besides the frightening rate at which he creates music and releases new CDs (!), what's truly amazing is how he moves from one stylistic area of creation to another. From bebop- and cool-inlfluenced writing and playing, through all types of "fusion", to various world styles, on to his "elektrik" phase and then into more organic expressions, Chick never seems to sit still--he's always creating; creating not just music, but actually creating the rules, boundaries, and descriptors for each style through which his music moves. And through it all, he remains undeniably Chick--different, and yet more than ever the same.

Perhaps this is our goal as Christ-followers...to continually re-fashion our mode of living, re-invent our lives, and through it all be creative in anything and everything we do--never standing still, always moving, and yet always somehow (and increasingly more so) ourselves. Perhaps in this way we move most toward God as we become more like Him.