Christian worship has always been renewed and energized by the arts, by the challenging, leavening, questioning work of artists. This is because liturgy itself is both an act of the heart and a work of art. Sermon, song, prayer, silence, movement – all are woven together to take worshippers on a spiritual pilgrimage with a beginning, a middle and an end. The end, of course, is a new beginning, with a renewed commitment to take up the cross and follow Jesus. But each scene in every act of the holy drama of worship, from beginning to end, no matter how sincere, heart-felt and truthful, is shaped like an art-form to form part of the whole communal story. The Bible itself is a vast library of stories, histories, letters, parables, love songs, poems, ecstatic visions, carpentry lessons, cooking classes – each one opening a window on that mysterious conversation between God and humankind, and each one offering the strengths and limits of its particular art.
These thoughts were going through my mind (they were too!) at a recent showcase at Enoch Turner Schoolhouse in downtown Toronto. The event was hosted by Imago, an arts organization helmed by scholar, mentor and spiritual connector John Franklin. Founded in the early seventies by Wilbur Sutherland, then the director of InterVarsity Christian fellowship, Imago’s mandate is to advocate for the arts and enable the work of artists who are inspired by a Christian world view. John Franklin became its executive director some dozen years ago, and some of the results of his tireless work was front and centre at the historic schoolhouse behind Little Trinity Anglican Church.
The evening began with a performance by members of “Great Wooden Trio”, four performers with roots in southern Ontario who weave song, story and music together into a loose but compelling fabric. Singer/songwriter Kevin Morse opened the evening, with vocal harmony provided at one point by visual artist Sylvia Woods. Storyteller Brad Woods drew from his sometimes harrowing experiences working with people at society’s margins. Woods also brought some of her visual art works to the evening and presented them, underlying the fact that Imago has long been a vigorous promoter of visual artists.
Violinist Trevor Dick of Flying Bow grabbed listeners with the first notes on his 5-string viola, mixing a soulful set of melodic and harmonic variations with strains of “O Sacred Head Sore Wounded.” Dick, like many artists, has been helped by donors who are able to support his work under the umbrella of Imago’s charitable status. Dick has now been able to set up his own charitable organizational structure to further his music ministry.
Mike Janzen is an inventive and witty jazz pianist who has worked with the likes of Winnipeg’s Steve Bell, Hugh and Fergus Marsh, Daniel Lanois, Ben Riley, Jacob Moon and many others. Janzen presented a few of his arrangements from musicals as well as a duet with Flying Bow’s Trevor Dick.
The event, though not mainly a presentation of “sacred” works, offered me its most striking moment in actor Ins Choy’s slam poetry recital that led us on a dizzying journey from Christmas to Easter. Accompanied by Choy himself on bass guitar, the original poem was an intriguing mix of sacred and profane, clowning and ecstasy, goofy humour and high seriousness. Choy’s blend of poignancy and play culminated with a riff on the word “glory” in the African American spiritual “Were You There When they Crucified My Lord,” that shook me with the kind of spiritual jolt that sends me back to Sunday worship with new ears and eyes. Choy’s performance, along with Imago’s whole evening, reminded me what worship is meant to be.
As a not-incidental note, John, with the close collaboration of his wife, Marion, has encouraged me in countless ways. He was responsible for kick-starting the recording projects at Beaches Presbyterian Church with its Singers and Players, and now with my own vocal/instrumental group Hilariter. John and Marion Franklin, and Imago, long may you mentor and advocate.
Here are some web-sites
Imago:
http://www.imago-arts.on.ca/index.htm
Ins Choy doesn’t seem to have a website, but he is currently working with the SoulPepper Theatre Academy. Here’s a YouTube link for one of Choy’s poems.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBlG66zZz2M
Mike Janzen:
Trevor Dick:
