Art Most High

One of the first lessons you learn as a teacher is that students learn best when something is taught several different ways. Simply telling them about Gettysburg is good, but when you tell them about it and show them pictures of the battlefield, look at paintings and pictures of the battle, read letters written by some of the soldiers, and make them draw maps of the area, the lesson usually sinks in better.
The church has understood this for many years. Our worship and our learning about Jesus involve not only our ears, but also our voices, our mouths, our fingers, and especially our eyes. Lutherans have always understood the importance of pictures and of art as a way to communicate the Gospel. This is why so many Lutheran churches used seasonal colors, altar paintings, and stained glass windows. The builders knew that a child might not understand all the words being spoken in church, but they understand a stained glass window of Jesus holding a lamb. They knew that a person’s mind might wander during the sermon, but a painting over the altar of a Bible story meant that their minds would never be far from the Gospel message.
There is a trend in modern church architecture to construct churches like auditoriums, where the walls are essentially bare, without even windows, so there is nothing to distract you from the person in front of you on the stage or screen. And when your church is all about a preacher, this architecture works well.
But the focus of our preaching is not the preacher, or the choir, or the musicians. “We preach Christ crucified,” (1 Corinthians 1:23) and thus, as Lutherans, we fill our sanctuaries with art and music that reinforce that message so that our minds will always be fixed where true joys are to be found.
Alexander Ring is co-pastor of Parkland Ev. Lutheran Church in Tacoma, Washington.