Barbara Holmes emphasizes how the arts are an integral part of crisis contemplation and healing communal wounds.  

The artists are the prophets. They say what can’t be said in ways that can be heard. They dance it, rap it, and write it in dramas. They are the forerunners for the community. During the Civil Rights Movement, what stitched the movement together was the art and the songs. Everybody did not agree on the process and strategies, but they all agreed on the old songs. Everybody knew them and could sing them. Art knit a community together without having to do a lot of talking about it. The poetry and rap rhythms offered survival to people who were marginalized into poverty. Through art, they could take that poverty and turn it on its head. In our communities, we offer graffiti images of folks who are slain. We dance. We let our bodies reveal our suffering and our persistence. When all else fails, we sing ourselves sane.  

Art opens portals to new realities…. Art is prophetic. Art is humanizing. It speaks truth to power, and so it is another way in which a community can come together and express themselves in ways the power structures can do nothing about. What do you do about a rap song that speaks of the brutality of the system?…  

Art is an expression of Spirit. A lot that comes out of artists is not coming from them. It’s coming through them. The reason art is so powerful is that when you have expressions of art coming through a group of people, a village, a community, you have a great deal of creative and strategic power that’s available to everyone for their use. Making art together is an act of creation that I find invigorating. My communities of choice are artistic communities because they’re always on the cutting edge. They’re not leading with what they think. They’re leading with what is coming through them and that’s always so healing. [1] 

CAC staff member Drew Jackson writes poetry inspired by the Bible. In this poem, he writes of the angel Gabriel and the prophets that confront injustice with God’s healing power. 

The Spirit of Elijah 

Luke 1:14–18 

I’ve been told that God shows up  
on shores, in boats, with Bibles  
and swords. 

I’ve been told that God does  
the bidding of kings  
seeking to plant their flag on my soil. 

I’ve been told that God snuggles up to  
power that delights to  
kill bodies like mine.   

But that’s not what Gabriel said.  

Gabriel said that God’s prophet  
will have the spirit of Elijah,  
bringing life to widows’ households.  

Gabriel said that God’s prophet  
will possess the power of the Tishbite,  
tearing down monuments to the god of domination.  

Gabriel said that God’s prophet  
will be filled with the Holy Spirit,  
committed to speaking out against Ahabs and Jezebels.  

Thus saith the LORD. [2] 

_______________________________________________

Sarah Young Jesus Listens

All-satisfying God, My soul thirsts for You—for the living God. The deepest yearnings of my heart are for intimacy with You, Lord. I’m thankful You designed me to desire You, and I delight in seeking Your Face. Help me not to feel guilty about taking so much time to be still in Your Presence. I’m simply responding to the tugs of Your Spirit within me. You made me in Your image, and You hid heaven in my heart. My longing for You is a form of homesickness—a yearning for my true home in heaven. I realize my journey is different from that of other people, and I need courage to persevere. Yet I trust that the path You have called me to travel with You is exquisitely right for me. I’ve found that the more closely I follow Your leading, the more fully You develop my gifts. In order to follow You wholeheartedly, I need to relinquish my desire to please others. Still, my closeness to You can be a source of blessing to other people—as You enable me to reflect Your Glory in this dark world. In Your bright, shining Name, Jesus, Amen

PSALM 42:1–2; As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

1 CHRONICLES 16:11 NASB; Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually.

PSALM 34:5; They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed

2 CORINTHIANS 3:18; And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Young, Sarah. Jesus Listens (p. 189). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

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