Ken Edwards, Senior Pastor

We had arrived early to be one of the persons who would gain free admission to a John Singer Sargent exhibit and we were pretty excited to be there. We spent the entire afternoon touring the museum. I was mesmerized by a room full of huge Jackson Pollock paintings. I know that staring at artwork is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m happiest when in an art museum or a field of wildflowers (God’s art gallery). I have always said that I have lots of artistic energy but haven’t figured out what to do with it.

Artists see things that others do not see. Recently, that same son and I were biking on the greenway that winds through an old industrial area of Nashville and we were both fascinated by the long shadows cast by a staircase winding up the side of a storage tank. He grabbed his camera and started shooting. I expect to see that image incorporated into one of his works of art.

There is a direct connection between art and the sacred. Take some time to look at the art gallery wall outside of Ferguson Chapel and you will grasp the connection. Beauty, creativity, and the sacred go hand in hand. A photo of a colorful autumn leaf floating in the Harpeth River or a photo of the shadows cast by playful children on the side of an old barn will draw you into the presence of the divine. We experience the connection more directly in the creative Stations of the Cross or the wonderful altar settings created by Mary Beth Franklyn. I’m grateful that Belmont has an Arts Council. Yes, they make us aware of the many gifts of Belmont artists, but they also enable us to confront the sacred in surprising and unexpected ways.