truth...the power to expose

"Cut the baby in half!" That graphic command of absolute brutality came from the wisest man who ever lived... 1 Kings 3:16-28

Certainly only a few truths are more urgent and fundamental than which womb that child came from and whose breast he would suckle at. Truth is easily lost in unverifiable testimony. The intense nature of King Solomon’s famous case compounded the confusion and raised the stakes. He certainly had the authority to carry out his order, but it is apparent that he also had the wisdom to know he would never need it.

The artist has been given a similar power to reveal truth. But the artist’s power is best used when tempered by wisdom. The wise and powerful artist knows that his pen or her brush can sweep deeply enough to kill, but is more wisely used to simply expose us that we may either live better or die a bit more on our own. This art does not leave us unchallenged or un-molested by truth, it simply leaves us room to find the hope and life that truth always brings, even when that truth is stark and brutal.

My hope as a pastor and as a Christian is that art by Christ’s followers has the power to expose dark places and the wisdom to leave those newly illuminated souls a place to live in the light of that truth.

—Rev. Michael Kelly, Green Lake Presbyterian Church, Seattle