![\"lexmarkaioscan850_2.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/328\/2007\/10\/lexmarkaioscan850_2.jpg\")
My mom and dad left today after being here almost three weeks. Some friends wanted to know if we wanted to hang out tonight. I said, \u201cIt\u2019s been three weeks since we had the house alone to ourselves. It could be dangerous!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\nToday I\u2019m thinking a great deal about art. I\u2019m loving it. It wasn\u2019t long ago when I struggled with the apparent tension of being an artist and being a pastor too. I\u2019m into music, painting, sculpture, writing, blogging\u2026 all of them artistic. I used to have a really hard time making sense of my life as an artist and as a pastor. I think it is naturally human to dichotomize the secular and the sacred. I now see that as misguided. There\u2019s no line. Not that I\u2019ve already arrived at that peaceful place. I still struggle. But almost as soon as the struggle starts, I immediately realize that the tension is an illusion. There\u2019s no need for it. I can be an artist and be a pastor. I can be an artistic pastor or a pastoral artist. Whatever. Don\u2019t worry about it. Like one of my T-shirts says, \u201cI\u2019m simple. It\u2019s complicated.<\/em>\u201d That pretty much sums me up.<\/p>\n I encourage the arts. I encourage people to live artistically. And just as I don\u2019t think it is right to censor the arts, I don\u2019t think it is right to censor how people live. I know what censoring would do to me. So I\u2019m aware of what it will do to others. One of the biggest things I do is to encourage people to liberate themselves from censoring themselves\u2026 a malignant gift they\u2019d inherited from their upbringing\u2026 familial, social, educational or spiritual. Paul didn\u2019t even judge himself. That didn\u2019t mean he was innocent, but it did mean he was free. Yes, I know the mess that ensues. I see it. But I\u2019d rather be living in a human mess than an inhuman sterile test-tube.<\/p>\n The painting is one of my hand-painted woodcuts of evergreens against the northern lights.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My mom and dad left today after being here almost three weeks. Some friends wanted to know if we wanted to hang out tonight. I said, \u201cIt\u2019s been three weeks since we had the house alone to ourselves. It could be dangerous!\u201d Today I\u2019m thinking a great deal about art. I\u2019m loving it. It wasn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":349,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[4264,545,38,457,34,374],"class_list":["post-1558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-thought","tag-art","tag-censorship","tag-freedom","tag-naked_pastor","tag-painting","tag-woodcut"],"yoast_head":"\n