The EXPRESSION of ART

In the Christian world, many young people are contained and moulded into what previous church fathers believed what expression should look or sound like. Expression was closely linked to what they preached holiness was. What you wore, who you hung out with and whether or not the music is too loud - are just few factors that bothered and bothers some older folk in the church. Sadly, people do not understand that ART is an EXPRESSION. There are no rules, no limitations in the expression of art.

If you know me personally, you would know that I am an unconventional person and I get bored really quickly. I am a creative, this is the way I am wired. With that said, I would like to share with you this story. I remember one day in a store, a few friends and myself were buying some meat to braai later that afternoon. Suddenly this weird looking guy approached us and he started to compliment us on the way we look, the vibe we carry and what he could sense about us in the spiritual. This guy was barefoot, his hair was a mess and it was probably not the "Christian" thing to do to talk to him. However, I was very much drawn to him - from one creative to another. He carried something that a blank canvas in life would appreciate. He carried creativity.

There is this common trait amongst creatives, that is - that we do not fit in. Sometimes the expression is so vast that we cannot contain what flows from within to the outside. It will look different, it will be strange, but somehow you will understand that there is a very deep beauty in the midst of what could seem like a mess.

I just love the new Steffany Gretzinger, BLACKOUT, album! If you have not taken a listen to this album, you are greatly missing out. There are many reasons why I love this album, but two reasons stand out for me. The first is that there is a depth and vulnerability to this album that people won't always understand. It speaks the language of the heart that many cannot put words to. Secondly, it does not look very religious and I love that! The stage set up, the clothes Steffany wore and the expressions within the show was off the hook.

I hate what the bondage of religion has stolen from us as young people. We were not made for religion, we were made for intimacy. In the live show of BLACKOUT, Steffany Gretzinger mentions that hopefully this album would help the church change the narrative a bit and maybe see a side to God's face that we have not yet seen.

We stand back as the church and wonder why in our churches why young people are fading out. I believe that it is because our voice has been silenced by the older believe systems which man has sadly celebrated. If you were to take a look at this generation, you would see a whole bunch of creatives wanting to be heard. We write songs, we perform poetry with anger and tears in our eyes and we even express ourselves with ink on our bodies and metal in our skin. Instead, all the church says is what you can and cannot do. This is where rebellion breeds, because we are chained up and placed into cells that are not seen with the natural eye, because someone somewhere in authority was teaching that expression looked a certain way, and that was all that it looked like.

We have placed our perception of expression into a mould. This is probably the most injustice that you could do to the creativity flowing through the person who wants to express what is happening on the inside. What would the deciding factor be for what is acceptable creatively and what is not? We see in Genesis that the triune God was and is a creative Himself and little children He formed us in His image and likeness. God has given us this amazing and precious trait from His heart, and that is to create. I believe it is the mission of the enemy to contain us and lock away creativity, because our creativity is worship. It does only make sense that the enemy would try to contained us because he himself cannot create. He can only pervert and counterfeit creativity.

Many people have tried to contain me. They have spoken about me trying to mould me into what they view me to be. I laugh because the more you will try to contain me, the more I begin to grow on the inside and then it will only be a matter of time before what you tried to contain will explode - right in your face.

There is an entire generation who are being released to be like their Father in heaven. I believe the Father is also raising up young leaders who will help make a way through the dead sea for young people to find a light that many church rules have stolen from us. We are being led by the Spirit Himself to not look like what happened back in 1989. We are very much alive and well in 2018. What worked in your time will not always work now. The tides have changed right across the earth, and dramatically. If the church still operates in old wine skins, we will lose something that is dear to the Father.

I have news to those who want to contain those in expression around them. You think we are strange. You think that young people are weird. Well, we are only going to get stranger and weirder.

We cannot be contained.

(Facebook: Rowyn Coetzee / Instagram: @rocoetzee)