My wife and I checked out the 50th Annual Greek Food Festival of Dallas this past weekend. I was kicking myself that I forget my camera. Lots of authentic Greek food, music and dancing, all hosted by The Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. In addition to the festivities, we were also able to attend a presentation on the iconology of the church led by one of the local priests.
Naturally, not being Greek Orthodox, I did not agree with every element of theology presented. (For those who don’t know, Greek Orthodox theology and practice bears resemblance to Roman Catholic theology and practice, though I suspect that Greek Orthodox and Catholics could point out a number of significant differences.) However, the explanation that disappointed me the most wasn’t directly theological.
The priest leading the presentation made it a point more than once to explain that iconology should not be confused with art as its function is tell a story rather than to decorate. This disappoints me because:
1. I believe art (when it’s true art) also tells a story.
2. I don’t care for the sentiment that art is “just art”.
3. The church (universal) once cared a great deal for art while the American church of today typically shies away from artistic expression.
To be fair, I understood his point and I do see the need to create a distinction between decorative murals and worship enhancing icons. Still, I long for Christians to embrace the arts again in a format that extends beyond Left Behind, The Movie and the “encouraging” trinkets sold at Christian bookstores. I long for disciples to remember their creativity.
The food, for the record, was amazing and it was really cool to see a church engaging the community in such an effective and fun way.
