Ecclesiastical Community and Artistic Expression

As an artist, this quote pretty much knocked me off my horse today. It comes from the perspective of a literary writer, but applies to all artistic expression I think. Thanks JT.

The time has come for Christian artists in their communities to begin building that City on a hill again,and I hope that one young student, or even a middle-aged one, will understand what I'm saying and perhaps at this moment sense the stirrings or a first novel. If that student takes scripture seriously, he should know that the more he immerses himself in a particular communion and comes to understand the ways in which each person within it is essential, the more distinctive and original his writing will be. And I hope that some young woman has begun to visualize her lifework, a shining series of interlocking narratives that will provide the material to repair some of the buildings of the centuries-old tradition of Christian writing. These were left unfinished when the writers of my generation turned aside to imitate our culture rather than turning first to the community that always should be available in Christ.

Larry Woiwode, "Acts" (Harper Collins, 1993), pp. 74, 75-76