Book Review -Saying Yes
Back in 2012, or there abouts, I read Cindy Wests's book, Saying Yes: accepting God's amazing invitation to artists and the church which she wrote in 2008. I loved it and I love Cindy. Through some mutual friends we connected and she came to England from Colorado US and spoke at our little retreat in Harby, a little village in Leicestershire.
Since then I have collected and read every book on Christian prophetic art I could get my hands on. I am now reading a book published this year which is like a text book for artists by another friend, JÖrn Lange, Biblical Foundations for Prophetic Art. My bookshelf is full and I am looking to cull some books. I thought I should reread them to see if any were worth keeping. Donna and I read a lot and we share our reading with other Christian artists. It is time to blog our reviews so a wider group of people can get inspired. Although, Saying Yes, is oldish now it is a keeper. Cindy was ahead of her time. The book even had pictures, flourishes, doodles and varying fonts before anyone else even had the idea that you could in an adult book.
I recently wrote to Cindy to encourage her to republish it maybe as a kindle or audio book, She said her favourite chapter was When Art Was God's Alone. It is a beautiful poetic chapter retelling the creation, exploring the creativity and joy of Creator God. It is the sort of art Cindy encourages us to say yes to. To art that puts flesh on God. Yes we are an incarnational force as artists. We bring to life the truths of the Bible as Mary brought to life Jesus himself. An idea primarily from a book by Christ Otto called Mary: When God Shares His Glory.
The rest of Cindy's book is firstly her personal journey as she grows as a christian artist. I am inspired by the intentionality of her work and her devotion to leadership. She was the arts leader in a very large church that had teams of artists enhancing worship and was an arts speaker at a large Christian Conference in the south of England. As well as her story it is a manual for how to be a leader of artists which was mostly lost on me in 2012. I got a lot out of it on this second read through. Easy to read and arty.
Very Cindy to be both vulnerable and instructive.
The link above is to her book in Amazon.
Look out for more reviews.
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