We are all creators. Whether or not we create is not up to us. We are human, and creating is what we do. Every interaction, movement, and decision is creativity at work. We are all artists. We all order creation around us into the world that we want to make.

Michael Gungor

Categorized in : Order Artist Creativity

Burnout is what happens when you try to avoid being human for too long.

Michael Gungor

being-human trying long

Art matters. It is not simply a leisure activity for the privileged or a hobby for the eccentric. It is a practical good for the world. The work of the artist is an expression of hope - it is homage to the value of human life, and it is vital to society. Art is a sacred expression of human creativity that shares the same ontological ground as all human work. Art, along with all work is the ordering of creation toward the intention of the creator.

Michael Gungor

leisure-activities creativity art

The noise around us determines how we speak. And how we listen. Just as a conversation suffers in a war zone, art suffers in a culture built on noise. So does our enjoyment of it.

Michael Gungor

suffering war art

Creativity is simply the human brain forming new connections between ideas, and we all are engaged in this process every day. The common idea that there are some people who are creative and some who are not is a myth. On some level, we are all artists. We are all creators.

Michael Gungor

creativity artist ideas

Any religious, philosophical or political idea that doesn't lead one towards love ought to be forsaken

Michael Gungor

philosophical religious ideas

You make beautiful things, You make beautiful things out of the dust

Michael Gungor

beautiful-things dust beautiful

If leading worship is just about bringing a group of people into a room so we can get goosebumps and sing songs together, there's not much value in that. But if leading worship is a means to an end, that we leave this place as a different kind of people, as part of a new humanity that God wants to create... then that matters.

Michael Gungor

song mean people

Money is not the root of all kinds of evil. The love of money is. It’s also the root of a lot of bad art.

Michael Gungor

roots evil art

I used to flirt with fundamentalism, and I had this idea that creation was something that happened. Now I see creation as something that is happening. Hundreds of millions of stars are still being born every day. Creation is an ongoing process. The Artist has not yet cleaned out the brushes. The paint is still wet. Human beings are the small clumps of clay and breath, and we have been handed brushes of our own, like young artist apprentices. The brushes aren't ours, nor the paint or canvas, but here they are in our hands, on loan. What shall we make?

Michael Gungor

flirting stars artist

Art, along with all work is the ordering of creation toward the intention of the creator.

Michael Gungor

intention creation art

Pain is as common as skin, we all experience it. It unites us all. Fortunately, that's not the whole story.

Michael Gungor

pain skins stories

Faith comes from listening to the right stories.

Michael Gungor

stories listening

Spend your energy on things you believe in, and do them honestly and to the best of your ability.

Michael Gungor

ability energy believe

I think I'm just trying to be myself and write songs that are honest. That's what I hear in artist's that I like.

Michael Gungor

writing song thinking

I don't want everybody to try to sound like something; I think that God has given us each unique talents and passions. The things that come out of me will be different than my neighbor, because I have a totally different set of relationships, totally different set influences and personality traits.

Michael Gungor

passion unique thinking

I think everybody is different. We are trying to be ourselves, and other people are trying to be themselves. We all share commonalities with each other, but all of us have different thumbprints. We all have our own unique things.

Michael Gungor

unique people thinking

I've found that limitations can be an artist's best friend sometimes.

Michael Gungor

artist found sometimes

You don't have to be afraid, even death itself does not have power. In Christ, everything is becoming new, everything is different.

Michael Gungor

becoming different doe

If anyone should have a reason to not be afraid, to move beyond the expectations of culture, that is kind of the whole message of Christianity.

Michael Gungor

should-have expectations moving

It's hard to make a living in music, so a lot of times in the arts it's safer to kind of fit into a box.

Michael Gungor

fit kind art