Creativity and Prayer

³⁰ Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, ³¹ and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— ³² to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, ³³ to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts. ³⁴ And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. ³⁵ He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers.

Exodus 35:30-35 (NIV)

God's creativity is everywhere: walk down the street and look up at the clouds in the sky. Look a the bugs and trees in your garden or at the park. The way the colours dance as you look over the sea at the beach. The way your cat's face is formed, or your dog's, or your hamster!

The first person the bible describes as "filled with the Spirit" was not prophet or king, but Bezalel: a craftsman and artisan.

Bezalel’s gift of creativity was not an end in itself but a means to an end: God’s greater glory. And here we have the link between creativity and prayer. I see creativity and worship, praise and prayer intertwined in so much of the world’s greatest art, from The Book of Kells in ninth century Scotland, to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in sixteenth century Rome, and John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme in twentieth century New Jersey. It is said of Columba, the founder of Iona Abbey, that he ‘could not spend even a single hour without attending to prayer’ but alongside this he was also a poet whose work is still read today. We see a similar prayerfulness in his spiritual son Aidan who certainly sung the Psalms from memory as he walked this way 1400 years ago. Prayer and creativity are intertwined, inseparable in the lives of Christians down the ages.