“We apologize” said the subject line of an email I received in my overflowing inbox last week from a Christian bookstore.

Confused and curious, I opened the email. The company stated that they were apologizing with sincerest regrets for their “lack of discernment” in choosing “appropriate” language in a past email promoting their journaling Bibles, wherein said email promoting their product they advertised “Channel Your Inner Creative” as the tagline for these Bibles.

The tagline had offended that many people, who had to have contacted this company to complain about how "dishonoring" that language is, how “new age” and “desperate to be relevant” this company was attempting to be. Legalism spilling from the lips of angry patrons.

I was filled with immediate outrage at the fact that this had exploded so much to the point of a company having to apologize for how they propagated their item the way they did.

In which case, you can see that I find no fault in this company whatsoever.

Yes, I understand the term “channel” must have been the outset of these complaints, and how that can be taken and put into a “spiritual guru” language bank, but I highly doubt that it was the only thing that sent these customers off their rockers. In fact, I’m almost positive that the term “creative” offended them just as much.

Creativity has become a crime in the church, and I’ve been put in the suspect seat plenty of times to know that it’s an issue in the Body.

All the while society itself - you, me and every churchgoer out there - don’t even realize how we are unintentional artists on the daily. Living amongst creation in itself as we breathe in oxygen and create carbon dioxide so that the rest of creation may survive. Appreciating artistry in that song we sing every word to and that paintbrush-stroked sky of pinks and oranges as the sun sets beneath the horizon at the end of every day.

Those of us who worship our God, the ultimate master of creativity and author of artisry, suddenly are struck with unbelievable offense and become uncomfortable with the idea of creativity being involved in the Body at all. “It’s too new age”, they say, and the only thing I can do other than let myself go on an anger rampage is to be heartbroken.

It’s like shaking a fist at God, saying to him, “I don’t care how you’ve gifted these children of yours with the ability to create beautiful things, I want them to keep it to themselves. It’s too distracting for me”.

But since when did God hold back his handiwork? He hasn’t. So why would he force us to?

In fact, I think God delights when we share our art with the world. David, the “man after God’s own heart”, was the psalmist who created song to praise him.

God even entrusted the artistry of carpenters and architects to build him the most beautiful tabernacle the world had ever seen. Adorned with precious stones and intricate detail, he had to have been so thrilled at the work of these creatives when they set down their tools, wiped the sweat from their brows, and looked up at what they had just created for the God of the universe to be glorified in, face beaming with the similar look you see in the eyes of the man with a canvas and paintbrush who just finished a masterpiece work of art.

Totally fulfilled. Totally satisfied.

So maybe I’m just tired of art being categorized as an abomination by the church when there is much more wonder, awe and glory it can bring to God then even recognized. For there is a reason we are overwhelmed with reverence and adoration when we enter an old church whose walls are embellished with the most sophisticated stained glass you’ve ever seen.

Because there is something about creation that screams the heart of a creator, and something enchanting about living life with the freedom to channel, yes, channel the ways in which God has gifted me with the virtuosity embedded in my bones and display it for his glory.

Let's allow the artist to reflect the Artist.