Walking on Water: Madeleine L'Engle and Vocation (Part 1, Forecast Ep 37)

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This episode begins a new series of Forecasts exploring the book Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L'Engle. Josh speaks with composer Scott Stevens about 'Chapter 1: Cosmos from Chaos', which asks 'What is Christian art?' Among other things, they discuss how true art grapples with mystery and questions of life and death, the importance of making space to listen, the artist as the servant of the work, art as an incarnational activity, how art helps us remember our true glorious identity and the terrible things we will be asked to endure and where modern art fits in with all this.

Memorable passages from Chapter 1:

• When I am constantly running there is no time for being. When there is no time for being there is no time for listening. I will never understand the silent dying of the green pie-apple tree if I do not slow down and listen to what the Spirit is telling me, telling me of the death of trees, the death of planets, of people, and what all these deaths mean in the light of love of the Creator, who brought them all into being, who brought me into being, and you.
• This questioning of the meaning of being, and dying and being, is behind the telling of stories around tribal fires at night; behind the drawing of animals on the walls of caves; the singing of melodies of love in spring, and of the death of green in autumn. It is part of the deepest longing of the human psyche, a recurrent ache in the hearts of all God's creatures.
• If it's bad art, it's bad religion, no matter how pious the subject. 
• All art is cosmos, cosmos found within chaos.
• To paint a picture or to write a story or to compose a song is an incarnational activity. The artist is a servant who is willing to be a birth-giver. In a very real sense the artist (male or female) should be like Mary, who, when the angel told her that she was to bear the Messiah, was obedient to the command.
• In art, either as creators or as participators, we are helped to remember some of the glorious things we have forgotten, and some of the terrible things we are asked to endure, we who are children of God by adoption and grace.
• Getting out of the way is not something that comes easily, either in art or in prayer.​
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Art: Composition VIII by Wassily Kandinsky, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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Scott Stevens is a composer whose versatility stems from eclectic influences. His music (listen on Spotify) is featured in multiple independent film scores as well as ads for Toyota, Saatchi & Saatchi and Red Bull, among others. Scott holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Composition from Point Loma Nazarene University and a Master’s degree in Global Music Composition from San Diego State University. 

Learn more about Scott's recent projects Sometimes I Shake here and Lines of Control here. 

Scott's other work on Foreshadow:
Dawn Will Prevail (Music, December 2020)
Perspective (Music,​ January 2021)
Forecast (Ep 4): Listening Inwardly (Interview, April 2021)
​Forecast (Ep 10): The Strength of Gentleness (Compilation, July 2021)
Depths (Music, August 2022)

Josh is the founding editor of Foreshadow and a co-host of its podcast, Forecast.

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