Why This Waste? Does Making Art Really Matter?

Calling and VocationCulture and Imagination
Written By Convergence Arts Initiative

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Lisa and Dan examine some of the assumptions that shape the way we answer that question: production culture, measurable success, the pressure to make “useful” work, and even Christian ideas about what counts as faithful service.

In the first episode of Season 6, Lisa and Dan begin with a question many artists quietly wrestle with: Why does making art matter when there are so many serious problems in the world?

Lisa and Dan examine some of the assumptions that shape the way we answer that question: production culture, measurable success, the pressure to make “useful” work, and even Christian ideas about what counts as faithful service.

Then they turn to the Gospel story of the woman who anoints Jesus with costly perfume. When the disciples ask, “Why this waste?” Jesus responds, “She has done a beautiful thing to me.”

What if that exchange gives us another way to understand the work of the artist?

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