Getting in touch with the Church's "Inner Glitter"

On NPR yesterday morning, I heard a story about The Crafty Chica (or here for her website) that piqued my interest.

Kathy Cano-Murillo is a Latina woman who makes her living by being...crafty! She draws on the resources of her culture to make her crafts (and after perusing her sites, they are quite beautiful - and they do feature a lot of glitter!). She talks about the importance of being crafty because it can lead to a happier existence. It's a form of self-expression. As she puts it, "We all have glitter inside of us."

Being craftily-inclined (though I do not wield a hot glue gun, but rather knitting needles and other such pointy objects), I can appreciate her statements. Crafting is a powerful form of self-expression, and one that largely is absent from church life, unless you are talking about a prayer shawl ministry or Sunday School crafts. What does it say that we claim to serve the Creator God and yet we, ourselves, do not take the time to create for the pure pleasure of it?

This is one of the reasons why I love expressions of church in the emerging conversation. Art and the act of creating is finding a new place within the life of the church community (and not just for the UMW Christmas Fair). Creating something tangible (be it art, music, or crafts) is considered a form of worship. Creating (and crafting!) allows us to get in touch with God.

So where is the Church's "inner glitter"? I, for one, plan on finding out.