Abstract painting using blues and specks or orange to give a moody feel

Art Helps Us Inhabit Our Fears

Christian Wiman reflects on the ways art helps us process fear, pain, and loss

One of art’s functions is to give form to feelings that would otherwise remain inchoate and corrosive, to give us a means whereby we can inhabit our fears and pains rather than they us, to help us live with our losses rather than being permanently and helplessly haunted by them.

— Christian Wiman in He Held Radical Light: The Art of Faith, the Faith of Art (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2018), 64–65.

Ryan serves as a pastor at Grace Bible Church. His ministry ranges from preaching, teaching, and writing, to listening, being present, and walking with others through some of life’s most difficult experiences.

He lives with his wife and children in Escondido, California.

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green wall paint photo

A Discipline of Awareness, Prayer, and Praise

Makoto Fujimura reflects on making art
Silhouette of a person walking along a ridge with clouds in the background

My Mind Only Works With My Legs

Walking aids thinking