The Difference Between A Church Pastor And An Art Curator

Bishop Charles Blake, pastor of West Angeles Church of God in Christ, Los Angeles and art curator Jeffrey Deitch, former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)

There is a subtle difference between a church pastor and an art curator. I say "subtle difference" because one can obviously observe differences. However the keen observer will come to understand that the two occupations/professions/callings have more in common than they have in contrast. Honestly they only share one major difference. That difference is the medium/subject that they present. However, whether that medium/subject be Works of Art or the Word of God both the Curator and the Pastor are employed to faithfully expose their respective audiences to an ongoing presentation of Beauty that grows them. This being the case it, may prove useful to understand the Biblical role of a pastor (shepherding spiritual development) as a fusion of the strengths of both: a pastor/curator.

Now it is a given that their are all sorts of curators just as their are all sorts of pastors. Some are highlyrecognized leaders of large, vibrant organizations in large cities like curator Jeffrey Deitch during his tenure at MOCA or Bishop Charles Blake at West Angeles COGIC (both venerable Los Angeles institutions). Others controversially guide traditional places in progressive new directions like Scott Stulen's creation of the Internet Cat Video Festival while at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis or Father Michael Pfleger's social activism and outreach to prostitutes at St. Sabina Catholic Church in Chicago. A few work with seemingly non-traditional upstarts who subversively coax us into honoring a deconstructed tradition like gallerists Davida Nemeroff and Mieke Marple at Night Gallery or the New Monasticism of Shane Claiborne with The Simple Way. And there are even those who work outside of titles and outside of the conventional four walls to illuminate the beauty of the whole endeavor like Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo (founders of the Brooklyn Street Art blog) or Dorothy Day (founder of the Catholic Worker movement). There is no single way to be a pastor/curator, no single organizational form/structure and no single shape that the job manifests itself. Apparently it has always been this way according to the Apostle Paul's 

training letter to his ministry-student Timothy. He instructs, "But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." So whether it be through the diverse actions of shepherding a flock, preaching sermons, counseling, administering the sacraments, suffering or exercising mercy the job of the pastor/curator actually does focus on one central aim: to display the Christ of Scripture to the viewing world.

To understand what a curator/pastor is, we must first understand what a pastor/curator is not. A curator is not primarily a creative artist. Now he may produce original artwork on his own time but that is not why he is employed by a museum or gallery. As a curator he is 

commissioned with the task of presenting the works of others. These may be the widely recognized names like Leonardo, Picasso, and Warhol, the less universal names that should be appreciated like Judy Chicago and Caravaggio or the names like Emily Jacir and Kehinde Wiley that may be new to your audience but are integral to understanding the fullness of the dialogue that is Art. Likewise a pastor's job is not primarily to share his own original thoughts, clever insights or motivational pep talks (even though those can get weaved in where appropriate). The pastor is commissioned to faithfully curate the presentation of Scripture. This exposition may use the widely recognized names like Genesis, the Psalms, and the Gospel of John, the less universal names that should be appreciated like Job and Romans and the names like Ruth and Hosea that may be new to your audience but are integral to understanding the fullness of the dialogue that God is having with Humanity, Itis what is appropriately known as the Word of God or as St. Paul (when speaking to Timothy) calls it "Scripture." He says of it "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." So when a pastor/curator exhibits the work of others (be it the Apostles, Prophets, Psalmists or Evangelists) he is ultimately exposing his audience to the artwork of God. 

While espousing the merits of the pastor/curator model of spiritual leadership I may have unwittingly misguided you into thinking that there are few conflicts between the role of an Art Curator and a Church Pastor. Okay, I intentionally and totally misled you. Mea Culpa! The name of this blog post is "The Difference Between a Church Pastor And An Curator" but it should probably be "The Differences Between a Church Pastor And An Curator", because there are at least two. Herein lies the second most critical difference between the two jobs: seasonality. The focus of an Art Curator is very seasonal. At first glance this seems to be only a programming consideration, which would make the Art Curator's programming for each exhibition parallel to the Church pastor's composing the weekly sermon or the Worship Director's design for each Liturgical Season. Yet their is an aspect of seasonality that speaks to changeability and therefore conflicts with the aim of the Gospel. To better understand the

nature of this conflict between pastor and curator it may be helpful for us to look at the job outline of a pastor/curator that St. Paul gave to his young pastoral protege Timothy. He advises "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." This understanding of seasonality that St. Paul is working against may be more akin to our concept of "fashion." For when he argues that Timothy should be ready to preach the word "in season and out of season" he means when it is "in fashion and out of fashion." An Art Curator of a large museum may be victim to the whims and fleeting fancies of a finicky audience. She may believe in her heart that the Abstract Expressionism of Mark Rothko was the pinnacle of Art History but alas cannot display it when the viewing public craves Norman Rockwell. St. Paul's advice to her then would be to quit her job at the major museum and be a full time volunteer at the Rothko Chapel. Pastors are called to use several means to advocate for one goal. Tastes may change but the calling of a pastor is to teach the world to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Those that do can ultimately only be filled by the blessed words of Jesus. The job of the pastor/curator is to open the eyes of his audience to the pitfalls of seasonality and fashion. while fashioning them to the form of Christ Jesus. 

I have written this miniature treatise concerning reimagining the pastor as a curator to address the subject of programming changes. From time to time I make programming changes on this blog. If you are a regular reader here then you may have noticed that I have not posted in a month or so. It is due to some programming changes in my personal life. On July 3rd, 2015 The Lord graced my wife and I with a son (our first child). Nearing the end of my wife's pregnancy and the first weeks of our son's life I found it necessary to refrain from blogging and serve God primarily by being a servant to my wife and baby son. As I return to posting on the blog, the format will be temporarily different. I use Art as an illustration tool to (hopefully) expose the intentions of the Biblical writers and the traditions/thoughts of (the various branches) the Church in an effort to illuminate the voice of the Holy Spirit. This will not change. I normally write based on the Scripture readings of the Liturgical Calendar used by several Christian groups. This will change as I focus on a few weeks that will be more akin to "topical preaching." Even with this programming change I will endeavor to be expository in my exegesis of the Biblical text. The overall idea is to discuss a few timely issues in a way that highlight the grand timeless themes of Jesus' Gospel. This curatorial decision is designed to faithfully expose you (my reading audience) to an ongoing presentation of Beauty that grows you. This Beauty is the God that calls us to occasional programming changes of service and suffering, shepherding and discipleship, death and birth, leading and following; all as an ongoing presentation of the Work of Art that is the Word of God alive in us. This is the subtle difference between being an art curator and a church pastor. I invite you to embrace the fusion of these in understanding what makes one a pastor/curator.