Music & God - Creativity & God

Over the last year in particular, I've been grappling with what exactly I should be doing with this gift of music that God's given me. I've dabbled in songwriting, but lately its been a frustrating effort for me as I am not involved in a community of music like I was when I wrote my best songs (as a music major at City College). Being involved in that community was what fed my creative spirit and it's harder to motivate yourself when not in that type of environment.

Anyway, I've also been on a path of discovering what the idea of "music" means to God, to my relationship with God and I don't fully have words for all the thoughts in my head about the matter.

Getting to the point of this post (or perhaps, the lack of a point...) a fellow poster on the Relevant Magazine Message Boards posted this question towards "Creative Types":

I know the churh I attend is not very creative (but they think they are). Talented, yes; Creative, no!

Creative people are just too hard to handle for most people I've come across in the church so they're simply ignored or even put down until they conform.

That's my experience. I would like to hear about how other people see it.

This is what I posted in return (you can read the thread for all the responses):

I came from a church (grew up in it, actually) that was very stuck in it's ways and now I'm a part of a church that allows creativity to flow naturally (and not to the point of focusing on that and not what God is leading us to do).

I sometimes struggle with "worship" at my old church when I go there with my family since they are still involved and I truly love the people. The lack of talent, besides a lack of creativity, used to bug the hell out of me. But the problem was with ME, not with the church (well, not all of it anyway). My attitude was that my way was better and I had to fight the distraction of thinking about how much the music sucked, particularly since music is where I'm talented and where I do my best to be creative.

I'm very glad to be involved in the church community where I am now. My gifts (both creative and otherwise) are nurtured and given space to move as everyone else's are as well.

Someone mentioned how certain creative influences would be better if given space outside the standard "church" context. I totally agree! Our church doesn't have "special music" or really anything that isn't interactive in some way or another. But people are encouraged in their gifts. For instance, a band made up of various members from the church worship team (that isn't explicitly Christian in their songwriting) has been plugged in church because they are people who are trying to reach people through non-traditional means and out in the community, rather than just within the church community.

I think that certain God-given talents and creativity are better served OUTSIDE the church context (but encouraged within it) because that's where we can reach people and share God's love better than if we only use our gifts to serve the church community.

I don't know if I've made sense. I'm still figuring out what "music" means to my relationship with God, with the church, with other people, etc, since it is such a huge part of who I am and who God made me.

I don't have a neat way to close up these thoughts because they are still so open-ended to me. I certainly haven't figured it out, but I'm curious what other people may have to say (if they are even still checking my poor abandoned blog!)