Art is For Your Heart: Drama
You Were Designed for Drama
God gave us stories because we are designed to think in drama and narrative. We grow up as children looking for context to give meaning to our lives. We ask ourselves, “Why am I here?,” “What is the purpose of all this?,” and, “What am I supposed to do now?” The context we crave is not only the history of how we arrived here, but we want to know where the story is going, what it means, and how it will end.
Dramatic worship reminds us that we are not just minds absorbing information but whole beings—body, soul, and spirit—created to glorify God. Just as David danced before the Lord (2 Samuel 6:14) and the Psalms call for joyful praise with instruments and movement (Psalm 150), we are called to worship him by engaging all of our senses.
At its core, drama is simply storytelling designed to draw out profound and meaningful dynamics for the audience. The potency of great drama lies in the fact that our understanding and comprehension are magnified the more our imagination is involved, and the more we engage all the senses. From the sights of props and backdrops to the sounds of voices singing and speaking, and from detailed descriptions to the smell of incense and candles.
Drama Before the Greeks
Most textbooks start with the drama of ancient Greek Theatre, but the Greeks were not the authors of storytelling, or drama. The Old Testament is filled with grand stories and drama. Some are told in prose, some are celebrated in poetry. Yet, others are acted out as a dramatic one-man show. From the great stories of Esther, and the poetry of David, to the drama of Ezekiel cooking over feces, shaving his head, and lying on his side for hundreds of days. God’s Word shows all the creative ways He will use to communicate His love for us.
Drama in the Israelite Culture and Worship
The Israelite culture centered around stories of redemption by Yahweh, and around the Tabernacle or Temple. But the Tabernacle and the Temple were not static architectural buildings. They were dynamic centers of the Biblical drama of God’s love, and the power of sacrifice, redemption, forgiveness and reconciliation.
This is why God took so much time in the book of Exodus to list out all the furniture and accoutrements required in this worship center. From incense and anointing oil, to the beauty of the priestly robes and the golden wings sitting on the Ark of the Covenant, everything had a story, and the symbolism spoke powerfully to God’s people.
Drama of Sacrifice
The drama of sacrifice is hard for us to imagine today. Most of us have never spent time on a farm, or seen the lifeblood drain from an animal before it is prepared to be eaten. We are removed from the visual, and emotional experience that Israelites saw on a regular basis. Not only were most of them agrarian farmers who lived off of the animals and the land, they also had the experience of seeing animals killed for their personal sins. The life and death reality was not abstract for God’s people.
That drama was accompanied by the smells of the incense, and the anointing oil, along with the sacrificial ritual and drama performed by the priests. The awareness of the stain of your sin, and the need for atonement was visceral, and potent. All the sights and sounds of that drama contributed to a powerful reminder of the all the stories of redemption.
Drama of the Festivals
The Israelites were called to Jerusalem several times a year to celebrate the blessings of God, and to remember who God is. The sounds of shofars, the drama of great processions of people arriving in Jerusalem, and all the corporate praise and worship were powerful in training young children and in reminding adults of who they are, where they came from, and where God is taking them. These festivals engaged all the senses, as people came from miles around to celebrate, worship, and remind each other of their story together.
Benefits of Drama in Worship
Worship from the beginning had such drama and engagement of the senses for good reason. Engaging the whole body impacts how we learn, feel and think about God. Not surprisingly, the incorporation of drama into Christian worship offers numerous benefits, both for individual participants and the congregation as a whole.
Here are Some Key Advantages:
Being Brought to Our Senses
All our senses were activated. From the sight of the pristine priestly garments symbolizing God’s holiness, to the sound of their voices joining with others in worship, to the smell of incense, and the taste and touch we experience when we take communion.
Drama in the Old Testament engages all the senses, making the worship experience more immersive and memorable. By witnessing and participating in dramatic worship, congregants connect with God and His word on a deeper emotional level, enhancing their spiritual reflection and growth.
Whether we come from a highly liturgical form of worship which embraces this drama, or a more contemporary form of worship, we must always come back to asking ourselves what is the Biblical Model and what can we learn from it.
Engaging More Than the Mind
Many worship services today act as if God only forms us through an intellectual download, with some singing to assist. Just as a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, so a bit of singing helps the Word of God get into our heart. This is a utilitarian view of the arts not a Biblical view of the arts.
Such a view demonstrates how much we are influenced by the Enlightenment and Modernism, not Scripture. God’s word never bemoans our senses, nor does it communicate that only the written word and our intellect are important. If that was the case, we never would have commissioned the Tabernacle or the Temple. God, in His great wisdom, engaged all of our senses because He wanted to impact all of our life. He used drama to speak not only to our head, but to our entire body and to our heart.
How Should We Then Worship?
The Word of God is dramatic. The Worship in the Tabernacle and the Temple were full of drama, engaging all the senses. In a similar manner, we should seek to use forms of drama to engage the body of Christ in worship. We are not mere brains on a stick. We are embodied people, with senses waiting to be activated for the Glory of God.
Scripture gives us the story from Eden to the New Jerusalem. Along the way, we learn about the realities of sin and brokenness, as well as a messiah who loves us enough to rescue us and invite us to be a part of his loving kingdom. May we use every resource, and engage all the senses as we seek to speak to the world through our art, and in our worship.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Copyright © 2025 Joel & Michelle Pelsue. All Rights Reserved. Used with Permission.
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