The Sacred Tenets of the Church of Arts and Crafts

Can arts and crafts be the foundation of a spiritual community? Here's a first draft of what I imagine this might look like.

Making something by hand, whether it’s crocheting a monster, collaging a few images, or watching the pigments in watercolors swirl around and settle into a shape, is the home I always return to when life gets overwhelming. It has been both the foundation of my community and a source of income. In times of political turmoil, it’s served as a form of protest.

A year ago (it feels like, but it’s probably only been days) the Quakers filed a lawsuit against ICE, alleging that ICE’s policy of raiding churches and schools fundamentally undermines their faith, specifically as to their beliefs about pacifism and the sanctity of their meeting houses.

I miss going to church, specifically having a spiritual home and church community. I’m a member of a Presbyterian church that I adored for its progressive inclusivity and mission work but ultimately walked away from because my spiritual beliefs didn’t align with Christianity. I’m more of a pantheist. Little G god. Not a person-god. Not someone who has taken a personal interest in what goes on in the universe and certainly not a Sky Daddy observing and judging you. More like…source, or energy, or the intelligence that lives in all things.

If I ever return to religion, I’ll probably go join the Quakers. But in the meantime, I'll be working on bringing the Church of Arts and Crafts to life. It seems ridiculous to consider building a church in the middle of all this, and even more ridiculous for me to try to do it.

Is there ever a good time? Is there ever the right person?

Establishing a church with clearly defined values and missions could be a powerful form of resistance, in addition to being a source of community, a spiritual home, and a sanctuary.

I don't have a timeline or roadmaps, but I’m committed to working on this in chunks of 90 days at a time. If, at the end of a 90-day period, it becomes obvious it won’t be feasible, I’ll be happy to pass the idea back to the universe for someone else with more knowledge and better resources to pick up. For the first 30 days, starting today, my focus is on writing, doing a listening tour, soliciting feedback, and outlining a timeline/roadmap.

Establishing the core values and missions — The Sacred Tenets — is the most important work, because everything else aligns with them. This is a first draft, very much a work in progress.

Updates about this project will happen on my website and sent via this newsletter, The Lasagna Hath Spoken, until it seems necessary to break it off into its own thing, so boop the “subscribe now” button below if you want to continue along for the ride!

The Sacred Tenets of the Church of Arts and Crafts

We believe that the act of creating is divine, and that through the act of making we connect with the fundamental forces that shape our universe. Our faith is founded on these core principles:

The Divine in the Handmade

Every object made by human hands contains a spark of the sacred. When we create, we participate in the ongoing creation of the universe. The careful placement of every stitch, every brushstroke, every carved line is an act of communion.

The Humanity of Creating

The act of creating is a human activity. Using artificial intelligence to generate art and words robs us of the experience of creating. When we outsource our creativity to technology, we reject our talents, skills, and wisdom. In so doing, we reject ourselves. We trust that we are supported in our creative endeavors.

The Sanctity of Materials

All materials - from the humblest clay to the finest pigments - are worthy of reverence. We honor the inherent nature of each material, seeking not to dominate but to collaborate with their unique properties.

The Meditation of Process

The path to enlightenment lies in the patient mastery of craft. We find spiritual truth not just in the finished work, but in the meditative state of making. Each project is a journey of self-discovery.

The Fellowship of Makers

We are bound together by shared creation. Our creative spaces are our temples, where knowledge is passed from the learned to the novice in an unbroken chain. All who create are welcome at our workshop.

The Responsibility of Beauty

We are called to bring beauty into the world through our works. This beauty is not mere decoration, but a reflection of divine harmony and order. Beauty is not aesthetic in nature, but rather a reflection of ourselves in all of our glorious, messy humanity. Through beauty, we heal the world's wounds.

The Virtue of Imperfection

We embrace the perfectly imperfect nature of handmade things. Each variation and asymmetry is a mark of humanity and a reminder that we are all works in progress.

The Cycle of Creation

Nothing is ever truly finished. We can always begin again. All works return to their component materials in time, becoming raw material for new creation. Likewise, when we revisit projects once abandoned, we return to them with deeper wisdom. In this endless cycle, we find meaning and purpose.

The Spirit of Generosity

We give freely of our skills, talents, and resources. Creativity is an important source of mutual support and aid in whatever form it takes.

What! go to sea, Secretary Whitney! Why, that might make me seasick!

Image citation.¹ This has nothing to do with the Church of Arts and Crafts, the illustration just made me laugh.

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Others I’d like to add, but are not yet fully baked:

Inclusivity, obviously. ALL are welcome, full stop. I’m intentionally staying away from the acronym DEI because I don’t want to trip any legal wires with our all of new “laws.” All of our bodies, identities, and differences are included and celebrated because this diversity is the foundation of a rich and thriving art and craft community.

Just like any other church or organization, there may possibly be members who have different political ideologies. That said, this is a religious organization, not a political one. If you’re aligned with our values and missions, you’re welcome. If you demonstrate otherwise, you are not. Obviously, no Nazis. How this’ll be managed is a question mark. Protecting the church community is as much of a priority as building bridges for people rejecting former beliefs who are in search of community.

I will need/solicit help to ensure this core tenet is developed properly, and also to make sure all of the other tenets are aligned with this one.

Abundance, maybe? Re: using those lovely, precious materials that we tend to hoard, trusting that we will have what we need to bring our creations into the universe. This may be a little too woo woo but it’s on the list.

Stewardship. This one is meant to address how we deal with waste/unused materials and how we treat our art and craft supplies. My paintbrushes sitting in a jar of water for months on end are giving me the stinkeye right now.

Valuing our work. The Church of Arts and Crafts is an anti-capitalist endeavor. Over the last twenty years we’ve been nudged to turn the things that give us peace and joy into small businesses. They are no longer a restful home to return to, but instead a source of stress. I want us to reclaim the benefits of making art and crafts for ourselves, while also acknowledging the reality that many of us need to rely on selling our creative work for survival. To that end, I want us to value (read: price) our work accordingly. Etsy, in particular, and social media, generally, have pushed us into a race to the bottom. Add to this corporations capitalizing on our need for visibility in a crowded field (helloooooo content creators!). The quality of arts and crafts, and the benefits we drive from making them, have suffered.

Missions. I’m not sure if this is a core tenet but it’s something I would like to prioritize somehow.

Working in the margins. We don’t always have time to engage in our creative practice even though we know it’s the very thing that supports us through busy days and challenging times. It’s easy to put off until we have more time, but the fact is that we will never have time unless we take it. There is no guarantee that we will have anything beyond the next second. Five minutes is better than no minutes.

Pacifism. This is a value/community standard and includes everything from how we treat each other in church to how we interact with those outside the community. Not sure how to work this into arts and crafts, but I’m sure there’s a way!

I’d like to keep core tenets to less than 15 in number. Once these are done, I’ll add them to the website (yes! I already own the .com and .org domains!).

I’d LOVE some feedback/constructive criticism/questions about things I didn’t include - drop me a comment?

1. Cartoon satirizing the poor performance during sea trials of the USS Dolphin, one of four vessels ordered by Congress in 1883 to rebuild a United States Navy that was in disrepair. Secretary of the Navy William Whitney refused to accept the new ship, setting off a well-publicized political controversy and eventually driving the shipbuilder into bankruptcy. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Cruelty" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1885-06-06. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-4256-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99