… a faith community growing in the treasures of justice, stewardship, artistic expression and hospitality.

ARTS

Celebrating Creativity and Spirituality Through the Arts
The Arts Group of Union Avenue (AGUA) has enjoyed great success since its inception in 1988. The members are committed and diligent in their efforts to provide Union Avenue Christian Church and its surrounding community with opportunities to celebrate and participate in the arts.
This special group is responsible for many culturally stimulating activities that set Union Avenue apart from other churches. Because the programs sponsored by AGUA have gained a reputation for excellence over the years, our church family shares an extra sense of pride in the outreach efforts of this vital ministry.
The mission of the Arts Group is to help individual members of the Union Avenue Christian Church and the surrounding community to: increase their knowledge of, appreciation for, and participation in a variety of art forms; to perceive such creativity as an expression of God’s creativity and, thus, a source of and outlet for spiritual growth; and to provide cultural enrichment for our area, focus on positive elements of the urban environment, and use artistic expressions to discover those common pleasures and ends that we all share.
Arts Programming That Suits a Diverse Audience
AGUA develops its programs carefully to suit a diverse audience. The group’s art exhibitions offer a wide range of media and are of the finest quality. Its programming encourages participation by the young and old alike, and its program leaders have included members of the congregation as well as noted scholars and authorities.

The Arts as a Means for Discovering the Ways of Knowing

Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk and spiritual writer, once opined that while today we have a myriad of instruments to explore things we never imagined, we can no longer see directly what is in front of us! Our thinking and talking about God, he suggested, do not aid us necessarily in growing toward a relationship with God. The “Church,” to which Merton devoted his life, once asked, “What has Athens [Greek culture] to do with Jerusalem [Jewish culture]?” Today, we might wonder instead, “What has artistic life to do with religious life?”

We, that is Union Avenue Christian Church, would answer that question with a resounding “everything!”

One thing I have asked of God,
that I will seek after;
to live in the house of
God all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of God,
and to inquire in God’s temple.  Psalm 27:4

The arts help us to encounter the holy and the sacred. The arts provide the means that allow us to perceive life’s ultimate meanings. The arts inspire us to look at ourselves and our lives, reminding us of the possibility of a full human life — full in the sense of the exercise of our imagination, the use of our perceptions and senses, and the questioning of the unknown and the incomplete. The arts remind us that faith precedes theology, character precedes moral decision making, and consciousness precedes experience — that our knowing of God precedes our coneptualizations about God.

The arts are our most profound reminder that we humans cannot live by bread alone. Art and the intuitive way of knowing are foundational to the Christian life of faith. Theology and the intellectual way of knowing, while also important, are secondary and dependent on the first.

We invite you to explore the links and resources listed under the “Arts” tab in the navigation bar at the top of this page. We also invite you to participate in and contribute to the ongoing dialogue and appreciation of the arts that we at Union Avenue Christian Church treasure deeply.

Address and Phone Number

733 Union Blvd. | St. Louis, MO 63108-1037 | 314.361.8844

Sunday Morning Schedule

9:30 Christian Education and 10:45 Worship