Reawakened to the “Blaze” of God’s Light: You Empowered Lizzy to Freely Create
Arts Fellowship Orlando fellow Lizzy Brannan says, “AFO has allowed me to blossom in not only my art but also my faith. I’m so grateful to you for trusting God to do something that hasn’t been done. I’m grateful for the growth that I’ve had under your umbrella, spiritually and artistically. It’s an honor for my art to be cared about.”
Lizzy Brannan grew up in a family of musicians, a family of ministry. She laughs, “We were on the piano at the age of four, and from then on, when we went to school and came home, we were encouraged to get on the piano before doing our homework.” Art was a way of life for Lizzy and her family.
As she grew up, she became a singer and songwriter, and professionally a high school musical theatre teacher. Still, despite being immersed in the arts and ministry from birth, she didn’t yet know the significance of art in faith, especially the significance of art in the Bible. She didn’t yet understand who God fully is as a creator. And more or less, she felt isolated in the creation of her art.
Lizzy sunk into a “really dark period” in her life. She felt her creativity flicker, felt it snuff out. She says, “Before Arts Fellowship Orlando, the years leading up to it, I didn’t sing or songwrite for six years.”
Then in church one Sunday, she heard Dr. David Swanson speaking from the pulpit about a new fellowship for professional artists—AFO. She was shocked, intrigued. And she immediately wanted to help in whatever way she could.
She shares, “It’s so unusual for a church to invest in the arts outside of Sunday mornings. In the actual creative life of the believer. Not that they want to ignore it, it’s just so rare for a church to give any attention to the arts outside of Sunday mornings.”
Enthusiastic to support the fellowship, not even thinking she would be a perfect candidate for being a part of it, Lizzy reached out to AFO Karen Thigpen, asking how she could help (“I’ll empty the trash cans, I’ll do whatever you want me to do!”). Karen said, “I think you should actually apply.”
Lizzy reflected on it. She thought about how she wasn’t 17, or a college student, or just out of college—she wasn’t a young, rising artist. But she knew she had original ideas to bring to the table. Finally, she decided to apply, trusting God to place her where she needed to be.
She got in. And now her life and art will never be the same.
Through AFO, some of the most impactful things she’s learned are who God is as a creator, how much art is actually in the Bible, how scriptural art is, and how we as humans are designed to create because we are made in the image of God—the first and the ultimate Creator. Lizzy says, “I feel more freedom. It’s pushed me to think more outside of the box.”
Another wonderful part of Lizzy’s AFO experience has been engaging in the creative process alongside other Christian artists. Not only has she been “in awe” of the other fellows and their creations, she’s also experienced wonderful camaraderie with them, all of them experiencing the same epiphanies and bumps along the way. Being able to encourage and be encouraged, hash out the problems in the stories they’re creating through all their different specialties, and create something beautiful to share with the Church as a whole is something she never imagined she’d get to be a part of.
Now as this inaugural class of AFO is coming to its end, Lizzy and the other fellows are preparing for their end-of-program showcase, And It Was Good, where they will each get to share what they’ve created during the program. Lizzy is excited to invite the audience into two pieces she’s created that are a part of an entire dramatic song cycle, which centers around the theme of light bursting through the darkness. These two pieces will be dramatized and sung. One song is called “Unnamed” and the other is called “Let in the Blaze of the Risen Sun.”
“Let in the Blaze of the Risen Sun,” the finale of her song cycle, was inspired by an essay C.S. Lewis wrote on transposition where he compares the light of a candle to the light of someone throwing open the curtains “and letting in the blaze of the risen sun.” She shares, “It stemmed from this idea of what I was feeling when I finally got to create again, because I went without for so long. It felt like God opening up the door of creativity—coming in, throwing open the curtains, and letting in the blaze of the risen sun. It felt like an awakening.”
Thank you for pouring into artists like Lizzy. Because of you, and because of the wisdom and closeness of God, she and the other fellows are growing deeper in their faiths and innovating their creativity to glorify God.
If you would like to witness Lizzy’s pieces along with the other wonderful pieces the other AFO fellows have prepared for And It Was Good, as well as pieces created by other renowned artists, please go to https://www.drphillipscenter.org/events/tickets/2022/and-it-was-good/ and reserve your tickets today! And It Was Good will be at the Dr. Phillip’s Center for only one night on June 16th at 7 PM.
