Lately I've been asking God what the purpose of art is. One of His responses has been "to reveal injustice and pain to inspire action."

This is so true. Looking at art in the past, it has been so influential in speaking up for the silenced and challenging injustices of the day. I'm sure people in England knew that pollution, harsh working conditions, and the lack of quality education were problems in the mid-nineteenth century. But once Dickens wrote about those issues, weaving them into the depths of his narratives, something had to be done. As the social realists were in early Victorian England, literature and photography was to the civil rights movement, and music was to the end of apartheid in South Africa. Arts and media portray the holocaust in horrific ways we would not dare ourselves to imagine. These can be so difficult to read, watch, listen to, and observe--but we persevere knowing that our discomfort is nothing compared to the pain of those this type of art attempts to portray.

For me, the very hardest type of art to watch is the abuse of women and children. It is hardest because it is most familiar, the most real to me. I personally know too many girls who have been affected and boys who have been hurt. I am as drawn to this type of art as I am revolted by the image it burns in my mind. This weekend when I saw Tree of Life, I cringed every time Brad Pitt yelled and I squirmed when he brutishly grabbed Jessica Chastain's wrists. But it is precisely because art is doing its job that I am so uncomfortable.

Tonight, I will subject myself to the art of injustice willingly. But this time it will be harder. It will not be Brad Pitt yelling and slapping. It will not be Keira Knightley left bleeding as a victim. Tonight it will all be portrayed by some of my closest friends. In Beauty for Ashes I will watch the pain of prostitutes and pimps, johns and slaves. Part of me is beginning to dread it. I know that my heart will suffer, but that is the point.

Art is meant to leave a lasting impression. Will you join me in getting an emotional tattoo? A statement that says we will not stand for injustice in our lifetime? Please join us tonight in Kirkland for Beauty for Ashes. You will not leave the same.