Still thinking about the idea of beauty leading us to worship. These two words, both so elusive and ambiguous, it's hard to find concrete thoughts; and so maybe I won't try right now. Perhaps when the logic of prose fails, we need to go deeper and seek wisdom in the poetic.

Share in this poem with me:
I'd love to hear your thoughts ...

By an anonymous Eastern Orthodox writer:

Our eyes, with vision baited, are drawn
Toward the beauty of God.
In this beauty, vision findeth its rest.
In this beauty, the heart's fulfilment is met.
All for this beauty, and
All to this beauty is drawn.
Life rests there, in the solemn beauty of the King.

Beauty begets beauty,
And thus in life do the wretched partake.
Drawn up in the beauty of heavenly vision,
The beholder by the Beholden is transformed.
Light shineth into darkness,
And the darkness is transformed into Light.
By beauty, night is changed,
No longer to be night;
The blackness of midnight is made bright
As the midday sun.

To beauty, all creation moveth,
For He who is Beautiful hast formed and
Moulded it in love.
In divine beauty doth creation rest,
Radiant with the light of its glory.
O, such glory as beauty can bestow!
A word, and there is light!
A breath, and there is man!
In God's vision wast the universe fashioned into being,
And all that is in it;
And lo, when this creation beholdeth the
Vision of its Maker,
Such beauty transforms glory into glory.
O radiant light!
O blessed vision of the heart of God!
Who can look into the innermost haven of
Splendour and power,
And not himself be transformed by the sight?
Who can gaze upon the sun,
Without its own light shining in his eyes?

In God's beauty, all the earth is sanctified.
Tree and stone, wood and paint have glory
In His beauty.
Creation is transformed;
The fallen is made holy.
And man, beholding Beauty's vision,
Shares His life.

What is the most beautiful thing you have experienced this week?

Maybe something you heard. Maybe some beautiful music – music that moved you … Bach, Mozart, Miles Davis, Metallica, Death Cab for Cutie?

Maybe something you saw in the world of nature: the morning sun breaking through the mist and making Spring leaves sparkle, as though kissed by the dew; the gentle movement of cottony clouds.

It might be something you smelt: the scent of the forrest, the inescapable perfume of spring lilies; perhaps it was the smell of a good meal cooking when you were very hungry – could it be a neighbor's barbeque?

It might have been something you tasted: morsels from the friend's barbeque(!); an un-hurried glass of wine, a piece of fruit bursting with just the right sweetness.

Maybe it was something you experienced at work: things suddenly coming together, an unexpected new opportunity!

It might be something you experienced in a relationship: a meaningful glance from someone you love dearly; the soft touch of a child's hand.

Something else ...?

Hold that moment ... what does this "beauty" do to you you?

What does this "beauty" call out from you? Does it provoke you in a particular way?

Perhaps our "ordinary experiences of beauty are given to us to provide a clue, a starting point, from which we move on to recognize and be overwhelmed by and adore, and so to worship the beauty of God" N.T. Wright, Simply Christian.

Does beauty call out worship from you?

(The connection of beauty and worship is one made by three authors I want you to know about: G.K. Chesterton, Brian McLaren, and N.T. Wright. I'm sure my thoughts above are simply re-statements of things they've written much more eloquently!)

"Man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."

- C.S. Lewis

I've been thinking about "worship," not the ceremony we may observe once a week, but the process of focusing our lives on something/someone. Often, we are self-worshipers, but I think we're created to focus our lives outwardly. So, perhaps a few blogs on worship ...

Slowness to anger makes for deep understanding;
a quick-tempered person stockpiles stupidity.

A sound mind makes for a robust body,
but runaway emotions corrode the bones.

- From the Hebrew Bible, Proverbs 14:29-30

"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane you whole life ... I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you wont have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who arent even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have more fun while theyre doing it.

Perfectionism means that you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess show us that life is being lived."

- Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

"Each day, it seems, thousands of Americans are going about their daily rounds - dropping off the kids at school, driving to the office, flying to a business meeting, shopping at the mall, trying to stay on their diets - and they're coming to the realization that something is missing. They are deciding that their work, their possessions, their diversions, their sheer busyness, is not enough.

They want a sense of purpose, a narrative arc to their lives. They're looking to relieve a chronic loneliness, a feeling supported by a recent study that shows Americans have fewer close friends and confidants than ever before. And so they need an assurance that somebody out there cares about them, is listening to them - that they are not just destined to travel down that long highway towards nothingness."

- Barack Obama, from his keynote address at "Call to Renewal," June 28, 2006
Click here for complete text of the speech.

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid."
- G.K. Chesterton, Autobiography

Each day of Lent, I will be posting a devotional and Scripture readings. These are NOT all original with me. They appear in a devotional guide prepared for the people of The Bridge Community. The posts in this blog are primarily for the benefit of those in our community who would like to read them on their computer. And of course, by being here, they are open to whoever comes upon them!

I want to give CREDIT here to the contributors to the devotional guide: from The Bridge Community - Lyndsay Taylor, Matt Black, Wayne Cox; from First Alliance Church, Lexington, Ky - Steve Elliott, Marilyn Elliott, Dan Jansen.

There are also many references to other books and authors - in each case, I think there is enough information to be able to find that reference on your own.

I hope this Lenten season is a meaningful one for you.

While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Luke 2:6-7

Additional Reading: John 19:38-42

Perhaps there has never been room for Jesus. At his birth, he lies in a borrowed animal manger a feeding trough. In his death, he lies in a borrowed tomb. For the borrowed manger, the owner is certain he will get it back for his animals. For the borrowed tomb, I wonder if Joseph of Arimathea saw with eyes of faith that he would bet his tomb back. But in either case, there was no room for Jesus.

Nowhere in Scripture is this truth of no room for Jesus a cause of pity. The lack of room for Jesus is consistent with his coming. He didnt come to stay. He came to seek and save that which was lost: you and me. He was not meant for life forever on this earth. And neither are you and I.

It is Holy Saturday, and the day is gilded with sorrows. But beneath the gloom there is the sound of eternal life stirring in the bosom of the earth! We are silent this day. We are listening hard for the sound that banishes the darkness forever. We are waiting on the word that says our sorrow is over, forever. Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus. We will make room for you!

Prayer: Kind Father, let the day be soon! Let your Son rise again and call us home to himself. Let Easter break anew for us as it has never broken before!!

Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. Having said this, he breathed his last.
Luke 23:46

Additional Reading: John 15:9-17

The last words of a dying man.

But wait. Theres something else here, easy to overlook, a hidden wonder. With Hebrew ears we listen in on the rasping voice of this dying man. And we hear, Father, daddy, into your hands, here is my life, my ruah, my breath. And he breathed it out. And that was it.

In the beginning, God breathed into humanity and there was life. In Ezekiels valley of dry bones, the breath fills the bones and makes them live. And after the resurrection, Jesus tells his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Spirit, the wind, comes. The breath of God. The very life of the Almighty that would fill those who follow him. The power of every sermon he preached, every parable, every word of healing and friendship, the very substance of the life he lived is in this breath. And here, in this greatest act of love and obedience, he surrenders that breath.

Imagine! This is God, come to tell of everlasting life, the life we should have, could have. So he lives that life in front of all. And then, he gives it up. He dies.

Weve heard of special endings before. Enoch walked with God and then he was no more. God just says, Youre so close, why not just come on over to this side. Moses, who had seen him face to face, died at the Lords command, and was buried in a hidden place, hidden away with the Lord. Elijah is caught up into the air in grand, fiery display. But this this is different altogether.

This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. This is the intimate exchange between the Father and the Son, the most holy and heartbreaking. For all the times he had tried to explain his relationship to the Father: I and the Father are one I can do only what I see the Father doing Did you know that I must be in my Fathers house? This is how close he is to the Father in heaven. As close as his breath.

Prayer: Kind Father, I am humbled in the presence of this. I want to hold the dying body of Jesus, his fragile form slumped in my arms to draw his face close to mine in this last groaning, feel this final breath on my face, and with him breathe the prayer: Into your hands I commit my life. Amen.