Beauty and connecting the dots – Mary-Anne Rulfs
I didn’t set out to write about beauty – I had in mind something else entirely. Something about trying to connect the dots of our lives in this time of weirdness and ongoing disconnection.
We actually spend most of our lives trying to connect the dots. Trying to make sense of what’s going on around us by bringing together information from different places. It’s our human way of finding meaning and hope. And at the moment, there seem to be a lot of incongruent dots to connect.
Then in my musings, one image from this week overwhelmed all these thoughts …
I was sitting at my desk in the church office and talking to a colleague when my gaze was drawn to a tree just outside the window. There I could see a pair of wrens animatedly going about their day. They were captivating. They were beautiful in their tiny-ness and simplicity. They sparked joy and a sense of the infinite magnificence and greatness that is beyond me. And yet, really, they are very ordinary little birds.
Sometimes the wrens are the first thing I see when I arrive early on Sunday mornings, as they flit about in the hedges. Their simple magic of captivating my entire attention never fails to bring a deep kind of joy, and a few moments of deep gratitude and reassurance that despite the brokenness of life at times, beauty remains in the world alongside, or perhaps as an expression of, love.
I know many of you have experienced similar moments of wonder with our resident wrens. And although the image above isn’t of our wrens, it captures such a moment.
While beauty is not a frequent biblical word, aesthetic appreciation is a prevailing idea that is expressed in a range of ways reflecting the ancient cultures in which the Hebrew scriptures and New Testament were written: aesthetic appreciation of the natural world, of the physical beauty of human beings, and of the beauty of lives well lived morally, spiritually and emotionally. The word that is often used in Hebrew to connect all these elements is ‘good’.
The word ‘good’ has been somewhat diminished, and the concept of ‘beauty’ has been prioritised in western culture. Much more could be said about that, but not now. Of course, in the church, there has been a range of views on incorporating beautiful architecture, art and other aesthetic elements into worship spaces and liturgy. Regrettably, these views have sometimes been expressed through deep conflict and even violence.
I think beauty (especially in the natural world) and beautiful things can sometimes be the dots we are missing when we try to piece together the disparate parts of our lives to make them into something good.
The Graham Kendrick hymn from the 90s comes to mind …
Beauty for brokenness
Hope for despair
Lord, in the suffering
This is our prayer …
God of the poor
Friend of the weak
Give us compassion we pray
Melt our cold hearts
Let tears fall like rain
Come, change our love
From a spark to a flame
It seems we need reminding, often, that ordinariness in our lives has its own beauty and goodness. That our lives have meaning simply because we are who we are. And that when offered to Christ for healing, our brokenness can be transformed into beautiful traits of compassion, patience and generosity.
Sunday’s gospel reading is a challenging one. I hope we can explore together how the transforming love of God can help us to do good and bring good to our lives and the lives of others when the pain and injustice of ugly human behaviour confronts us and threatens to overwhelm us. How might we encourage each other in the pursuit of good that bestows beauty, rather than defacing the image of God in another?
Every week, Stewart, Eron or I will post resources online to help you ‘connect the dots’ between the lectionary readings each week and your own life. Each reading is set out with some questions to explore in your own quiet times or with others. You’ll find them here: https://robinaanglican.com/resources/ .
Finally, a few more moments of beauty and goodness as expressions of God’s love from this week:
Weekly worship with Rainbow Town children on Wednesday and their request to keep singing after we had finished
Our ministry team thanking Kiarni for her time as a team member coordinating kids and youth ministry and celebrating (with icecream) the opportunities that lie ahead for her
Authentic wrestling with life and faith by our young adults on Monday and their respect for one another as they create a safe place to do so.
The arrival of a baby granddaughter on my birthday
Grace and peace,
Mary-Anne