I’m so pretty!

Okay, truthfully, if I look in the mirror, I don’t really believe that statement. But I also know that God created me the way that God did with a purpose and that ultimately God’s image is reflected in me. So I’ve been asked to respond to Pamela Erwin’s great thoughts about “Reclaiming the Beautiful.” First, I should probably let you know I’m a 40-year-old white male who struggles with self-image sometimes. I also live in Dallas, Texas, which is not one of the most beautiful places in the United States. I did grow up in the Pacific Northwest, though, and lived in California for a long time, so I feel like I do have a good sense of natural beauty. As I began to read Pamela’s article, I was immediately struck by my own frustration with how the world views beauty. We live in such an image-dominated culture, and I feel more and more that the images we see every day are being manipulated to create a false reality. It’s no wonder we have multi-billion-dollar industries aimed at helping people become more beautiful. We are showing them pictures that are so fake and retouched that there is no possible way they can ever achieve that level of beauty. When Pamela says we’ve lost a “connection between beauty and God,” I think about so many strip-mall churches and converted office complexes that we use as places to go and worship God. There are still many beautiful churches, but why is it that some of the fastest-growing churches in the U.S. are not in those beautiful spaces? And if we look across the Atlantic, we see thousands of beautiful churches sitting empty. How can we reclaim the connection? Pamela creates a credible theological case for understanding beauty, and I appreciate her scholarly work to give the reader a chance to reflect on early church writers. I wish she had moved beyond the 18th century to offer an understanding of what more recent scholars, writers and artists are doing with this concept. I also appreciate her use of Scripture and breaking this down into four well-thought-out concepts. I am going to give what I think might be some practical ways to explore each one more. First, she mentions that we can get an idea of “physical beauty and splendor” from the Scriptures and specifically mentions some of the Old Testament stories that show some of importance placed on beauty. A church that is doing some of this well is Ecclesia in Houston. They have an artist-in-residence named Scott Erickson (http://createvisualculture.wordpress.com/). Each week Scott paints during the service to help show the congregation the beauty in the message. I have seen him do this at a number of conferences and feel like this is a great way to reclaim some of the beauty we have lost in the biblical narrative. Second she mentions beauty as a gift that we can “give to one another and even to God.” I love this idea that we have the capacity to give beauty. In a practical sense, I think that in some cases, our worship services can provide that context where we are able to do that with others. If we can fully comprehend the gift we have been given by God and see it as a beautiful thing, then giving it to others will free them to see themselves and the world through God’s eyes. Third, she talks about the close connection between call and beauty. All of us have felt an intense longing when we stand somewhere like the Grand Canyon or watching the sunset on a perfect beach. We have a deep longing to have that experience continue. I have felt that a few times as God and I have had intimate times together; moments when I feel God’s presence within the beauty I am experiencing. We can release people to experience this type of beauty by using visual images in our gatherings. We can tap into our inherent understanding of beautiful things and point to the creator who made them that way. Finally, Erwin draws a close connection to the Godhead itself being infused with beauty in its Trinitarian makeup. The same yet distinct parts of the Trinity are in themselves both infused in and connected to beauty. I couldn’t help but think about The Shack as I read this part. When I read that book, I was overwhelmed by emotion and the interplay of beauty that is shown between the characters. Even as I write this, I’m having a desire to run out of my office and go find a beautiful place where I can interact with God. But, I also recognize that is not always an option. Sometimes I get stuck in pretty ugly places, and sometimes I feel pretty ugly myself. Pamela is right in saying that we need a “theology that embraces a passionate love for God’s beauty and one that encourages young people to embrace beauty, not simply as a physical attribute but as a characteristic of our souls.” I’ve been a youth pastor for a long time, and I admit that this is an area I regularly fail in. I have never done a good job of helping students embrace any sort of beauty. What’s a practical way of getting at the point of this whole discussion? I think many of us in the youth ministry world are probably similar to myself. We are broken in the area of beauty. For whatever reason, we have stopped believing that God sees us as beautiful. We also may have gotten to a place where we don’t believe we have the capacity to create beauty, and as we fail at our desire to create, we believe the lie that we cannot then recognize beauty. Here are some practical tips to integrate a more well-rounded emphasis on beauty in your youth ministry. Teach with images and metaphors. We have become so literal in our teaching that students have lost the ability to truly see beyond the page of what is being taught. We have to teach in ways that engage that side of their brains. Provide a place for beauty to be engaged. We don’t do much with beauty in our youth room at my church. But we have ample space to engage in this way. What if you freed your students, leaders, adults in simple ways to respond to God through beauty? Break free of believing that youth ministry must be done in any one certain way with a game, three songs and a Bible Study. Those things are all great, but they’re not the full story. Think deeply about how you can engage more of the wholeness of the gospel story within your meetings. Download Reclaiming the Beautiful by clicking here This article was originally posted on the Immerse Journal website. I am on the advisory board for Immerse Journal. I encourage you to go check out the amazing content that writers are putting up there. Click here.