Beauty has Saved the World (Fourth Day of Christmas)

Last updated on: December 31, 2020 at 5:06 pm by John Mark N. Reynolds

Beauty has Saved the World (Fourth Day of Christmas) 2020-12-31T17:06:01-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“Beauty,” he said to me, “will save the world.”

I knew what he meant and as far as his intention went there was truth there. He was urging us to make beauty and that beauty mattered. A warning sign of a bad cause is when it comes wrapped in aesthetic ugliness. This is not certain, something can appear beautiful, but be disguised falsehood or evil. Overtime, however, this cannot last. Fundamentally there is in truth beauty. Stay in a plantation house as a guest long enough in the antebellum South and the ugliness of the society would be revealed. The ugliness was already apparent to the enslaved who made the veneer of beauty possible at great cost. The ugliness came boiling out to outsiders in fugitive slave laws, the reports of people who escaped slavery, and a horrific civil war to defend the “peculiar institution.” The beauty was superficial and available only to a privileged few. The ugliness was fundamental.

The opposite is true of God’s creation. We can twist and bend that creation. We can misuse the good gifts of nature, but the beauty goes deep down into the very mathematical structure of the cosmos. The universe God made is good and groans under the ugliness splashed over the splendor.

Take a stable. Look at this cave made of the good bones of the Earth. See the animals and their moral innocence. Watch the heavens that declare the glory of God every night, but especially on this most holy night. The beauty is there, was there, and will be there.

Beauty was, is, and will come. The marred will be restored. The process began the moment of the marring, but in a manner that will save all that will be saved. Nothing good will be lost, no truth will be forgotten, and all will be beautiful again. Restoration is longer than creation, but the good is fundamental, God all powerful, so the triumph of beauty is certain.

What was seen by shepherds in the sky over the stable will be seen by all: glory.

Ethiopian Orthodox

We should, best we can, create beauty around us. This is an outer response to a salvation already won. The restoration of the world was manifested as a certainty at Bethlehem and we add nothing to that certainty. We cooperate with the beauty, but Beauty has already saved the world.

This is a great relief. We can do the best we can as amateurs. I am a bad poet, but I write poetry privately on occasion doing the best I can. My goal is to create a bit of beauty imitating the God of the Nativity. My creation, such as it is, is not saving the world. It is like the shepherds rushing toward beauty that already is to bow down and worship.

Like the shepherds, my words are not elegant. They are a response, like that of those ancient herdsman, to a beauty too great for my mind, heart, and body. They are the best I can do. The good Father, the Creator, is thankfully like any good parent and makes the best of my little offerings.

The Composer takes my attempts at beauty and enfolds them as jests, crush notes, or homely tunes inside his greater composition. Beauty has saved the world, so I can try for beauty, often failing, as a jollity in light of that beauty.

Spiritual Reflections

Previous Post

December 27, 2020

Kingdom Came (The Third Day of Christmas)

Next Post

December 29, 2020 The Transformation done by the Lowly (Fifth Day of Christmas)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What city did Paul write his first letter to the Corinthians from?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ephesus Corinth Rome Athens

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »