We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words – to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.

 C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

    Have you seen the Shell gold status fuel rewards commercial? The one where the woman looks across the gas station to her acquaintance Marci, a normal middle aged woman, who is surrounded by a golden glow. The main character is shocked and desirous of her friends glow and thinks something major has changed with her acquaintance, even as the salesman says the glow comes from signing up for free fuel rewards. Yet the main character of this commercial is not satisfied until she herself is also covered in the golden glow, she will not be happy until the "beauty" of the glow has been imbibed. 

In a *hopefully* less frenzied and healthier way this is what beauty does to us, it calls forth desire. Not only the desire to see it, which as Lewis says above is bounty enough, but the desire to be marked by it.  We are drawn in and towards the beautiful, inspired by the need to respond in kind and add its shimmering center to our core. We want to be transformed. We want to imbibe it and infuse that wonder into ourselves. And we aren't just talking about standardized western capitalistic views of beauty. When we talk about beauty we mean that which reminds minds us of the mystery wonder and breathtaking space of being alive. Beauty is the simplicity of a hummingbird, the wonder of normal miracle that is childbirth, the hope and determination of hope in the midst of impossible odds, the march to Selma, the heart aching, soul shattering, and beautiful gift of presence as a loved one takes their last breath. Beauty is the creator of all things taking on human flesh and condescending into the form of a poverty stricken immigrant as well as the thirty three year old carpenter turned guru bearing the worst form of state death, on a cross...to be Emmanuel...God with us. 

We embrace beauty because we are a people who are firmly rooted in a story that is marked by the transformational power of beauty to change and contour the cold, harsh, evil in the world. Without beauty, especially the hardest and most impossible spaces of our lives and the lives of others, we know that something is lost and we must find a way for it to enter in deep enough that we are forever marked by it's wonder.  In a episode of the British murder mystery series "Death in Paradise", a older relative of one of the main characters has the beginning of memory loss, but she tells her relative that in spite of her approaching darkness she believes there are still some things so lovely, good, so beautiful that they are stronger than the erosion of her mind. And that is the power of beauty to root so deeply in our core that it is in the divine space beyond what corrodes and destroys.  

          "Fear Not for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name." - Isaiah 43

Have you ever noticed how frequently the first communication that is given by God or the agents of God (angels, prophets, priests, etc) in the Biblical narrative is a reminder to the characters and those hearing the narrative to "fear not". Seriously, every time an Angel appears the first command is literally, "fear not." Which I mean makes sense right....I know I would probably be freaking out if a being suddenly appeared before me...especially if they didn't look completely human. Yet the command not to fear is something that goes deeper that unexpected visits from supernatural creatures. In it's broader sense, such as the above quote from Isaiah, the command is God's way of calling us to something deeper in the nature of being in relationship with this God. It is a reminder that when we are people of God, we will be asked and expected to live a life that is not safe. That requires us to "fear not".  Yet, this doesn't mean that we go out and do foolish things or that we disregard fear, rather these interaction teach us the value of naming and facing our fears as our first action. It is only after we name the fear, that we can open up and move into the next step, the message being relayed by the Divine. I think naming fear is often our first command because the message frequently is connected to a people, place, or action that is tied to fear.  Think about it, how can we engage in the call of Christ to love God and our neighbor as ourselves, if we don't first name the risks and fears that are involved. As we approach this weekend and up coming holiday that will be filled with celebrations that highlight both sides of the story openness and fear, especially in our current political climate and the way patriotism and nationalism is manifest, let us be rooted in the awareness that we are called and chosen people of God commanded to fear not, to radically love, and go forth with blessing beauty and hope.