I
never really knew my
grandfather, Bernard Woodard, since he died when I was
five. But I was used to hearing stories about him, particularly from my own
father, his son-in-law. One day, as
my father told it, he was visiting the family and they went for a walk along the
sea front. It was evening, and,
over the water, there appeared the most amazing sunset. At which my grandfather gazed and simply said, “Well done,
God!”
I’ve been spending a little time, recently,
reflecting on what is the connection between God and beauty.
Can we say that God is revealed in the beauties of his creation?
That’s what some people call ‘Natural religion’.
Or is God only revealed, by faith, in and through his Son, Jesus Christ?
Does it make any sense at all to talk about a beautiful world showing us
something about its creator? What
happens when the world is ugly and cruel? Does that show us that there is
something about the creator that is ugly and cruel?
You see the problem.
The truth is that the beauties of the world can remind
us to say ‘Thank you’ to God who is love, and truth and beauty.
The world itself does not directly reflect God, but as the Bible says, it
shows his handiwork: if the world is a work of art, God is the divine artist.
When the world is ugly it is usually because we, as human beings, have made it
so. So the world speaks to us of
the power and goodness of God and of the fragility of what is made, too, and our
tendency to sin.
This morning I made my usual early morning walk with
the dog down to the Dingles. It
wasn’t a particularly beautiful morning; the weather was rather dull and grey.
As we walked down past the shops I noticed behind the fence, caught by
the wind and trapped in the undergrowth a huge mess of plastic bags and litter.
There is something about litter that makes me specially angry. I know there are more important things to get angry about.
But it is a sign of all those things which show our carelessness.
What other beautiful things have the people who throw the litter not
noticed? To notice and appreciate
beauty is a uniquely human gift. (Animals
have no idea of beauty, surely.) To
celebrate true beauty, then, is a God-given gift. Why spoil it? Why spoil it by throwing litter?
Why spoil it by unkindness to a fellow human being?
My point is that if we don’t appreciate beauty in these ways it may
lead us to be even more selfish in our actions.
On the other hand, if we notice something beautiful we may have cause to
praise, praise God perhaps. And
when we appreciate one small beautiful thing, maybe we then go on to praise the
beauty in other people, or to see it where it is not obvious.
So on this grey morning I walked the bank of the River
Cole, thinking these kind of thoughts. And then I suddenly heard a swift and
distinct drumming sound from the tree above me. I looked up and saw, for the third time this week as it
happens, a greater spotted woodpecker, handsome in black, white and red, pecking
vigorously at the trunk, looking for grubs.
The bird was totally focused on the task in hand, unconcerned by anything
else, and in its own modest way, magnificent in truth and beauty and goodness. I
praised God for that
woodpecker. Its drumming awakened me to a beauty at
the heart of all things living that I can’t deny.
At its most simple, then, creation can stir us to
praise. And when that creation is
marred in some way, it can remind us of the selfishness and sin that caused it.
There is one particular event where creation is restored and human sin is
overturned: the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
In Eastertide we are again reminded that the resurrection of Christ is
creation renewed and sin destroyed. For
what humans can do in cruelty and selfishness was shown to be no barrier to God.
Even more cause to praise than a beautiful creation!
This is re-creation!
Easter joy and peace!
Martin