I was reading N.T. Wright recently and he asked an interesting question: WHAT IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED THIS WEEK? Think about last week and ponder the following:
What is the most beautiful thing you experienced last week? Maybe some beautiful music, perhaps in church, or in the cathedral. Maybe something in the world of nature: the sun breaking through the midst and making the autumn leaves luminous, the curl of a squirrel’s tail as he sat nibbling a nut. It might be something you smelt: the scent of a rose perhaps, or the smell of a good meal cooking when you were very hungry. It might be something you tasted: an exquisite wine, a special cheese, that same meal well seasoned and well cooked.
Maybe something you experienced in work: things suddenly coming together, an unexpected new opportunity. It might be something you experienced in human relationships: a quiet gentle glance from someone you love dearly; the soft squeeze of a child’s hand.
I want to suggest to you that our ordinary experiences of beauty are given to us to provide a clue, a starting point, a sign post, from which we move on to recognize, to glimpse, to be overwhelmed by, to adore, and so to worship, not just the majesty, but the beauty of God himself.
Yesterday, I asked my flock, “Have you ever been whacked by grace?” My prayer for each of you this week, dear family and friends, is that each of you will be whacked by beauty, God’s beauty.
Richard Hipps