Scripture: Colossians 2:13-15
Dear Church,
There is so much beauty this time of year.
As the world transitions from winter to spring we see beautiful new life everywhere in the natural world. And the beauty our common life as the church is especially visible in this season–the goodness of new friends joining the church, special worship services for Holy Week and the joy of sharing what we have with our neighbors–whether that’s fresh vegetables at the Bulb, treasures at the yard give or healthy meals and joyful activities during our spring break vacation bible school.
As good as all of this is, as pleasing as it is in our eyes, there is another beautiful thing at the center of our life together and its beauty is harder to see. I’m talking, of course, about the cross.
Let’s be honest, we see the cross as many things–essential, powerful, necessary, revelatory. But it’s hard to see the cross as beautiful. The blooms of dogwood trees and azalea bushes are beautiful; the Carolina blue sky is beautiful, friends sharing faith and food and abundance is beautiful, strangers becoming neighbors becoming family is beautiful, a group of children laughing and playing and making art together is beautiful. But the son of God who was born among to heal and work miracles and welcome everyone into God’s love, seeing him nailed to a cross, suffering and dying–how is that beautiful?
The cross reveals ancient and forgotten beauty, a beauty deeper than appearance, a beauty that is, the beauty that is source of all goodness and grace, a beauty that never fades away. On the cross we learn to believe in the beauty we cannot see and to see a beauty that cannot be believed.
Peace,
Pastor Kate
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