Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness

 


Blessed be God who animates our lives and comes to us in the revelation and recognition of beauty. AMEN


Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; let the whole earth stand in awe or as this psalm says tremble. 


The chant from my childhood in the days when we did Morning prayer three sundays a month and chanted one of the canticles comes flooding into my memory. But I can only actually sing it in the solitude of my home. Sadness. 


Nevertheless, just beyond the grief are the words of the psalm which was after all, a song and which we use as a time of reflection and response to readings as well as prayer and meditation. 


The fuller used version comes from Psalm 95 

Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness

Let the whole earth stand in awe of God

For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth 

And the peoples with his truth


In fact one of the calls to worship for Morning PrayerI and II is Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness.


I am not sure there are any words which call us to respond more appropriately to any set of circumstances, to any lectionary, to any moment really.


Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.


No matter what...no matter what...we are called to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness always and everywhere!


I imagine we all have a different image of holy beauty right now. Some might return to nature, some to an expression, some to a painting, some to music, or poetry or family photos...This morning let me suggest we focus on the beauty of holiness right here: stained glass, altar, flowers, vestments, organ, sanctuary, kneelers... all are not only beautiful but carry stories of the care of builders and restorers and caretakers and designers and appreciaters and players and polishers and assemblers and needlepointers and craftspeople. All transport us, albeit in ordinary ways, to extraordinary thoughts and prayers. All point us to the sacred. And that which is sacred at least contains the beauty of holiness.


Cathy has included one of our magnificent windows in the virtual bulletin as a reminder that here we sit with so much color and design and sacred story all around us, adorning us in splendor pointing us to God’s glory. 


I invite you now or more particularly as we reflect during the music meditation to gaze...to gaze into the beauty of holiness all around us.


Worshipping the Lord in the beauty of holiness is not just about objects or symbols; it is also about the faces, the people and the community. When we worship in the beauty of holiness, when we truly do so, we become transformed, even more beautiful, even more holy or in incarnate terms more whole. 


The beauty of holiness is a numinous mysterious beauty as is holiness itself which summons wonder love and praise. It is different from mortal objectified beauty and not to be worshipped or idolized.


Many myths such as those of Daphne and Apollo teach that mortal beauty is destroyed when associated with ego or used as a transactional item. Agammenon used the beauty of his daughter Iphegenia to trade for war ships and power.

Our Christian heritage teaches a different lesson of beauty. The Passion itself demonstrates that God gathers even the most horrific torture and suffering into divine beauty and new life in the Resurrection. 


The beauty of holiness then is grace, gift. It points us to the realm where there is nothing but beauty, grace, Truth and unity.


The human soul is hungry for beauty.When beauty touches our lives, the moment becomes luminous. Every life is braided with luminous moments. These grace moments are gifts that surprise us. And gifts which call us to worship, to gather, to testify and witness to the Mystery! 


So I invite you to worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness; let the whole earth tremble.


Publish Glad Tidings

Tidings of Peace

Tidings of Jesus

Redemption and Release

Thanks be to God

 

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