What do we mean when we say that the Christian gospel is beautiful? Beauty, while escaping precise
definition, is a name for what draws us in, attracts our attention, not in a
superficial way of merely catching our eye, but of a deeper, more holistic
yearning. Our whole being is drawn towards the beautiful by the beautiful. If
the gospel is beautiful, then, it is because the person and story of Jesus
captures us in this very way. We find every dimension of ourselves drawn to
this person. Jesus did many things: he was born, he learned, he taught, he
healed, he comforted, he challenged, he died, and he was raised again. And when
we read this story and see it lived out in the lives of fellow Christians we
are drawn into it not just because it is true, but also centrally because it is beautiful.
In fact, the truth of the gospel is its beauty and its beauty is its truth.
This is not to say that the gospel only appears as alluring.
When it addresses humanity in humanity’s sin, the gospel might be experienced
as challenging and difficult. And this is nowhere more evident than with the
cross. Such a shameful and torturous death does not seem beautiful. But here,
most of all, beauty shines forth. Jesus Christ, crucified for love, compassion,
and infinite generosity, surrounded by sinners, dying in the midst of sinful
world, but for the sake of the world,
and rising to resurrected life, victorious over sin and death. Creation is restored,
all things are being made new by God’s act. Beautify shines forth in creation
through God’s saving action in Christ.
And so this beauty is here at KPU, too. In a small group of
students joined in prayer, the beauty of Christ is present. We are drawn to
each other here on campus because of this person, this story. In it we see the
beauty of creation and so see it, too, in the faces of each other. And in
different ways, this Christian community bears witness to the beauty of the
gospel. Love for others, commitment to community, prayer and engagement with
scripture, contemplating the figure of Christ, being attentive to the beautiful
moments of everyday existence – all these things we at Kwantlen Christian
Fellowship endeavor to live into. And if the beauty of the gospel is made
known, in however small a way, then the truth and goodness of Christ are surely
present, too.
