Creekside Church Sermon of August 8, 2004 "How Beautiful" Philippians 4:8-9	Rev. David Bibbee
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I have been asked numerous times, as have the others on the Cornerstone Committee, "How will the new church look?" We can't give a precise answer, but it is coming. Our goal is to have concept drawings, a floor plan, and possibly a scale model by the end of the year. In the meantime, I can tell you what to expect when entering the finished edifice. In the new church, you'll encounter beauty.

It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Someone broke into the house of the great artist, Pablo Picasso, who saw the thief making his escape. When the detectives arrived, they asked for the thief's description. One of the detectives suggested that Picasso draw the suspect, which he did. They called headquarters and when asked to describe the suspect, the detective said, "We're looking for a male, approximately six feet tall, who looks like a refrigerator."

In the new church, you will see beauty. The beauty I imagine includes the building design, space, light, shadow, color, and art expressed in the medium of calligraphy, pictures, banners, sculpture, and religious symbols. Beauty doesn't mean extravagance. There is beauty in simplicity. It can be seen in a vase of Queen Anne's Lace arranged with colorful drapery on an altar.

Frugality and cheapness doesn't inspire beauty. If I say, "Let's make something beautiful as cheap as we can," the incentive to be creative is killed.

Let's also remember that beauty doesn't always mean pretty or nice. At home I have a book of photographs from Mel Gibson's film, "The Passion of the Christ." The pictures portray the savagery unleashed upon Jesus. It was ugly and sickening. Yet, the underlying message is beautiful when we stop to consider the lengths to which Jesus' love went to have us. "See! from his head, his hands, his feet; sorrow and love flow mingled down."

If you have traveled through Oklahoma on Interstate 40, you have seen the billboards advertising the "Precious Moments Chapel." For the unfamiliar, "Precious Moments" is a series of ceramic figurines of adorable, angelic children with large, innocent eyes and dressed in pastels. Many are in religious poses. I don't know if the chapel pews were filled with pretty little Precious Moments children. I do know some people think that Christianity is about pleasantness. Life is an exercise in innocence, good fortune, and happy endings, and Christianity is the policy that insures it.

Those who take life and faith seriously know better. The life God has given us is good, but we do not live "Precious Moments" lives. Sometimes it rains. Sometimes it storms. There's much more about life that isn't pretty, fair, or just. But beauty and mystery of life is there for eyes that learn to see it.

I remember a hymn that we sang when I was growing up. I'm sure it is familiar to some of you. It goes:

Look for the beautiful, look for the true;
Sunshine and shadow are all around you;
Looking at evil, we grope in the night;
Looking at Jesus, we walk in the light;
Look for the beautiful, honor the right.

This old hymn is an echo of the Apostle Paul's counsel to the Philippians:

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. (Philippians 4: 8-9)

Writers write to be read. Musicians perform to be heard. Artists paint, draw, and sculpt so their works will be seen. Artists are communicators. They want us to hear and see and consider something we had not before. They want us to see something bigger and more beautiful that we might not have seen if not for their work.

We all are artists by virtue of being Christians. Paul says we are at our best when we fill our hearts and minds with the best. We are "scenic attractions" in a world where people take life as it is and conclude, "It doesn't get any better than this!"

Let's ask ourselves if we are living lives that are true, noble, authentic, and beautiful. If not, we create art that one writer called, "still-born." Or, as the nihilistic philosopher Edward Nietzsche said to some Christians, "You'll have to look a lot more redeemed if I am to believe in your redeemer."

A great artist has the ability to communicate the eternal to people caught in their time and culture. Their work has the power to catch the attention of generations and cultures long after they have departed. Madeleine L' Engle said that, "If an artist reflects only his own culture, then his works will die with that culture. But if his works reflect the eternal, they will revive."

William Green was considered the greatest playwright of his day. His plays were geared toward the tastes of society's elite. In comparison, a contemporary playwright of Green's was called inferior because he pandered to public taste. For several centuries after his death, he was virtually unknown. Today, no one remembers William Green. They do remember his contemporary, William Shakespeare.

Two celebrated photographers were Ansel Adams and Robert Mapplethorpe. Their pictures were black and white, Adams, because color film had not been invented, Mapplethorpe, because he could. Nature was Adam's subject matter. One of his legendary pictures was of the mountain, El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He captured the spiritual dimension of natural beauty. Mapplethorpe was hailed by art critics as one of the greatest photographers ever. You may remember the controversy when it was discovered that Mapplethorpe's work was being funded by taxpayer's money through the National Endowment for the Arts. Much of his subject matter was of muscular nudes engaged in homoerotic and sadomasochistic acts. Five hundred years from now, which photographer's work will be remembered?

I began by saying the building we will move into will be beautiful. But architectural design, color schemes, and art work will not determine its real beauty. People will pay visits to see how the church looks on the inside. But it will only be good for one visit. The basis upon which its beauty will ultimately be judged, and the draw to bring them back… is you.

The best measure of beauty is how inviting and hospitable you are. The beauty of the body of Christ is determined by the degree to which others will catch, through you, the scent of Christ's love. Like Philippians says: "You'll do best by filling your minds with things that are true, reputable, compelling, and gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, and not the ugly."

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