“The king is entralled by your beauty; honor him for he is your lord” (Psalm 45:11)
Today I attended a conference at Regent called “The Beauty of Truth and the Truth of Beauty.” Luci Shaw, a wonderful Christian poet, and Sven Soderlund, professor emeritus of New Testament at Regent, were the two speakers. They both talked about how beauty enriches our understanding of the Christian faith. Luci Shaw explained that by paying attention to the often mundane things in our lives we begin to see God’s thumbprint upon his creation which leads to wonder and awe. She then talked about how writing and reading poetry helps us notice God’s thumbprint. Sven Soderland discussed how the biblical writers used beauty and poetry in their writings to convey theological truth (1/3 of the Old Testament is in a “poetic” form!). He discussed the Psalms, Philippians 2:5-11, Colossians 1:15-20, and the Book of Revelations as highly structured beautiful literature that is used for the service of God. We then concluded the conference by reflecting how we can incorporate beauty into our Christian lives and in particular into our worship services.
Ironically (or providentially) then, when I got back to the house that I’m staying at, I met Mark, the nephew of the people that I’m staying with. As we got to talking, I found out that he is part of an Eastern Orthodox Church and that he was just about to leave to go to their Saturday evening Vespers service. So he and I went to the service together – what a rich and beauty-filled service.
Just a quick run-down on what the service looked like. There were a number of icons throughout the building which the worshippers kneeled before, crossed themselves, and then kissed. The congregation (about 10 of us!) stood during the entire service (about 45 minutes) while the priest and the choir sang responsively (again the entire time). The priest would walk through the sanctuary chanting and swinging the censor (a chain and ball with smokey incence in it) at the icons, at the cross, and at the congregation. I participated when I felt it was appropriate and refrained at other times (like when they prayed to Theotokos (Mother of God)).
Anyway, it was an interesting and unexpected way to end a day of discussing beauty, truth, and worship.
