Engaging with Beauty
Recently at our 20s and 30s weekly dinner, we were talking about how we could share the Gospel with those around us. The consensus was that it is hard to do. No matter if you have known the person for a few months or your entire life, talking about faith is not easy. One of the biggest stumbling blocks we decided is not having all of the answers. “What if someone asks me a question I don’t know? It will look like I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
Our conversation then shifted to what we do have going for us (our strengths), rather than starting out with our deficiencies. We agreed that having a relationship with that person provides a huge foundation to share honestly our faith in Jesus. Though we may not have all the theological terms memorized, we can talk about how the love of God and the power of His Spirit shape our lives.
There has been a major shift in Christian apologetics’ reasoning (defense of the faith) over the past few decades that connects with this idea. In the 1950s, you would likely hear someone start his or her argument for Christianity by saying that it was a logical and reasonable faith. You do not hear many modern apologists start out that way anymore. Non-churchgoers nowadays are not first asking what is rational. They ask, “What is good, beautiful and true in a lasting sense?”
So, we really do not need all of the nitty-gritty theological answers because primarily, people want to engage with beauty and goodness. That is our doorway to a conversation about Jesus. Matthew Crawford claims, “Only beautiful things lead us out to join the world beyond our heads.”
I believe the Church, and Christians like you and me, are called to engage with beauty in a renewed way for the sake of God’s Kingdom and the world. We are called to go out into the world and point others to the Eternal Source of all things. And so, it is while staring at a beautiful sunset, gazing at a lovely painting or listening to an inspiring song that you and I can begin to have a conversation with someone about the One who not only created all beauty and goodness, but Who is Himself beautiful and good.
