Out of the Ashes Beauty Will Rise
Soil and ash. At creation’s dawn, fathomed but not yet formed, humankind awaited God’s creative labors. Taking the dust of the earth and animating it with divine breath, God’s Spirit stirred up soil and ash into life, gave that life a purpose (i.e. to love), and called it “good.” Now, all these years later, though, our lives don’t always feel “good” nor are our hearts always set on love. In Genesis two, dust is a sign of life, the material by which we were made. But turn the page in Genesis and suddenly dust becomes a sign of death, a reminder of our mortality: “From dust you’ve come and to dust you will return,” God tells Adam and Eve.
These days, signs of our mortality loom larger, perhaps, than signs of life. For over a year we’ve struggled through the many challenges of a global pandemic; for months we’ve weathered one of the hardest winters in Iowa’s recorded history; and for nearly forty days we’ve journeyed through Lent, a season that draws attention to the world’s brokenness and invites our repentance. But the saga of God and God’s people has always been one of renewal, and the story of Holy Week—more than any other—confirms what we’ve been hoping and longing for all along: beauty is rising!
Steven Curtis Chapman - Beauty Will Rise ©2008
Winter frost gives way to spring rains…
Beauty is rising!
The silence of winter is being replaced by birdsong…
Beauty is rising!
Neighbors are checking in on one another…
Beauty is rising!
The sun shines longer each day…
Beauty is rising!
Beauty is rising, and one day—the day Jesus returns—Beauty will bubble over and spill into the world until all of creation is transformed into heaven on earth. On that day, beauty won’t just rise… it will cascade from the throne of God, making grace and peace and kindness and love and life the final words, not pain, not suffering, not death.
This Lent you’ve been on the lookout for signs of God’s restoration: the things, acts, moments, and people that reflect Christ’s beauty. We hope you’ve seen beauty rising, even from the dark spaces of your lives. From winter to spring, sickness to health, isolation to communion, Ash Wednesday to Good Friday to Easter morning… Hope is dawning. Spirit is on the move. Out of the ashes, Beauty will rise!