It might seem obvious to some, the idea of the beauty of the Christmas season.  But it is not.  And what is beautiful to one person — the lights, the trees, and all the rest — may in fact cause others to draw away.  One person’s beauty, in this sense, can be another person’s pain.

The kind of beauty that writer Bruce Epperly talks about is not confined to 12 days in December and January. It is a deeper response to the gift of creation, rather than the celebration of the season. To use Howard Thurman’s own words:

The quality of Christmas—what is it? It is the fullness with which fruit ripens, blossoms unfold into flowers, and live coals glow in the darkness. It is the richness of vibrant colors—the calm purple of grapes, the exciting redness of tomatoes, the shimmering light on the noiseless stirring of a lake or a sunset. It is the sense of plateau with a large rock behind which one may take temporary respite from the winds that chill (36).

Thurman describes the beauty of all creation, not just the beauty that we see with our eyes, but that beauty beyond words that we experience in our bodies, beauty as a kind of inner glow, beauty as an exaltation of all that is and beauty as the kind of relief that comes from rest and safety.  Thurman’s beauty is yet another experience of the incarnation.

Epperly suggests that Christmas time gives us a chance to learn what it is to see the glories around us instead of the darkness.  This idea comes from his grounding in process theology, a way of understanding that suggests a belief in an active, changing God, a God who lives and breaths with and as part of God’s own creation.  For Epperly,  “Beauty is the gift of contrast, diversity, novelty, and transformation (37).”  Beauty is a thing that is constantly in motion.

This is an artist’s definition of beauty — a process, a becoming, but never a destination, never an achievement.  You only have to talk to a painter or a musician or a writer to know that — the work accomplished can always be more, always more beautiful, always more expressive.  And, if we think about it, isn’t that the power of this story, our story, of the birth of the Child?  It is not a single event; it happens over and over again, each year.  And, if we are lucky, it happens daily in the hearts and minds of millions, a new birth that can lift the world just one more step along the road to the realization of beauty, a beauty fueled by joy and love.

If these are the eyes through which we see beauty, how can we ever see ugliness?  How can we ever choose gain over the glory of creation?  I do not have answers to that question, but I think that I will keep asking it.  I will remind myself to choose beauty, whenever possible.  I will remind myself that it is my purpose to experience this beauty of becoming, always. And, for today, I would like to close with the prayer offered by Epperly at the end of his reflection on beauty, because I can do no better:

Help us to live by joy, to taste and see beauty, and to bring forth beauty in every encounter. Help us to love this good Earth. Remind us that prophets and not profits show us and our nation the way to following you. In Christ’s name. Amen. (38)