Reflection: ‘And it was good’: designed for beauty

Darkness

God in all glory but unrevealed

No senses, no language, no limits

Light—like shining from shook foil

Darkness shot through with glory

‘It is good’ Not better, but good

Glory hinted in the language of waves

The sense of sight

The light of life

Cosmos awash in waves

Glory gashes between the swell

Peels back the canopy

And anchors God in the universe between the waters

Heaven—a place for glory, but just a footstool

With a footing in creation God spreads limitless canvas

And with extravagant gesture gathers medium and matter

Substance becomes order

He breathes vitality and ‘It is good’

Good grows green

Verdant, viridian, turquoise and beryl

Olive, aqua, jasper and emerald                                    .

Good reproduces

Seed, sprout, bud and flower

Intricate design

Sumptuous wardrobe

‘Garments of glory’

Good takes respite renews and replenishes

Then with joyful abandon

Artist saturates good with perfect

Spills glory, glory, glory

Glory lives in fluorescent fins and wings

Textured furs and skins

On canvas pulsing with dizzying perfection

Glory wields its final passionate flourish

The very image of God

Glory itself reflected in the face and nature of humanity

So very good

Prayer:

Our world pulses with hints of your stunning New Creation. Oh, come, King Jesus. Reign on earth as you do in heaven and redeem all creation.

“Jesus, thy blood and righteousness my beauty are, my glorious dress, Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, with joy shall I lift up my head.” (hymn by Nicolaus Ludwig, Graf von Zinzendorf; translated by John Wesley)