Beauty Behind Bars

The Transforming Power of God’s Word

Sometimes we don’t know we have something until it is taken away. Sometimes we don’t value something until it’s gone. Sometimes we fail to recognize the significance of something until we try to imagine our lives without it.

When considering this topic of beauty for Reformed Worship, Diane Dykgraaf asked people in a variety of churches to share how they strive for beauty in their worship. The pictures and responses you see here come from large and small congregations, urban and small-town churches, and people from various ethnic backgrounds. Each has a unique take on how beauty reflects who God is. —JB

How do you portray or communicate the majesty and beauty of God in your worship?

Have you ever gone for a walk with a child? Have you noticed how children take delight in little things, how they see beauty and intrigue all around them? For children, the environment that surrounds them is very important, as it either awakens curiosity and awe or dulls their senses. Likewise, worship spaces should have an awe-inducing effect on children.

Beauty Revealed

Reconnecting Art, Faith, and Beauty into Our Common Life

Many Christians are called to be artists. For them, art is the most effective way to express their faith. Calligrapher Timothy R. Botts reflects, “As an artist, I listen to God through my eyes and I’m speaking back to him through what comes out of my hands.” In the ongoing quest of “making visible the invisible,” artists find themselves exploring the age-old notion of beauty within the context of their contemporary Christian visions.

Psalm 96 is a rousing psalm of praise calling us to worship a God whose beauty reverberates through the heavens and is mirrored in the worship of God’s gathered people in the sanctuary. Worshiping in such “holy splendor” is a testimony—a common confession that “God is Lord” over all things, all peoples, and especially over all other rival gods.