Beautiful Things - January 19

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 38; PM Psalm 119:25-48;Gen. 9:18-29; Heb. 6:1-12; John 3:22-36

Today’s Reflection

“Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed; its end is to be burned over. Even though we speak in this way, beloved, we are confident of better things in your case, things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust; he will not overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do.” –Hebrews 6: 7-10

During my last year at Seminary of the Southwest, I chose to do my field placement in what was considered a non-traditional context, the Episcopal Student Center at the University of Texas at Austin. I wanted to serve and learn at the ESC for a few reasons, one was that after a year of driving 45 minutes each way to a traditional parish in Wimberley, on the edge of the Hill Country, I was ready to serve someplace closer to home. And home, for us who lived on campus at SSW, was the University District. The street we lived on was a cut-through for students and professors who walked and rode their bikes to and from UT. We could hear every word from the PA system at Darrell Royal Stadium on football game days, every blast of canons or whatever it was they fired off when the Longhorns scored. All restaurants and stores in the area were both staffed by students and filled by them as customers. This was our neighborhood, not to mention all its keep-Austin-weirdness.

The other reason I chose to serve at the ESC was that I really missed being around college students, who were the main people I spent time with for the 12 years I worked as a professor prior to discerning a call to priesthood. I missed the energy, curiosity, and openness of college students, and was thrilled to have the chance to learn about ministry through worshipping and being in community with them that year.

We worshipped together on Sunday evenings in the Nave of All Saints Austin, the parish with whom they shared a campus, then shared a dinner together afterwards in the ESC common area. Worship was a beautiful blend of old and new: the jewel-tones of the stained glass illuminated by the setting sun, the very traditional worship space (including what was once an east-facing altar), chasubles worn by the priest, and even a thurible with a thick cloud of incense on special occasions came together with a mix of 18- to 30-year-olds (mainly undergrads with several grad students mixed in), and a group of musicians leading us in what were mainly the songs common to Camp Capers and Camp Allen (the camps of the Diocese of West Texas and Texas, where a number of our ESC people camped or worked in the summers).

A song that we often included in our Sunday evening Eucharists was “Beautiful Things” by Gungor. Oftentimes, this was used as the gradual hymn, or the song we sang as we processed out the Gospel. I had never heard this song before, but it quickly became one of my most beloved songs. The following summer, when I moved on to my curacy in College Station, I invited some of the UT ESC students to be part of my priest ordination service, and one of the songs I asked them to play during Communion was “Beautiful Things.”

All this pain
I wonder if I'll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change, at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found?
Could a garden come out from this ground, at all?

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around,
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found, in you

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

(Lisa and Michael Gungor, Beautiful Things lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Capitol CMG Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, 2010)

This song expresses in so many ways so much of what I believe about the transformative power of Christ’s love in our lives, both individually and together. As one of the songwriters, Michael Gungor, shared in an interview: “During the time of 'Beautiful Things' I was reading a lot of N T Wright and different theologians who have opened up my view of God and the world and his story. … Having the story opened up, realising this is GOD’s story, he's the creator of all things and we’re invited into this process of recreating that started with the empty tomb—that has been very inspiring.”

A verse included in our lectionary readings for today, Hebrews 6:7, calls to mind similar imagery of life rising up out of the dust, beginning to flourish and grow as God intended: “Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.” It seemed apt to be singing this song together with these faithful UT students, who were in this especially intense period of developing and growing into the people God had made them to be. But then, we are all still always growing up into the beautiful things God has created us to be.

Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

Listen to or read the lyrics of “Beautiful Things.” What memories or images does the song evoke for you? How does this song together with the Hebrews passage for today help you see where and how Christ’s love has transformed and is transforming your life?

Daily Challenge

Watch and listen as Lisa and Michael Gungor sing “Beautiful Things” here.

You can read the full interview with Michael Gungor here.