“Full to the Brim: Brazen Acts of Beauty”
Preached Sunday, April 4, 2022
We’re going to jump right into it this morning with my opening sermon question. Thank you for always being vulnerable and open to where the Spirit takes us. This isn’t a question to answer out loud during this time, but one to turn over and think about:
If you knew that the last time you saw a loved one alive - if you knew that was going to be the last time, what would you do? What would you say? Especially if it was a time where you were both healthy and well.
While we were expecting her death when my Grandma was in hospice, my mother and I took our United Methodist hymnals and went to sing hymns at her bedside. My grandpa joined in. My grandmother shared she appreciated the concert. I still hold this memory very close to my heart and I can no longer sing “Are Ye Able” without thinking of her and this time I so appreciated to say goodbye to her.
This is what Mary is doing in this morning’s Gospel reading.
Our reading from John takes place after Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and his subsequent retreat to the town of Ephraim to lay low after the commotion around, and even expected backlash, to his miracle and it takes place before he goes to Jersuealem to celebrate the Passover - and, his coming betrayal, arrest, and death.
And in between these things, he comes to the house of Lazarus and Mary, Martha and Lazarus throw a dinner for him - when your close friend who just raised you from the dead comes to your home - you throw a party! I imagine that there was great joy as they were together - Lazarus was ALIVE, the tears that Jesus wept at his grave were now turned to laughter around the table together.
And, at the same time, I wonder if something hung in the air, at least for Jesus and those who perceived it. They were on their way to Jerusalem. Jesus had spoken many times about what would happen to him there. He had spoken of his suffering and death - but it’s talk that most of the disciples seemed to ignore or grossly misunderstood. But not Mary.
Our reading from Isaiah this morning says, “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”
God was about to do a new thing through Jesus but at this point, among his followers, it seems like Mary was the only one or one of the only ones who perceived it. She knew that this might be the last time she was with him before he died.
So she goes and breaks open, pours out a jar of expensive perfume over Jesus’s feet, and she wipes them with her hair. A jar worth 300 denarii, roughly equivalent to one year’s wage for a day laborer. This perfume may have originally been had for Lazarus’s burial - but, due to the miracle of Jesus, left unused. So instead of using it on her dead brother, now alive. She anoints Jesus, still alive, not yet dead, for burial.
Sanctified Art commentators call Mary's act here “a brazen act of beauty.” They say, “Beauty is resistance to death; beauty is an act of love…a public act of worship.”
Brazen - because they are unapologetic in what they are. A Sanctified Art continues saying, “Mary’s actions could have been defined as wasteful, sexual, shameful, or inappropriate, but Jesus affirms and praises what she does because it is an act of love. In fact, he will soon mirror Mary’s actions on the night before his arrest when he washes his disciples’ feet.”
Mary is not worried about what it will look like. She is unafraid in creating this moment of beauty, this moment of intimacy with her Lord, this moment of worship. And yet, people were watching - and they didn’t like what they saw. Judas does call her out saying how wasteful she is - how she could be doing better. But Jesus deemed had her back and told him to leave her alone. What she did is necessary and good - it was beautiful, and she anointed Jesus for burial.
Our reading from Isaiah today says: For I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.”
“The people whom I formed for myself SO THAT they might declare my praise.”
We were created in order to declare God’s praise. One of our purposes in this world, what gives our life meaning - is to praise God. We can do this in many ways. We do this through finding, prioritizing, choosing, and sharing beauty in this world.
What does this concretely mean? What does it look like?
Brazen acts of beauty in this world are about finding joy and laughter even among death.
Brazen acts of beauty in this world are about being authentically and openly who God created you to be.
Brazen acts of beauty in this world might look like Mary’s actions, giving lavishly, maybe even wastefully, for the mission, for the glory of God, the good in front of you - instead of nickel and dining or saving for a rainy day.
Brazen acts of beauty in this world mean looking for, pointing others to, and even creating moments that glorify God - without reserve, without holding back.
Now, brazen acts of beauty in this world come with great risk. If they didn’t come with risk then it wouldn’t be the kind of beautiful acts that declare God’s praise - it would be living a life of privilege.
The kind of brazen acts of beauty we are talking about come with risk, they come with vulnerability, like a jar of perfume, poured out, broken open.
Artist and minister Lisle Gwynn Garrity tried to capture that in this piece of artwork* depicting Mary’s brazen act of beauty. She writes this in her artist’s description of the piece:
“This image began as a painting on raw canvas. With fluid strokes of paint, I allowed the colors to run and bleed into each other. As I drew Mary kneeling, I omitted the other details in the scene, removing Jesus’ feet, the other guests, the table full of food. I wanted to focus on Mary’s brazen act of pouring out the expensive perfume, a commodity valued at a year’s worth of wages. The luxurious liquid is expansive, flowing out toward us as the viewer. It bleeds into the red, foreshadowing the blood Jesus will soon shed. The vessel she holds is lined with gold, a reference to the ancient Japanese practice of Kintsugi, of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer. The art of Kintsugi embellishes the cracks and transforms a shattered vessel into a new object of beauty. In this embodied act of worship, Mary is practicing Kintsugi—boldly celebrating the beauty of life even as death approaches.”
Kintsugi highlights the beauty in vulnerability - it highlights that there can be beauty even in the midst of brokenness, laughter in times of tears, joy in times of sorrow, life in the face of death. It encaptures what we are talking about today as vulnerable brazen acts of beauty.
I think of those and their stories - which are not mine to tell today, not individual’s name and details that is - but, still, painting with broad strokes if you will: I think of those who have overcome addictions and share their story of their sobriety and recovery with others - maybe even sponsoring others toward recovery. Sharing their own story so that others could also find the beauty of recovery.
I think of those who was open and unapologetically living out who God created them to be - especially our LGBTQ siblings - those who are open about their journey, even the pain and struggles along with the joy - who are pouring themselves out to help create a world where future generations of LGBTQ kids won’t have to go through the same pain and hardships.
I think of those who have shared openly about infertility, grief, divorce, chronic illness, whatever it is - about those who have shared their stories, opening themselves up, being vulnerable - in order to show others the gold that is filling in the cracks - the beauty that comes from healing, from seeking and living out that abundant life that God wants for us - and inviting others into that life, to share the beauty with them.
Let’s take a moment here and remind ourselves that one of our four named values at Grace is Beauty through Wonder. I often think of this as our most esoteric value. We define this value as “We worship and praise Christ in God’s earthly creation.” And what that’s getting at is how central Worship by the Water is to our identity as a congregation. And how the act of worship and the natural world creates wonder for us - wonder at God’s almighty hand. And while the natural world is an obvious place to find beauty - beauty can also be found all around us - all it takes is for our minds to wonder - to wonder - where is the beauty here? In this situation? In this person? In my life? And when we find it, lift it up to God in praise - to hand it over to God. For when we find beauty in this world - whether that be in creation, in another person, or in a brazen act of beauty - for when we find beauty in this world and we see it for what it is and we see who is behind it - God - God finds it beautiful too.
Let me say that again: God finds it beautiful.
We serve a God who is enamored with beauty. If it were not so, would there be so much beauty in the world our God created? Would we have such a capacity to create beauty? Not talking about looks or even art - but the beauty of love, of joy, of kindness, of worship. Beauty.
Beauty is not just for us to enjoy, but for God too. When we create beauty in this world, when we see it and thank God for it, when we share beauty with others - it’s an act of worship or praise. What we were created to do.
Given this, our challenge for us this week is for each of us to consider the following questions:
How am I being called to live out brazen acts of beauty? How am I being called to be vulnerable, broken open, poured out - in a way that glorifies God? In a way that shows the gold in the cracks?
Also - How are you finding beauty in this world? How is your life beautiful to God? How are you sharing that beauty with others?
How are you using the beauty of this world and your life to point others to God?
Let us look to Mary and her brazen act of beauty and be inspired to share beauty with the world, to praise God, to fill in all the cracks with gold.
Amen.
Our reading from Isaiah today says: For I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.”
“The people whom I formed for myself SO THAT they might declare my praise.”
We were created in order to declare God’s praise. One of our purposes in this world, what gives our life meaning - is to praise God. We can do this in many ways. We do this through finding, prioritizing, choosing, and sharing beauty in this world.
What does this concretely mean? What does it look like?
Brazen acts of beauty in this world are about finding joy and laughter even among death.
Brazen acts of beauty in this world are about being authentically and openly who God created you to be.
Brazen acts of beauty in this world might look like Mary’s actions, giving lavishly, maybe even wastefully, for the mission, for the glory of God, the good in front of you - instead of nickel and dining or saving for a rainy day.
Brazen acts of beauty in this world mean looking for, pointing others to, and even creating moments that glorify God - without reserve, without holding back.
Now, brazen acts of beauty in this world come with great risk. If they didn’t come with risk then it wouldn’t be the kind of beautiful acts that declare God’s praise - it would be living a life of privilege.
The kind of brazen acts of beauty we are talking about come with risk, they come with vulnerability, like a jar of perfume, poured out, broken open.
Artist and minister Lisle Gwynn Garrity tried to capture that in this piece of artwork* depicting Mary’s brazen act of beauty. She writes this in her artist’s description of the piece:
“This image began as a painting on raw canvas. With fluid strokes of paint, I allowed the colors to run and bleed into each other. As I drew Mary kneeling, I omitted the other details in the scene, removing Jesus’ feet, the other guests, the table full of food. I wanted to focus on Mary’s brazen act of pouring out the expensive perfume, a commodity valued at a year’s worth of wages. The luxurious liquid is expansive, flowing out toward us as the viewer. It bleeds into the red, foreshadowing the blood Jesus will soon shed. The vessel she holds is lined with gold, a reference to the ancient Japanese practice of Kintsugi, of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer. The art of Kintsugi embellishes the cracks and transforms a shattered vessel into a new object of beauty. In this embodied act of worship, Mary is practicing Kintsugi—boldly celebrating the beauty of life even as death approaches.”
Kintsugi highlights the beauty in vulnerability - it highlights that there can be beauty even in the midst of brokenness, laughter in times of tears, joy in times of sorrow, life in the face of death. It encaptures what we are talking about today as vulnerable brazen acts of beauty.
I think of those and their stories - which are not mine to tell today, not individual’s name and details that is - but, still, painting with broad strokes if you will: I think of those who have overcome addictions and share their story of their sobriety and recovery with others - maybe even sponsoring others toward recovery. Sharing their own story so that others could also find the beauty of recovery.
I think of those who was open and unapologetically living out who God created them to be - especially our LGBTQ siblings - those who are open about their journey, even the pain and struggles along with the joy - who are pouring themselves out to help create a world where future generations of LGBTQ kids won’t have to go through the same pain and hardships.
I think of those who have shared openly about infertility, grief, divorce, chronic illness, whatever it is - about those who have shared their stories, opening themselves up, being vulnerable - in order to show others the gold that is filling in the cracks - the beauty that comes from healing, from seeking and living out that abundant life that God wants for us - and inviting others into that life, to share the beauty with them.
Let’s take a moment here and remind ourselves that one of our four named values at Grace is Beauty through Wonder. I often think of this as our most esoteric value. We define this value as “We worship and praise Christ in God’s earthly creation.” And what that’s getting at is how central Worship by the Water is to our identity as a congregation. And how the act of worship and the natural world creates wonder for us - wonder at God’s almighty hand. And while the natural world is an obvious place to find beauty - beauty can also be found all around us - all it takes is for our minds to wonder - to wonder - where is the beauty here? In this situation? In this person? In my life? And when we find it, lift it up to God in praise - to hand it over to God. For when we find beauty in this world - whether that be in creation, in another person, or in a brazen act of beauty - for when we find beauty in this world and we see it for what it is and we see who is behind it - God - God finds it beautiful too.
Let me say that again: God finds it beautiful.
We serve a God who is enamored with beauty. If it were not so, would there be so much beauty in the world our God created? Would we have such a capacity to create beauty? Not talking about looks or even art - but the beauty of love, of joy, of kindness, of worship. Beauty.
Beauty is not just for us to enjoy, but for God too. When we create beauty in this world, when we see it and thank God for it, when we share beauty with others - it’s an act of worship or praise. What we were created to do.
Given this, our challenge for us this week is for each of us to consider the following questions:
How am I being called to live out brazen acts of beauty? How am I being called to be vulnerable, broken open, poured out - in a way that glorifies God? In a way that shows the gold in the cracks?
Also - How are you finding beauty in this world? How is your life beautiful to God? How are you sharing that beauty with others?
How are you using the beauty of this world and your life to point others to God?
Let us look to Mary and her brazen act of beauty and be inspired to share beauty with the world, to praise God, to fill in all the cracks with gold.
Amen.
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