Her Beautiful Countenance?

Let’s try to evaluate the church in the context of beauty and ask some fearless questions.Instead of contributing to the hateful rhetoric of our ugly age, could the church be a shelter from the storm?Instead of a furrowed brow of disapproval, a clenched fist of anger, a wagging finger of condemnation, could the church present to the world a compassionate countenance of grace?Instead of being sucked into the destructive dualism of reactive people, could the church become a contemplative people seeking to hold all things together in the reconciling love of Christ?Instead of ratcheting up culture war polemics, could the church speak the first words of the risen Christ, “peace be with you”?