The Bright and Beautiful

Yesterday we attended a funeral, the father of a church friend. He wasn’t a church-going  man, but at the family’s request we sung:

‘All things bright and beautiful,
all creatures great and small,
all things wise and wonderful,
the Lord God made them all.’

I questioned… Was that appropriate for a funeral? The lyrics describe a creator-God who made flowers and birds, mountains and rivers, sunshine and wind. Perhaps the song gives a context to the life of a much-loved husband, father, grandfather.

Recently I’ve been reflecting again on Ecclesiastes 3: ‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.’ There’s ‘a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…’ It’s about the God of all aspects and seasons of life, the circle of life, the big picture…

…There’s ‘A time to be born and a time to die…’ The God of bright and beautiful living is the God of dying…

A second question came later. A friend asked if the Lord who made the bright and beautiful, the wise and wonderful, also made the dull and boring, the ugly and stupid. He asked with a smile, but it’s a good question.

My initial response was that yes, God made everything, everyone. Looking at three hundred children in a school assembly-hall I believed that God made them all… the kind and considerate, the angry and rebellious…

My mind went to this week’s news… the paedophile newsreader, the sexually abusive millionaire, the teenage murderer, the international bomber… the Lord God made them all?

I remembered Jesus… seeing the dull and boring, the ugly and stupid as bright and beautiful. He challenged the human judgemental spirit, seeing wisdom and wonder in the bruised and broken that others couldn’t see.

The Ecclesiastes text includes, ‘He has made everything beautiful in its time…’ My questions aren’t fully answered, but my faith in the loving God of the bright and beautiful is restored, deepened…