Can beauty save the world?  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn took up this question posed by  Dostoevsky in his nobel prize winning speech in 1970.  Coming out of the horrors of the Soviet gulags, Solzhenitsyn found himself convinced that beauty expressed through art could in fact draw us back to goodness and truth despite all the horrors of the 20th century.  Our souls are uniquely woven to savor the beauty of the created world which draws us up and out of ourselves into the beauty of the One who created us.  Our spirits both soar and rest when bathing in beauty.  And it is the strength we draw from beauty that nurtures the resilience required to endure and overcome the dark realities of the atrocities we as fallen humans can afflict on one another.

I am grateful for artists who stir my sense of awe and wonder at the beauty all around me that I so easily overlook in my distracted busyness. I find myself understandably drawn to that which stirs fear and anxiety. The breadth of human pain and suffering in our day is impossible to comprehend and I find myself desperately in need of visions of God’s reassuring strong, loving presence enabling me to engage my world with hope.

Recently while reflecting on the challenges of our day, a friend encouraged me to watch Terrence Malick’s film, A Hidden Life. Through stunning cinematography and carefully crafted poetic reflections, Malick compelling depicts the real-life journey of Franz and Franziska Jägerstätter, humble Austrian farmers, as they grapple with the consequences of refusing to swear allegiance to Hitler.  Malick weaves together Scriptural reflections with scenes of familial love set against the backdrop of the beauty of their remote valley in the shadow of the Austrian mountains.

I found myself captivated and deeply moved by the visual artistry interspersed with poetic reflections and masterful movement between silence and stunning vocal requiems.

I could not help but ask, could I so trust God in the face of the temptations to conform to evil in my day?  Could I too find deep intimacy, connection, and strength in the face of a world gone mad in its depersonalization and abuse of men and women, all created in God’s image, all designed for mutual love and flourishing?

Could I say with David,
 “He is ever present with me;
at all times He goes before me.
I will not live in fear or abandon my calling
because He stands at my right hand.” (Psalm 16:8 The Voice)

Could I actually experience the reality of:
“You will not abandon me to experience death and the grave
or leave me to rot alone.
Instead, You direct me on the path that leads to a beautiful life.
As I walk with You, the pleasures are never-ending,
and I know true joy and contentment.” (vv. 11-12)

In the deep pain of Franz and Franziska’s separation and loss, Malick beautifully portrays the assurance we have in Jesus of life beyond death and with Jesus genuine consolation in the midst of the greatest evils men can afflict on one another when we allow ourselves to be manipulated by forces of evil that seek our destruction.

Franz and Franziska experienced the reality of Frost’s The Road Not Taken at the profoundest of levels.  As I continue to savor the imagery and poetry of A Hidden Life I find myself more deeply resonating with David:

Psalm 16

1 Protect me, God, for the only safety I know is found in the moments I seek You.
2 I told You, Eternal One, “You are my Lord,
for the only good I know in this world is found in You alone.”
3 The beauty of faith-filled people encompasses me.
They are true, and my heart is thrilled beyond measure.
5 You, Eternal One, are my sustenance and my life-giving cup.
In that cup, You hold my future and my eternal riches.
6 My home is surrounded in beauty;
You have gifted me with abundance and a rich legacy.
8 He is ever present with me;
at all times He goes before me.
I will not live in fear or abandon my calling
because He stands at my right hand.
9 This is a good life—my heart is glad, my soul is full of joy,
and my body is at rest.
Who could want for more?
10 You will not abandon me to experience death and the grave
or leave me to rot alone.
11 Instead, You direct me on the path that leads to a beautiful life.
As I walk with You, the pleasures are never-ending,
and I know true joy and contentment.

God’s desire is that our souls would be redeemed, restored, saved, rescued, delivered, and healed by the beauty that we find in Him and all that He has created.  Abba, Jesus, and Holy Spirit call us forth into Yourself that we may share Your love and so experience life as You always intended it to be.  As Curt Thompson is fond of encouraging us, please help us to regularly place ourselves consciously in the path of Your oncoming beauty and be transformed into Your likeness!

For further reflection:

1.  This scene from Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s Silence has helped me imagine how God is intimately with His children when they suffer.  This film is another compelling work of art depicting the reality of God’s loving presence in the midst of suffering and loss.
2. I found this meditation further deepened my appreciation for why I found Malick’s film to be so compelling:  Reflection on the Beauty of Sacred Story Artistically Portrayed in A Hidden Life
3. For those in the greater Baltimore region consider joining an intimate diverse community seeking to anchor ourselves in the love of God for us as we walk with Him in the world as we begin a new Coracle Baltimore Fellowship this Fall.