Dear friends in Christ,
Today, as I write this, it is Tuesday evening. The reading for evening prayer includes part of the twelfth chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel, in which Jesus holds a denarius and tells his followers to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s.
Divine worship is one of the best ways to fulfill Jesus’ teaching. We, who are made in God’s image, give ourselves to God.
This is vitally important for us all to remember, especially in the times in which we now live. There are tyrants around the world who would tell us that our worth comes from empire, that our first allegiance is to shiny things and powerful people. But we know that our worth comes from God alone, not from might, power, or monetary wealth.
There are people around us who would say that what matters most in this world is productivity, the creation of wealth. In this zero-sum worldview, beauty itself is counter-cultural. The beauty of holiness — and the holiness of beauty — can lift our hearts above the dreary nihilism of our time to remember that God’s love is the most beautiful reality in this universe.
The offering of beautiful, holy worship changes our perspective. Giving to God the things that are God’s brings us to a place where we can see that empires and emperors do not hold dominion over us, and they certainly do not confer salvation. During a time in which people treat one another as disposable things and excessive consumption is killing us and our planet, it is positively subversive to bear witness to eternal beauty and to seek majestic transcendence.
Give to God the things that are God’s. Give yourself to God.
Yours faithfully,
Scott Gunn
Executive Director
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