Beauty and Hot Dogs

There are very few academic quotes that I think about regularly—sorry, professors. However, there’s one that almost haunts me. It comes from Hans Urs von Balthasar:

We no longer dare to believe in beauty and we make of it a mere appearance in order the more easily to dispose of it. Our situation today shows that beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated and banned from her two sisters without taking them along with herself in an act of mysterious vengeance.

To really grasp what Balthasar is getting at, we can’t think of beauty like we normally do—some preference in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is something that happens to us, and we end up wanting more of it. It’s not really something we can possess and analyze. Beauty is something we come to realize retrospectively and then love because it has transformed us in some way. 

To put it rather crudely, for Balthasar, Christ is the true form of Beauty, and encountering Christ is nothing short of transformative. To encounter Jesus Christ is to have something beautiful happen to us that alters our makeup. The beauty of Christ acts as the Spirit’s alchemy for our souls.

I’m convinced that our negligence and even disdain of beauty, especially in ministry settings, causes us to fall into beauty’s “mysterious vengeance.” Beauty’s exclusion makes ministry hollow, rote, worldly. Without beauty, it’s far more difficult to bear witness and say, “Christ and his Spirit are at work here.”

A pastor—really any Christian—who “dares to believe in beauty” is one who is after something utterly different from what the world wants and sees as sensible. Just think of how our church life would change if we were after the form of beauty that is Christ who transforms:

• What would a beautiful resolution to a conflict look like, not just an efficient one?
• What would beautiful inclusion—and even friendship—look like here?
• What would be a beautiful way to care for someone going through a difficult time?
• What would a beautiful budget prioritize, not just pragmatically maintain?
• What would faith formation and discipleship look like if we focused on cultivating a beautiful life of faith, instead of just focusing on what is true or right to do?
• What would beautiful worship look like, and how would it be more than just our personal preferences for music?
• What would beautiful mercy and justice ministries look like in our community?

Let me bring this to life with a concrete example. This summer, I encountered Christ-like beauty through hot dogs.

Here at The First Church in Albany, we’re located downtown among different neighborhoods, businesses, government offices, and schools. Every Thursday afternoon throughout June, July, and August, First Church volunteers fire up a grill and hand out free hot dogs, literally as fast as they can. By the end of August, they were passing out close to 200 dogs each Thursday.

The whole ministry is a thing of beauty, down to the details. Over the last couple of years, volunteers and leaders have added and improved what we give out. They’ve asked, “How can we make this beautiful?” We now give out some very good hot dogs, all beef of course. Want chili? We got it. Do we have sauerkraut? It’d be criminal if we didn’t. How about a popsicle for the kids? Chips for a side? Foil-wrap to take your dogs to-go? Yup, yup, yup. Oh, don’t forget your cold drink and a handmade prayer shawl. They even have water misters on their tent for days that are extra hot. 

And then there’s the beautiful cross-section of people who come and mingle as they eat: government officials and court workers, engineers and school teachers, retired veterans and kids off for the summer, even tourists and neighbors who live outside. I’ve witnessed our volunteers get to know people by name and check up on their sick family members, people praying for one another, and moms setting up play times for their kids. Some folks only know each other from meeting at Hot Dogs in the Park! Others inquire about church and even come to worship. I had a community member tell me he hates church and then hand me cash as a donation to our church because he loves this ministry so much. 

Beauty just seems to ooze from this ministry. I understand that doing this every week isn’t always easy for our volunteers, but I’ve also witnessed that they’ve encountered a Christ-like beauty that keeps drawing them back with a smile that lets me know they’ve been changed by the beauty in this ministry. And what’s amazing is that it all started when someone decided to do something beautifully simple.

People are yearning for beauty, especially at church. Don’t exclude it. Dare to believe in it. Center beauty in the form of Christlikeness and ask beautiful questions. My wager is that if you do, you and your church will be transformed.

P.S. If you want to start reading more about beauty from a Reformed perspective, read anything by Calvin Seerveld.

Pictures courtesy of Colleen Lais.