Beauty is What Hope Does

Friday, August 19, 2022

“The concept of physical beauty as a virtue is one of the dumbest, most pernicious and destructive ideas of the Western world, and we should have nothing to do with it.”

—Toni Morrison

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INVOCATION

adapted from Psalm 17

Listen, O Eternal One, to our cry for justice…
Our hope is to see your face. 

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EPIPHANY

Flicking through shoe boxes stuffed with pictures of old versions of myself, I’m struck by the sheer volume of this archive of me. Me, young with flowing hair extensions. Me, young with legs for days. Me, young with sculpted arms. Me, young with a flat midriff. Me, young with good looks, no money, and stacks of problems. 

It was weird to hold my own beauty in my hands that are starting to show evidence of their 53 years. I showed my husband a picture of me at 30 years old. It was taken right after I ditched hair extensions for a fresh pixie cut. I’m wearing a black lycra sundress and looking pretty sultry. I tell him, “I’ll never be this kind of beautiful again.” I know my words have trapped him because, of course, I will never be young and beautiful again. But he loves this beautiful, 53-year-old version of me. And he knows that there’s nothing he can say that will make believe his love is true, that he desires the woman holding the picture more than the siren poising in it. 

When I was young, I put all my hope into being conventionally beautiful. These days, I wouldn’t say all that energy was an entire waste of time but it certainly was an all-consuming distraction. And these days, when I think about the kind of woman I wanted to be, she looked nothing like a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model. The kind of woman I wanted to grow and be carried a beauty that beauty forgot—a beauty illuminated by inner knowing and courage. It wasn’t a beauty that your born with but one that you rise to. If beauty is what beauty does, this kind of beauty does justice, loves mercy, walks humbly and bestows a beautiful hope upon the world. 

I’ve seen this beauty in the stories and faces of these women: Elizabeth Freeman, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, the Grimké Sisters, Ida B Wells, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mary McLeod Bethune, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ruby Sales, bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison. Their faces radiate a beauty that is generous in wisdom, hope, love and strength. It’s the kind of beauty that can’t be shoved into shoe boxes or forgotten. 

As Psalm 31 puts is: 

Charm can be deceptive and physical beauty will not last, but a woman who reveres the Eternal should be praised above all others. Celebrate all she has achieved. Let all her accomplishments publicly praise her.

In this truth there is great hope not just for women but for all of us who walk this earth. 

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CHANT

*Adapted from lyrics from Rule the World by Michael Kiwanuka 

God Who Saves Me,
Take me out of myself again.

Spirit Wisdom, Help me

God Who Birthed the Earth,
Help me lose [surrender] control.

Rabbi Jesus, Show me

God Who Speaks Life,
Show me love, show me happiness

Holy Love, Love me

God Who Is Faithful,
I can't do this on my own.

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BENEDICTION

by Rev. Michelle L. Torigian

As we leave this space and continue to co-create with God,
May we sense God our Creator filling us with inspiration to craft a world of love.
May we sense God our Seeker and Savior accompanying us into the valleys and peaks of life.
May we sense God the Carpenter of Justice and Love awakening us to new avenues of caring.
May God of the Expanding Universe open us to a world of new visions and dreams. 

Amen.