We long for the beauty and goodness of deeply connected, creative relationships. However, the world in which we live bears the evidence of violence that emerges from our fear and our shame, expressing itself, ultimately, in some form of social hierarchy, a feature of what it has meant to be part of human civilization for virtually as long as we have been civilized. But there is hope to be found in our suffering, hope that emerges in the context of confessional communities that work to tell each person’s story more truly—and as such, so also the story of the community that God is creating and preparing to dwell in his kingdom. Moreover, in gazing upon, in beholding beauty in the context of our violence-inflicted griefs, we give God access to transform us, as that beauty circumvents the defenses we have erected in response to our unrepaired ruptures. Hence, we become insofar as we belong to this very community that suffers together as it gazes upon the beauty of the Lord. In so doing, we each, as individuals, and we all, collectively, come to belong to our Lord and to each other, while we become more reflective of that same God whose image we bear.

- Curt Thompson, MD

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