HAPPENINGS: Lead Article, March 3, 2026

Happenings Lead Article

March 3, 2026

The Rev. Aron Kramer

Many of my reading resources this week have been filled with the idea of Beauty. At first I was a little annoyed, because it is Lent, and I know I have been a little more uplifting this Lent than I have been in the past. Not that I have been down in Lent, I just tend to focus, I think, more on self discipline and the penitential nature of the Season.

But then I came across this little gem from Rumi: “Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” At first I thought Rumi was comparing ideas. The idea of the beauty we love being the beauty we do was inspiring. But having hundreds of way to kneel and kiss the ground seemed to minimize or shrink the idea of beauty.

But then I saw it a little differently, beauty in our world tends to be held by the few, the powerful and the elite. There is a standard and an expectation about what beauty is. You have to look a certain way, behave in a certain way and when you do, you can call yourself, or be called beautiful.

Beauty is not simply in the hands of those we as a society deem beautiful. It is not simply in the minds that are the smartest or the most creative. Beauty can be found in how we welcome the stranger, beauty can be found in a touch on a hand when someone is in pain. Beauty can be found in hundreds of different ways.

John O’Donohue in his book, “Beauty: The Invisible Embrace” laments the loss of beauty and how it has been replaced by relentless mediocrity. He says that beauty is forgotten, and made to seem as if it is naive and solely in the realm of romanticism. He talks about how the soul feels at home in the world, and this is where, I think, we can revisit Rumi’s idea from above.

Rumi wants us to fully embody the beauty we see and admire around us. It's not enough to simply appreciate beauty; we must become agents of beauty in the world. We must find a place, or places where our soul can feel at home in the world. When Rumi says there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground, Rumi is saying that reverence and gratitude can be expressed through countless acts, acts such as prayer, service, creativity, compassion and hospitality.

Recently many of us had a conversation with a newcomer who said they were welcomed more here at St. Ed’s in one hour than in a full year at a fellow Episcopal Church in our western Suburbs. I say that not to make you feel good about yourselves, but to express out loud that I think you each seek beauty through your curiosity, and your hospitality in knowing and understanding people who walk in these doors.

It is vital and important that we see the beauty in all people, and that we become what we love to be. And what I see is a group of people, a growing, and ever expanding group of people who seek beauty in relationships, because in that relationship we see God, we see the Spirit alive and well in our midst.

Beauty is not just found in a monk praying in their cell, or a priest alone in the sacristy before church. Beauty is found in the eyes, the touches, the hugs that arise because of our curiosity to connect to one another, not for gossip, but for true, real connection that deepens our own relationship with God.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “We are made immortal by this kiss, by the contemplation of beauty.”

I pray and hope you all will continue to let the beauty you love be what you want do.
Aron