Art & Story
Indirect forms of communication.
“Beauty will save the world.”
“No person can communicate God directly to another; it must be indirect.”
Beauty carries truth and goodness not as concepts, but spiritually.
Jesus rarely spoke plainly. He told stories, asked questions, and pointed at the world — trusting that truth received indirectly takes root more deeply than truth handed over as a concept.
- Beauty is transcendent. It reaches past argument to something we recognize before we can explain it.
- Beauty carries grace — bearing truth and goodness not as concepts but spiritually (Solzhenitsyn).
- Beauty transforms. It communicates indirectly and holistically, affecting us deeply — beyond our consciousness and understanding.
- Story and art meet us where we are. They affect each of us uniquely and differently at every point in our journey.
The importance of art and indirect communication.
When addressing life’s anxieties, Jesus points to the lilies of the field and the wonder we encounter when we consider how they grow. He asked over 360 questions in the Gospels, was asked some 160 questions, and directly answered only three of them. He wasn’t interested in telling us about truth and goodness; he was interested in bringing us to them.
The advent of Christ into the world creates the possibility of personhood — the dignity and uniqueness of every human being. If we are all “fearfully and wonderfully made,” distinct and unique, then God’s relationship to each one of us will be unique — evident in that each person receives from God a unique and secret name known only to them.
God speaks to each of us with a profound intimacy known only to us. And so it is the work of Common Ground to explore life and God’s presence in the world while staying out of the way — allowing each of us to complete the meaning within our own personal journey.
The “how” behind this restraint lives in Explorations in Ecclesia — for those who wish to look under the hood.