Beauty and the Beast

Last Saturday's Harvest Lunch

Last weekend at our Harvest Lunch we were entertained by an extrovert pianist who loved interacting with the audience!  Introducing one of his numbers, he 'dedicated' it to two of our congregation sitting close to him.  This was unexpected and a bit of a risk on his part as the selection of music he was about to play was from Disney's Beauty and the Beast!  The 'Beast' he selected was our event organiser (who took it in good part) and the 'Beauty' was a lady sitting on a nearby table.  'What do you think about that?', he asked her.  In a flash, with no warning but with great theological insight, she responded,'Well, there's a beauty and a beast in all of us'.

I loved her words and thought them both full of grace and insight.

There is so much truth in what she said and it is reflected by the words of St Paul in Romans 7: For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want I do.

The world is rarely divided into that which is obviously good and bad.  Ethical and political decisions are no where near as clear cut as our press and media hypocritically try to suggest; there are shades of grey everywhere and it needs careful, patient and thoughtful discernment to chart a way forward.

So, I'm grateful to our fellow lunch guest last Saturday for her wise words reminding me that all of us need the grace of God and the forbearance of those around us because in every person there are elements of both 'The Beauty and The Beast'.