An Afternoon With The Beautiful People

Yesterday, Dorry and I hosted more than 40 people in our new home; it was a graduation party for our daughter, Adrienne, who earned her high school diploma a little over three weeks ago from North Penn High School. It was heart-warming to see so many friends and family members celebrating Adrienne's success and wishing her well with a future that's looking bright. What took me by surprise, though, was the many guests who congratulated Dorry and me for guiding and supporting Adrienne to this momentous point. It was truly affirming to be in the company of so many people who were "in our corner," so to speak -- and to know that there were even more folks like them who were not there with us yesterday afternoon.

Our Grad With Her Brother

Today, as I flipped through a few of my dad's sermons, I found one that captured the spirit of yesterday's get-together. He preached that sermon -- entitled "Beautiful People" -- on July 14, 1987. Dad began by making clear that he was not referring, as we often do, "to those who are slim and handsome and trendy and rich and found doing all the right things in the right places." Instead, "the real 'beautiful people' [are those] who know the grace of God in their own lives and reflect that grace to others as they give of themselves[.]" 

"When you are with such people, Jesus Christ is not just an abstract concept or a murky figure from the pages of the Bible, but he is incarnated right there before your very eyes. When you know the basically selfish bent of humanity and you are associated with those who give of themselves and do so graciously, then you know that Paul was right when he said, 'it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me.' The beautiful people are the best proof, the only proof of the validity of the Gospel."

Dad said that the Christian has a great resource in developing the kind of gratitude that makes beautiful people: "As receivers of the Gospel, the Good News, we know that God loves us just as we are; [God] made each of us unique and though stained by sin, we are precious in [God's] sight. Jesus Christ believed you and I were worth dying for. If that isn't affirmation, I don't know what is! Ultimately, it is this affirmation from God that breaks through our hard exterior and frees us to show love and appreciation to others, frees us to be beautiful and to call others beautiful. ... A Christian is one who can love and affirm and encourage others because every day he feels the Spirit of God loving and affirming and encouraging him."

Dad closed with this prayer for his congregation: "May all who enter this house of God be made to feel important and appreciated."

With so many guests in our house yesterday, it was a difficult to talk at length with everyone; to make sure that they all knew, in a personal way, how much we valued their traveling to Newtown to celebrate with us. So to all our friends and family, those who were with us and those who were not, please know that you are important to us and are greatly appreciated. You are truly Beautiful People! 

"Beautiful People"

Philippians 1:1-11

Preached 7/14/1987 @ Paoli United Methodist Church