Sermon: Art Reveals God’s Beauty and Creativity

Preacher:

Bob Cooper

Date:

Sunday 16th February 2025

Venue:

Guildford Cathedral

Service:

Cathedral Eucharist

I am delighted that at the end of the service today we will be receiving Piers Rosslyn-Smith’s beautiful installation Unending Love into the cathedral.

Art helps us engage with God by drawing our attention to His nature, stirring our emotions, and deepening our spiritual reflections. Whether through painting, music, literature, or sculpture, art serves as a bridge between the finite and the infinite, helping us experience God's presence in a tangible way.

Art Reveals God’s Beauty and Creativity

God is the ultimate Creator, and beauty in art reflects His divine creativity. Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel captures biblical narratives in a breathtaking way but by looking at the ceiling, viewers are invited into a sacred encounter with God’s grandeur and the drama of salvation history.

Art Awakens the Soul to Worship

Music, painting, and sculpture can stir emotions that words alone may not. Beautiful art has the power to move us beyond mere intellectual knowledge into heartfelt worship.

Johann Sebastian Bach, inscribed “Soli Deo Gloria” (To God Alone Be the Glory) on his compositions, for he believed that music that lifts hearts toward God.

Art Communicates Theological Truths

Great religious art helps us grasp theological concepts that may otherwise seem abstract. Through symbolism, colour, and form, artists have conveyed deep truths about God’s nature, grace, and redemption.

In Rembrandt’s The Return of the Prodigal Son we are drawn into the light and shadows, the father’s tender embrace, the son’s humility telling a story of grace and forgiveness, inviting the viewer to experience God’s mercy.

Art Provides a Space for Reflection and Contemplation

Sacred spaces and visual art often create an atmosphere conducive to prayer and reflection, helping believers slow down and become aware of God’s presence.

Which of us has failed to be moved as we sit in a sun-drenched church as the stained glass has refracted the light and the biblical stories flood the sanctuary with ethereal light, drawing us into a sacred moment of contemplation.

Art Expresses Lament, Hope, and Joy

Art gives voice to the full range of human experience. Whether in times of suffering or joy, art helps us process emotions before God.

Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night, shows the longing of the human soul for something greater. Though he struggled with faith and despair, his art reflects a deep yearning for God’s presence.

Beautiful art helps us engage with God by revealing His beauty, inspiring worship, communicating deep truths, providing space for contemplation, and expressing human emotion. Whether through a painting, a symphony, or a well-crafted poem, art reminds us that we are made in the image of a creative God who speaks through beauty.

There is an object in mathematics that defies expectations: the Möbius strip. Take a strip of paper, give it a half-twist, and join the ends. Now try to trace its surface. What seemed like two distinct sides before the twist are now one continuous plane. It is a shape without a beginning or an end, a paradox of unity within seeming separation.

In many ways, this mirrors the love of God. We often think of God’s love as something we move in and out of, something that circumstances might sever. Yet, as the Paul declares in Romans 8, nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ. Like a Möbius strip, His love is unbroken, encompassing, and infinite.

Paul’s words in Romans 8 are among the most triumphant declarations in Scripture. They come after a chapter filled with assurances of God’s grace—of predestination, of justification, and of glorification. Then Paul climaxes with an unshakable assertion: nothing can separate us from God’s love.

This truth is crucial for Christian theology. God’s love is not a transaction; it is not conditional on our actions, emotions, or circumstances. It is a covenantal, steadfast love rooted in His character. This is the agape love of God—unearned, unshaken, and unending.

 

Imagine again the Möbius strip. It appears to have two sides, yet it is one continuous whole. Human love often operates with a front and a back, an inside and an outside. We experience love conditionally—when we perform well, when we are deserving, when we meet expectations. But God’s love does not function this way. It does not have an ‘outside.’ There is no condition, no breaking point. Like the Möbius strip, it continues, uninterrupted and eternal.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor, theologian, and martyr who confronted the evils of the Nazi regime wrote extensively on the costly grace of God, emphasizing that divine love is not a mere sentiment but a transforming reality.

Even from a prison cell, facing execution, he rested in the unshakeable love of Christ. He once wrote: “There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe.” The love of God, then, is not merely a comfort; it is an invitation to trust without fear.

Paul lists an exhaustive series of potential separators—death, life, angels, demons, present, future, powers, height, depth. These represent the full spectrum of existence, both visible and invisible. Each category contains real threats: the fear of death, the burdens of life, spiritual warfare, the uncertainty of the future. Yet, none of these can sever us from God’s love.

Even the finality of death cannot remove us from His love. In Christ, death is not a wall but a doorway. Similarly, the trials of life—its successes, failures, and sufferings—do not dictate God’s love for us.

The spiritual realm, with its unseen forces, cannot disrupt divine love. Though we engage in spiritual battles, our foundation remains secure.

He speaks of Temporal realities—our anxieties, regrets, and fears—and yet these do not affect God’s love. It spans beyond time.

No cosmic or earthly force can reach a place where God’s love does not already exist.

Paul’s sweeping statement leaves no room for doubt. Theologically, this underscores the perseverance of the saints and the certainty of salvation. Our standing before God is anchored in Christ, not in our own ability to hold on.

Understanding that God’s love is unbreakable changes how we live.

We Walk in Confidence, Not Fear: If nothing can separate us from God’s love, we need not fear failure, rejection, or suffering. Our identity is rooted in Christ.

We Love Boldly: Knowing we are eternally loved allows us to extend love freely. As Bonhoeffer wrote in The Cost of Discipleship, “The will of God, to which the law gives expression, is that men should defeat their enemies by loving them.” The security of divine love empowers radical forgiveness and grace.

We Endure Trials with Hope: In suffering, we remember that Christ Himself endured the cross out of love. Our hardships are not a sign of God’s absence but an opportunity to trust in His unshaken love.

We Worship with Gratitude: When we grasp the vastness of God’s love, worship becomes an act of joyful response, not obligation. We love because He first loved us.

As you leave today, I challenge you to take a small strip of paper and make your own Möbius strip. Let it serve as a reminder that, just as you cannot find an ‘outside’ to this shape, you will never find yourself outside of God’s love. His love is infinite, eternal, and unbreakable.

As you enjoy the wonder of Piers’ Unending Love today and going forward, bask in the unending love of God.

The world may change, but the love of Christ remains. Neither height nor depth, neither death nor life, neither war nor suffering, neither our failures nor our fears—nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen.