Hidden Beauty
God reveals his glory through all things
In the fall of 2017, the Hidden Beauty 隠れた美 art festival took place in downtown Tokyo, where we experienced various Japanese traditional arts. We had sumie ink painting, where white space is as important as strokes on the paper, and ikebana flower arranging, where space between flowers and twigs communicates as powerfully as the objects themselves. We heard the music of the Japanese koto, where silence as well as sound is gracefully played by the performer, and saw artwork by Japan’s “Hidden” Christians, where references to Christ, Mary, the cross, and the apostles are hidden from the eye or concealed through symbolism.
Beauty in Japanese art is “hidden” in the space and silence between the placement of brush strokes, objects, and sound. And another beauty is hidden as well. This is the beauty of the Christian gospel. The idea that Christianity is “outside” and foreign to Japan is strong. However, God was in Japan long before missionaries stepped off their boats in the 16th century, and his presence is revealed through everything that is made.
I find deep meaning in the Japanese verb tsukuru 造る (to make), which has two parts. The radical on the left (⻌) means “path or proceed forward,” and the part on the right (告) means “tell, inform, or announce.” Together they form the character 造, which I take to have the nuance of “information proceeding forth.” When I first learned this character, my eyes were drawn to the part of the character that looks like a square (口) and means “mouth,” learned by every first-year Japanese student. Many words related to communication contain that character for mouth: 言う (to say), 話す (to speak), 語る (to tell), 喋る (to talk), and others. All of creation—everything that has been made and will ever be made—communicates “information that proceeds forth” to the ends of the world.
Many pastors in Japan refer to the God of the Bible as the Creator Lord God (創造主である神様), maker (造) of heaven and earth, because this sets him apart from the eight million gods (八百万の神) of the Shinto religion. Only the Creator Lord God has the power to send forth information and declare his glory through all things.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world
(Ps. 19:1–4, NIV, author emphasis).
God’s voice declares, proclaims, speaks, reveals, and goes out to the ends of the world through creation into every nation, tribe, and people, including the nation of Japan. Psalm 19:4 in particular reminds me of Japan, long considered the end of the world because it is the eastern terminus of the historic Silk Road. Though we cannot hear it with our ears, the message of God is hidden in all things that are made because we live in a universe saturated with the voice of God.
Information about God pours forth through all things. Day after day, night after night, they reveal knowledge of his glory. As we discover together the hidden beauty of the voice of God in all things, may we draw closer to him and be led to worship him. In so doing, we fulfill the very thing we were made (造) to do.
1. Community Arts Tokyo and Grace City Church Tokyo sponsored this event at Hamarikyu Asahi Hall in Tokyo on October 14, 2017.
Sheet music submitted by author