What makes something beautiful? Is it simply a visual response to symmetry or expert craftsmanship? Is it the painting in the gallery that we’re drawn to, or the piece of music we listen to time and time again? Or maybe beauty comes from the ritual of practice—where one becomes so ingrained in what they are doing that, to the onlooker, their craft appears as fluid as water. Maybe it’s all of these things. Beauty bears such complexity that no one experience can define it. And though it cannot fully be defined, at its core, beauty is attached to the concept of impermanence—the realization that nothing lasts forever.

Beauty isn't a glimpse of perfection but a reminder of our imperfection and impermanence. For instance, imagine the handle of a well-used tool. The wear serves as a reminder of life's fragility. The patina creates this fragile beauty. Learning to see beauty in this way is a practice of humility. We are not like moths to a flame, but rather those seeking beauty in the process of practice. Beauty is not just the painting, but rather the canvas, the paint, the brush, and the artist all wrapped up together in the dance of the impermanent.

This Holy Week, as we talk about Maundy Thursday, try to find beauty in the impermanence. For those unfamiliar with “Maundy Thursday,” it is the time during Holy Week when believers gather together as Christ did at the Last Supper. Though he was the very form of God, possessing all power and authority, he chose humility. That choice was beautiful. He chose the quiet path that has been echoing for two thousand years.

If you’d like to join in this beautiful act of washing each other’s feet, East Side will be hosting a Maundy Thursday service on Thursday, April 17 at 6PM.