Do Something Beautiful

Do Something Beautiful
The Story of Everything and a Guide to Finding Your Place in It
(Moody, 2018)

WHO: R. York Moore, national evangelist for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA.

HE SAYS: “Our place in God’s story of everything revolves around first seeing the light ourselves, then embracing it as our own and finally carrying that light into the world around us by sharing it with others and by doing the righteous and beautiful things of God together.”

THE BIG IDEA: God’s story is unfolding around us everyday, and we have a place in it. The story of God will culminate in the fulfillment of our greatest hopes, desires and longings around deep connection with God and others.

THE PROGRESSION:
The author begins by spelling out what a world made right, beautiful and brought together would look like, followed up with chapters on what we can do to help bring about these things. These chapters end with reflection questions.
The conclusion explains that the nexus of the righteous and beautiful community is where we find our place in God’s story and looks at how God adorns us with beauty and bounty.

“The righteous and beautiful community unfolds where women and men allow Jesus Christ to have his way, to adorn them with bounty and beauty and use them powerfully in a place of need and want.”

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A CONVERSATION WITH R. YORK MOORE

What is the story of everything?

The story of everything is the story behind the story—the story that brings all of our lives together into one awesome epic. The story revolves around the most important story, the life and work of Jesus. When Jesus came, his story became the lens through which we understand our lives and the larger story God has been telling since the beginning.

I use the phrase “the story of everything” ultimately to help readers understand the kingdom of God, the radical in-breaking power of Jesus and how we can discover our best life by connecting our story to his story. The book gives two opportunities for the reader to take a first step or a further step into the story of everything by inviting them to receive what Jesus has done for them.

What role does community play in understanding and living out the story of everything?

Community is one of the core ways the story of everything unfolds in the world and in our lives. In fact, it is impossible to find our place in the story of everything without embracing other people’s story. In the book, I walk through what it means to be seen and understood by others, to be embraced and to embrace, and to encounter God in the context of community. There is a small guide for the reader to use to help find a local church as well as the church should be the purposed community where our story unfolds.

You coin the term, “the beauty effect” to show that beauty serves an integral role in shaping our understanding of the story of everything. Explain how ‘the beauty effect is not a luxury but an important part of flourishing, of living into the story of everything.”

Too often, we think about beauty as optional, a matter of personal preference. We think too simply about beauty, making it a nice little add-on to life. In reality, beauty does something in us and in the world around us. Nothing in the world has the capacity to expand the interior of our soul like beauty. Beauty allows us to dream, to hope and to be inspired to reach for a new story. The beauty effect is the power beauty has to connect us to God and to others. Because of this, beauty is not a luxury for the few but a necessary part of flourishing. Beauty is essential in helping us live our best life.

R. York Moore
R. York Moorehttp://tellthestory.net/

R. York Moore is an innovator, strategist, revivalist and abolitionist. He serves as president and CEO for the Coalition for Christian Outreach. He is the author of several books, including most recently, Seen. Known. Loved.

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