There used to be an event at the Greenbelt Festival called the Rolling Magazine. It was a tent filled with youthful exuberance playing silly games, enjoying speakers and music in a rolling programmes aimed at 14-18 years olds. It was led by a Youth Worker called Pip Wilson who believed that everyone was a Beautiful Human Person and treated them that way. Pip Wilson died in September and every tribute spoke about his inspirational youth work amongst challenging communities usually in the East End of London and his capacity to remind people that they were made in the image of God and that means they are beautiful. 

By the time I found Greenbelt I was already older than that target audience, but over the years I’ve come across many people who were among that target audience who were deeply influenced by Pip Wilson and his insistence in Beautiful Human People. Many of them have gone on to be involved in building a festival that seeks to find goodness and kindness, to be involved in work that begins from the assumption that we are created in the image of God and that is a beautiful thing.

In a recent book to mark Greenbelt’s 50th anniversary , Pip wrote

You are a Beautiful Human Person as you read this.

You are a valuable person,
You are a special person,
You are a unique person,
You are beautiful.

You are unrepeatable, and You are mysterious.
You are a Beautiful Human Person.
No one will ever exist like you.
No one will ever experience the life that you have experienced.

You are a collection of specialness that has never been put together before.

You are loved.

I believe people are beautiful; but many of us do not believe we are. Beautiful is not a word we would ever apply to ourselves. Perhaps we have become trapped in a certain idea of physical beauty and, comparing ourselves to others, decide we are not beautiful.

It’s not difficult to miss the beautiful. … Our instinct in the face of obnoxious behaviour or a threatening attitude is to walk away. But when you see a person’s behaviour you cannot see their journey. You cannot see their upstream. …

But I’ve learned that we have to notice someone’s behaviour, to accept our feelings about it, and then to see beyond that behaviour. This is what the decision to love can do. Love has no off-switch: it’s not about like or dislike. Love can help us see people beyond our feelings of like or dislike. Love can help us see that people are beautiful.” https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/remembering-pip-wilson/

So as we head into November – a month filled with Remembrance, we will remember beautiful human people and the part they have played to create beautiful communities. We will remember particular people known to us and the countless generations who have gone before us and we will celebrate each contribution that has made life good, just as Paul reminded the community in Philippi:-

whatever is true, 

whatever is honourable, 

whatever is just, 

whatever is pure, 

whatever is pleasing, 

whatever is commendable, 

if there is any excellence 

and if there is anything worthy of praise, 

think about these things.  [Philippians 4:7-9]

Be blessed, you beautiful human people

Craig