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| A member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America | ||
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August 2003 I don’t know why, but I’ve been thinking lately about winter and paging through a book that uses images of winter to speak of God and our life in the run of ordinary days. One passage that struck me concerns awe and ecstasy. The author writes, “Awe rises in those who ponder the wonders of winter. In the face of a frozen waterfall or icily arrested billows, we gasp. Spontaneously we sputter to describe the glistening of ice in the dawn sun. Or in awe that feels like true fear we wonder at the power of storms in places of warm winters... Along with awe comes ecstasy... We enjoy we do not explain anything - as awe and ecstasy combine.” And maybe this is why there seems to be little of true ecstasy or joy in so many people today. Ecstasy comes from awe, and yet we are in awe of so little today. There is so much we take for granted, don’t give a second thought. There is much that should move us but no longer does. The love of another for us — it should fill us with awe day after day, but soon we come to expect it, bank on it, don’t give it much thought. The birth of a child might still fill us with awe, but very quickly children become problems, worries, headaches and heartaches, and we experience little awe as we watch them grow and develop and discover. And the ordinary things we see each day they’re not ordinary at all, of course, but that is the way we treat them, whether it be the sun rising or the stars blazing forth in the night sky or the trees waving to us in the wind or the sound of a child laughing or the smell of flowers blooming. There is so much that should fill us with awe, but so little does and thus we know little of ecstasy or joy. And God? Does God fill us with awe any more? It almost sounds old-fashioned to speak this way, doesn’t it? Chances are we’ve come to expect God to love us — after all, that’s God’s job. God is no longer the Other, Mystery, a Power beyond imagining. God is now something we can contain in our heart and understand and whose mind can be known. Hence, little or no awe, little or no ecstasy at the thought of God. When the first space shuttle blasted off, people were left with their mouths hanging open at the sight of it. Even the recent tragic reminder of the dangers of such flight does little to awaken us. Still we yawn. So much of our life seems to be a matter of “been there, seen that, done that, ho-hum.” But the truth is otherwise. For someone to actually love us — not simply at our best but at our worst as well — is truly something of a miracle that should leave our mouths hanging open in wonder and awe. For God to love us should stun us into awed silence. A frozen waterfall, clouds billowing up thousands of feet, a loved face, should leave us gasping. Don’t try to explain it. Enjoy. Allow the ecstasy to come. Then do the only right and natural thing to do in response: love, love God, love others, love life and this earth. Even when in the midst of a hot August! God be with you, Jeff
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