Albert Einstein, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, once said: “One who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead.” Perhaps we could say, “If we can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, our spirituality is as good as dead.” There is a definite link between having a sense of wonder and living the Christian faith—so much so that it’s fairly safe to say that a sense of wonder is an essential trait of a healthy, maturing spirituality. Wonder is often the prelude to as well as result of meeting God.
The Bible reminds us how wonder can lead us to a meeting with God. For example, there is the story of Moses and his encounter with God in the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-17). Moses is overwhelmed by the sight of a bush that is burning, but not consumed. As he comes closer, God speaks to him and reminds him of the sacredness of life and the holiness of God. Out of that encounter Moses is transformed and called into service. Something happens in Moses’ life. He is sent into the world to bring God’s redeeming, liberating, life-changing word to his people and through them, the world.
We might ask ourselves: what would have happened if Moses had not noticed the bush in the first place? What if he had been so preoccupied with his work of tending the sheep that he never even saw the bush? Or what if he saw it but felt he couldn’t afford to take the time to go and have a closer look? Way too busy watching those sheep! The answer is both clear and sobering: Moses would have missed an opportunity to meet God. I think there is a reminder here for all of us. An attitude that often stifles wonder is one that is too preoccupied or too busy to pay attention to things. Our sense of wonder is nourished by our periodically laying aside our preoccupations and our work in order to pay closer attention to our world and the people around us. It is when we learn to sloooow down, to open our eyes and really look and be attentive to the world around us and especially to the indications of God’s presence in the drama of life that we cultivate and experience wonder.
For me, this is one of the things that happens in the four weeks of Advent and at Christmas when I think about the mystery of the incarnation – God coming to us—God becoming “enfleshed” in the person of Jesus-- “God with us.” This is grace. This is wonder. This is the mystery of Christmas.
That is why at this time of the year, and maybe especially this time of the year, we should slow down, spend time refocusing and giving attention to the spiritual meaning of this Good News about God showing up in our world in the person of Jesus. What does it mean and what can mean for my life and my world? It is easy to relegate this sort of reflection to our Sunday morning worship experiences or to the Christmas Eve or Christmas day service. But as Herbert O’Driscoll reminds us: This paying attention should take “place in the ongoing events of my life. This task I may be doing now, this person I am with now, this joy or pain I am feeling now, this work of art I am experiencing now—each of these can become the context of the spiritual, each can become the meeting place with the extremely contemporary Christ. This is what the mystery we call the Incarnation means, that the Christ comes...in the seemingly ordinary fabric of today’s events and tasks.” (Prayers for the Breaking of Bread, p. 3)
If we can learn to pay attention to the God who not only came, but continues to come, we can cultivate a sense of awe and gratitude and are given a new vision, a new hope and strength to go back out into the world to live and witness to the ever new, ever liberating good news of the inbreaking of God’s kingdom into the world. And when that happens, the wonder of God with us is not just a Christmas experience, it can become an everyday experience of wonder.
Prayer: Lord, we admit that so often, as we make our way toward Christmas, we are distracted by the busyness that is taking place around us and the stress and chaos that is happening within us. The period of waiting that is Advent and the celebration that is Christmas often leave us without a real sense of wonder. Instead of looking for your wondrous coming to us in the events of our daily lives, we are more focused on presents and deadlines, busy schedules and all the trappings of the shopping season. We find ourselves resentful of all the pushing and shoving, and before we know it, Christmas has come and gone. We missed it. We missed the wonder of “God with us,” of the reminder that you so value us and our world that you entered it in Jesus. We are sorry and ask that you might help us to pause, focus, and pay attention to the wonder that is all around us – in the world, in the people that we meet, in the silence through which you speak peace into our hearts. Amen
