First Presbyterian Church ● Lake Crystal, Minnesota
Rev. Randal K. Lubbers, Pastor & Teacher
Inspired by "The Gift of Wonder" by Lewis Smedes in How Can It Be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong?
Images of wonder and awe…
How the color of the lake reflects the sky—reflects the mood of the day, sometimes. How a story takes us into the heart and soul of the “other”—a wonder-full (full of wonder) person. The stories are not always wonderful—but entering them is always wonder-FULL.
Awe-inspiring images…
The birth of a lamb;
The birth of a baby;
The peaceful, gentle end of a life:
Death… so horrible… and yet…
it’s all right even when everything is all wrong...
A hug from a child;
Tulips;
Corn and soybeans, strawberries and sweet peas, watermelon;
The human heart… my grandmother, almost 100… her heart has beat over 4.2 Billion times. And the human heart (in another way)—capable of the most gruesome evils—and yet, capable of passionate, fiercely loyal, red-hot love.
Truly we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Think of the wonder of the human mind—poetry, novels, quantum physics, geometry, submarines, spaghetti, basketball, baseball, contact lenses, heart transplants
Sometimes I can only say "wow."
I am filled with wonder…
And yet… not always.
I wonder…
I wonder what today might bring. I wonder about next year.
But inside—a frightened child, a weary old man—
Wonder is not my desire.
My need is the need to know.
Don’t surprise me anymore, God;
I can’t take many more of your surprises—
They hurt too much—
Cancers, strokes, frayed relationships, alienation,
A teenage boy with a gun in a school,
The sound of tears,
The sagging eyes of the young woman, depressed,
Those feelings of being plunged into the depths—
In a deep well, like Joseph;
In the depths of the sea like Jonah;
But with no rescue in sight.
After the Exodus God's people grumbled and complained:
Moses, it would have been better
if you’d just left us in slavery…
We don’t like your surprises…”
No more whirlwinds, no more;
No more mountains, no more.
No more visions or battles or glowing, radiant faces.
Can’t we just live our lives?
Can’t things be quiet and peaceful and predictable once more?
I wonder…
I wish…
I hope…
Yes, I still long for mystery, for surprises—
But good surprises.
Nice, comfortable, happy mysteries.
Christ upon the mountain peak, stands alone in glory blazing…. (Brian Wren)
No more surprises, Jesus, no more. Let’s just build three little houses right here. This surprise, this is so cool. But, no more—let’s stay on the mountaintop forever and always.
Shhh, Peter. Be still. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
Christ upon the mountain peak
stands alone in glory blazing.
Let us, if we dare to speak,
with the saints and angels praise him -
Alleluia!
Trembling at his feet we saw
Moses and Elijah speaking.
All the Prophets and the Law
shout through them their joyful greeting -
Alleluia!
Swift the cloud of glory came,
God, proclaiming in its thunder
Jesus as his Son by name!
Nations, cry aloud in wonder! -
Alleluia!
This is God's beloved Son.
Law and Prophets fade before him,
first and last and only One.
Let creation now adore him -
Alleluia! (Brian Wren)
And then… All-of-a-sudden when they looked around,
they saw no one with them any more, except Jesus—Jesus alone.
Jesus, wonder of Mary and Joseph.
Jesus, before whom the shepherds marveled.
Jesus—when he was just 12
he astonished the priests and teachers in the Temple.
Jesus -- healing the sick, teaching --
Jesus -- his very presence awakened the awe and wonder of the people:
“Now when Jesus had finished saying these things,
the crowds were astounded at his teaching;
“The whole crowd was spellbound…;
“And all who heard him were amazed.
“They were overcome with amazement….”
And the disciples were amazed
In shock, really
Confused
When Jesus said,
“Now the Son of Man must suffer many things, and die…”
What’s this about suffering?
What’s this about dying?
I thought everything was going to be alright—
This sounds all wrong.
Shhh, Peter, keep still. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Only Jesus.
----
My life is filled with wonder-killers.
For one, TV is predictable and numbing—I watch it anyway.
Technology, for another, can kill our sense of wonder.
I was in AWE when we first walked on the moon
Now I can hold the moon in my hand
I want one—I really want iPhone
It’s a phone, it’s an encyclopedia,
it’s a calendar and day planner
I want one to keep my life under control
—but I don’t want it to control my life
There are other wonder-killers, too…
Endless discussions, arguments…
Churches offering easy black-and-white answers…
Theologians reading and talking and writing
But growing no wiser.
Jesus, open my heart to the surprising good news—
To the mind-blowing mystery:
“What wondrous love is this? O my soul, O my soul?”
Wonder opens me to others—
To each person in the church
To each person along life’s way
Each one is a mystery, a child of God, a unique human being created in the image of our welcoming, mysterious, creative, wonder-FULL God. Wonder kills stereotypes.
Wonder opens me to God.
To the wonder….
Inside my friends, inside my kids,
inside my mom and dad, inside you.
O Lord, save me from the wonder-killing impulses inside.
Open me up to all creation… and to others.
Open me to the wonder and mystery inside me.
Open me to the depths.
Lewis Smedes says
I cannot be a shallow person—regardless of how I might feel.
I can close myself to the depths of Surprise within me.
But the depths of Surprise are still there:
If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.
Christ in me. And me IN CHRIST.
How Wonder-FULL! How Awesome!
Blessed are those whose hearts are pure, whose hearts are full of wonder and awe… those, who, fall on their knees… (in their hearts, at least, if not literally bending the knee)… Blessed are those who enter the depths of God’s Surprise within… for they shall see God… "and they alone can see themselves" (Smedes).
O God, help me to be open to the wonder of your soul-inspiring, heart-rending, awesome and awful creation… keep me open to surprises, open to grace… open to your presence in the most unlikely places… Even open to the empty and hurting places in my heart where love once lived… but now a hole… Keep me open, O God, to the loneliness, the heartaches, the fears and longings, the hopes and dreams of others… to the mystery within all your children. AMEN.
