In these great fifty days after Easter, Jesus continues his resurrection tour. On tour, he has shown up multiple times with the disciples as he promised to do. We have seen him with the women at the tomb, in the upper room, on the road to Emmaus. In our gospel lesson this morning, we finish the reading from the last verses of the book of Luke and find that Jesus is still on tour. Earlier in this chapter, Jesus had between walking with disciples down the Emmaus road, without them perceiving his presence.
They are still gobsmacked by the reality that Jesus could have been with them, and they hadn’t even known it! Sometime later, the account does not tell us how long. Jesus shows up again! Peace be with you. I’m back. Despite having now experienced multiple post-resurrection experiences, the disciples were most comfortable with their go-to explanation: “it’s a ghost,” than Jesus showing up with them. Jesus even eats broiled fish in front of them as proof of his living status.
Is this shock and doubt? Over the last month, we looked at what Jesus is calling us to do with the time between when we have heard the good news of Easter and are empowered by the Holy Spirit and deployed to the world through the diaspora of Pentecost. In the meantime, while we are in quarantine, sheltering at home, while our lives are different than we expected, what are we called to do?
Throughout the Bible, there are 153 times that the words: Awe and wonder are chosen. By far, the most significant preponderance is in Psalms and the book of Acts, which follows directly from this time of resurrection appearance, Jesus. Jesus performs acts of awe and wonders. The disciples of the Old and New Testament are receptive and in awe of the wonders that God has made known. Learning or relearning awe reorients your worldview to Creator focus.
The opposite of Awe is cynicism. You will know you developed cynicism or glimpsed another cynic by these words:
“I have seen it before.
Nothing can amaze me.
Been there. Done that.
We don’t really need to do that anymore; that doesn’t matter.”
source for awe, but this recommendation is solid. Develop a daily sense of awe. The God of all creation created the world, redeems humanity, and is sustaining us. As the disciples encountered the resurrection time with curiosity and awe, they became open to the possibilities of what God had in store. Do, it is for us. Awe assists with the journey to move towards to the edges of what is possible as humanity.
Develop a daily sense of awe. It has been my joy as I have been connecting with many of you in these shelter in place times to hear about what brings you awe right now. It is where you are finding the very presence of God. From the blooming trees around us that remind us that creation continues, God is still compassionate and caring, and the growing world gives us hope!
For those of you who have been out walking and with some additional time, have incredible insight from nature. Your amazing discoveries of the intricacies of God’s creations like the ants connect you closer to God’s compassion and the goodness in others. Contemplate on the live activities of an ant when you feel busy as well as for insight on how better to relate to your co-workers, your children, and your community.
For those of you who can’t get out or for days when it is raining, a second way to cultivate your daily dose of awe is through a litany of facts about creation. From Matthew Fox’s litany AWE from Project AWE:
Matter is frozen light, and for every molecule of light that is matter, there are a billion particles of light that are not. This means matter is rare and special. We are incarnated light.
There are prairie grassroots in the Midwest whose roots are 10,000 miles long. (That’s 5 round trips from West Grove to Disney World)
Sixty percent of your body is made up of hydrogen atoms, which were present in the first fireball 13 billion years ago. The other 40 percent? It is made from atoms forged from the stars in the last 5.5 billion years. (We are made of stardust!)
Our bones are some of the most reliable building materials known to humanity. They can withstand the stress of 24,000 pounds per square inch or four times that of steel or reinforced concrete. Yet, they live and grow back when broken! (This is miraculous!)
One square inch of your human skin contains (on average)
– 19 million cells
– 625 sweat glands
– 90 oil glands
– 90 oil glands
– 65 hairs
– 19 blood vessels 19,000 sensory cells
– And more than 20 million microscopic animals
– (We contain multitudes)
Humans hear frequencies as high as 20,000 Hertz (vibrations per second), dolphins hear frequencies as high as 280,000 Hertz.
The human heart weighs only a half-pound but does that daily work equivalent of lifting a ton from the ground to the top of a building. (Our hearts are incredible machines) (1)
The litany of awe is ever-expanding. I hope you will add to it in the comments or send me an email or a picture this week with where you have seen or experienced awe in creation. “We discover the immensity in the intimate domain is intensity, an intensity of being, the intensity of a being evolving in a vast perspective of intimate immensity.(2)” We need solitude and reflection to allow for reflection on immensity around us with wonder and awe.
Matthew Fox writes extensively on the topic of awe. His book, Project A.W.E., provides a contemplative blueprint for communities to think about the opening themselves in intentional ways to A.W.E. He defines A.W.E. explicitly as he invites the reader on a journey. Education is a blessing, not just for children, but for adults as well. A is for the Ancestors. Fox includes all those who have gone before us of humanity, but also creation. W is for Wisdom and includes relationships and joy through which our knowledge can be understood and experienced. Awe is the beginning of wisdom. E is for Education that highlights creativity, courage, and compassion. Ancestors, Wisdom, and Education are at the heart of a biblical understanding of awe.
The psalmist calls us to awe and wonder. In addition to Psalm 66 today, we hear what God has done to Psalm 19 that unfolds, “The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.” Long before science could explain what the eye could behold in the night sky, the experience of awe was passed from generation to generation in the psalms. Rabbi Abraham Heschel wrote this: “The beginning of our happiness lies in the understanding that life without wonder is not worth living. What we lack is not a will to believe but a will to wonder.(3)” If this sounds familiar, he was reflecting on words that I hope you have heard before, “Unless you become like children, you will not see the kingdom of God (Matthew 18:3).” Jesus taught the disciples that their receptivity to what was going on around them was a barometer for getting to know God. Your receptivity is intrinsically related to how you have come to know God.
During this time of being at home, our family has watched the ecosystem around the house. Watching the robins and geese, cats and spiders, frogs, and turtles brings to mind one of my favorite poems. Francis of Assisi wrote in the 13 century, out of his observations around the monastery called The Sacraments :
I once spoke to my friend, an old squirrel, about the Sacraments —
He got so excited.
and ran into a hallow in his tree and came
back holding some acorns, an owl feather,
And a ribbon he found.
And I just smiled and said, “Yes dear,
you understand:
Everything imparts His grace.(4)
In these days of the meantime as you await the coming of the Holy Spirit with the disciples and prepare for how we best care for one another, may you cultivate a daily dose of awe and wonder in God’s creation and world. May you draw near to God the Creator who desires to be known, through awe and wonder, asking questions, contemplations, and research, draw near to Jesus the Christ who shows up in places we didn’t expect and draw near to the Holy Spirit who empowers us and encourages us, convicts and comforts as children of the one true God.
This is the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, thanks be to God, Amen.
(1) Fox, Matthew. The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human. 2006, 44-46.
(2) Gaston Bachlard. The Poetics of Space, 1994. 193
(3) Heschel, Abraham. Man is Not Alone: A Philosophy of Religion, 1951. 37.
(4) St. Francis of Assisi Love Poems from God; Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West. Edited Daniel Ladinsky , 2002
Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 66:8-20 (CEB)
All you nations, bless our God!
Let the sound of his praise be heard!
God preserved us among the living;
he didn’t let our feet slip a bit.
But you, God, have tested us—
you’ve refined us like silver,
trapped us in a net,
laid burdens on our backs,
let other people run right over our heads—
we’ve been through fire and water.
But you brought us out to freedom!
So I’ll enter your house
with entirely burned offerings.
I’ll keep the promises I made to you,
the ones my lips uttered,
the ones my mouth spoke when I was in deep trouble.
I will offer the best burned offerings to you
along with the smoke of sacrificed rams.
I will offer both bulls and goats. Selah
Come close and listen,
all you who honor God;
I will tell you what God has done for me:
My mouth cried out to him
with praise on my tongue.
If I had cherished evil in my heart,
my Lord would not have listened.
But God definitely listened.
He heard the sound of my prayer.
Bless God! He didn’t reject my prayer;
he didn’t withhold his faithful love from me.
Gospel Lesson: Luke 24:36-49
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Meditations For Your Week
Sunday, May 3 ~ Saturday, May 19, 2020
Sunday: “God preserved us among the living; God didn’t let our feet slip a bit.” Psalm 66: 9. Give thanks to the Lord our God! Pray for God’s presence and providence.
Monday: “Let other people run right over our heads; we’ve been through fire and water. But you brought us out to freedom! So, I’ll enter your house.” Psalm 66: 12-13a. The psalmist reminds us that there are fire and water, illness, and pandemic. God dwelt with the people of God then and will stay with us now. Pray for our neighbors who are sheltering in place alone, that they do not feel alone.
Tuesday: “But God definitely listened. God heard the sound of my prayer.” Psalm 66:19. Pray for those who are wearied by these days. May there be a steadying of a new normal for children, youth, young adults, adults, and elders. God, who has been with our foreparents in times of trials before, will be with us now.
Wednesday: “While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” Luke 24: 36b. Jesus brings peace amid confusion and befuddlement. Invite Jesus to walk with you.
Thursday: “While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, Jesus said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” Luke 24: 41. God knows that we can be joyful and concerned, tentative, and faithful, filled with grief and faith. Pray today for a world in which everyone you encounter physically or virtually is carrying multiple realities. Pray for the peace that passes all understanding, as well as awe for God who can hold your fears and joys, disbelief and pain, boredom, and anger in love.
Friday: “Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you–that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” Luke 24: 44-45. In this time of shelter at home, how has your Bible study grown? Where has God opened your mind to understand the scriptures?
Saturday: “You are witnesses of these things.” Luke 24: 48. Consider that when you have seen God’s glory and God’s goodness, you stand in a line of witnesses that began with Mary Magdalene, Mary, mother of James, Joanna, Peter, and the other disciples and continues to today. Write and tell. Draw and sing. Dance and code. Build and show. You are witnesses of God!