CAC teacher Brian McLaren identifies awe and wonder as essential to encountering creation:
The first pages of the Bible and the best thinking of today’s scientists are in full agreement: it all began in the beginning, when space and time, energy and matter, gravity and light, burst or bloomed or banged into being. In light of the Genesis story, we would say that the possibility of this universe overflowed into actuality as God, the Creative Spirit, uttered the original joyful invitation: Let it be! And in response, what happened? Light. Time. Space. Matter. Motion. Sea. Stone. Fish. Sparrow. You. Me. Enjoying the unspeakable gift and privilege of being here, being alive….
The Creator brought it all into being, and now some fourteen billion years later, here we find ourselves: dancers in this beautiful, mysterious choreography that expands and evolves and includes us all. We’re farmers and engineers, parents and students, theologians and scientists, teachers and shopkeepers, builders and fixers, drivers and doctors, dads and moms, wise grandparents and wide-eyed infants.
Don’t we all feel like poets when we try to speak of the beauty and wonder of this creation? Don’t we share a common amazement about our cosmic neighborhood when we wake up to the fact that we’re actually here, actually alive, right now?…
The romance of Creator and creation is far more wonderful and profound than anyone can ever capture in words. And yet we try, for how could we be silent in the presence of such beauty, glory, wonder, and mystery? How can we not celebrate this great gift—to be alive?
To be alive is to look up at the stars…. and to feel the beyond-words awe of space in its vastness. To be alive is to look down from a mountaintop … and to feel the wonder that can only be expressed in “oh” or “wow” or maybe “hallelujah.” To be alive is to look out from the beach toward the horizon at sunrise or sunset and to savor the joy of it all in pregnant, saturated silence. [It’s] to gaze in delight at a single bird, tree, leaf, or friend, and to feel that they whisper of a creator or source we all share.
Genesis means “beginnings.” It speaks through deep, multilayered poetry and wild, ancient stories. The poetry and stories of Genesis reveal deep truths that can help us be more fully alive today. They dare to proclaim that the universe is God’s self-expression, God’s speech act. That means that everything everywhere is always essentially holy, spiritual, valuable, meaningful. All matter matters….
Genesis describes the “very goodness” that comes at the end of a long process of creation…. That harmonious whole is so good that the Creator takes a day off, as it were, just to enjoy it. That day of restful enjoyment tells us that the purpose of existence isn’t money or power or fame or security or anything less than this: to participate in the goodness and beauty and aliveness of creation.
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A Note from Bethany….from Sarah Young
It is my prayer that I may learn to walk in love with friends, family, coworkers, strangers, and those who are difficult to love – the ones who have a lot of rejection or the world see as unloveable. 1 John 4:11, “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
In closing I thought I would share something that I have pinned next to my mirror. It’s written on a random piece of paper from over a year ago. At the time I didn’t fully believe the words but oh, I so wanted to. I’m not exactly sure where I got it from, I believe it wrote it down while listening to a particular broadcast on the radio my mom recommended. I treasure the things that I write on random pieces of paper the most. It’s believe it’s the most authentic expression of our heart cry. I’m happy to say that in a year’s time my belief has caught up to my longing. Christ is my everything. You can take away whatever you want, including my body, but nothing will touch what I carry inside. My love relationship with my Savior.
- Christ is my significance
- Christ is my self-worth
- Christ is my security
- Christ is my life
Dear Lord, thank you for giving me life and all that I need to experience it fully! Teach me to always draw my life from you. Amen
