As you are traveling the 13-mile stretch of highway – a tunnel carved through the solid rock of
the Swiss Alps – you might wonder at this crazy feat of engineering. If you are ever privileged to
be present at a NASA rocket launch, and feel the earth spasming beneath your feet, you might
wonder at the audacious minds who’ve made this possible. If you visit Niagara Falls and
experience the thundering roar of the cascading water, you might wonder at the
immeasurability of the sight your eyes are attempting to take in. I say might because to the
average Joe and Josephine in the 21 st Century there are so many near inconceivable
developments and advances that there may not be sufficient energy available to luxuriate in
something as innocently childlike as wonderment.
There are quieter marvels, too. Electric cars that stealthily glide through parking lots, sneaking
up on unsuspecting victims, scaring them witless as they pass by. Or the micro-computers we
can’t leave home without, that wirelessly connect us to the entire globe – instantaneously. Or
robotic surgery performed thousands of miles away from the patient’s location. Even suitcases
that show up on time, and at your destination! But we typically accept these modern-day
miracles more or less with indifference. That is, until that important call drops or our luggage
arrives in Tokyo as we wait expectantly at London Heathrow’s baggage claim carousel. Then,
suddenly, wonder is aroused in the form of indignance. How could this happen – to me?
Wonderment, at its finest, transports us up and away from the constraints of the everyday. It is
genuine surprise, true overwhelm, breathless pause, and it leads, unerringly, to worship. Those
who reject all flights of wonderment will find Christian worship dry, fruitless, even boring,
because by its very nature, worship is beyond us, bigger than us, that which makes us like little
children again, happily embracing mystery. We’ll talk more tomorrow, 10 AM, 2 PM, 3 PM (UK
and France are reverting to standard time tomorrow). PD
