Monday, May 19, 2003

The opening text will come from a book by Abraham Joshua Heschel (God in Search of Man - A Philosophy of Judaism). As you are able to see by the title, the language may be a bit dated and therefore, I will, when able, make the language inclusive.



Awe is the awareness of transcendent meaning, of a spiritual suggestiveness of reality, an allusiveness to transcendent meaning. The world in its grandeur is full of a spiritual radiance, for which we have neither name nor concept.

…In moments of sensing the ineffable we are as certain of the value of the world as we are of its existence. There must be a value which was worth the world’s coming into existence. We may be skeptical as to whether the world is perfect. However, even if we admit its imperfection, the preciousness of its grandeur is beyond question.

Awe, then, is more than a feeling. It is an answer of the heart and the mind to the presence of mystery in all things, an intuition for a meaning that is beyond the mystery, an awareness of the transcendent worth of the universe.



I remember looking out over the rim of the Grand Canyon and being overwhelmed (I must admit, “at the rim” usually mean about 10 ft back from the edge.). I knew that it was all formed by the meandering of the Colorado River over millions of years…but that didn’t quite fit what was going on deep down inside me. I was filled with wonder. I was struck with awe…speechless. The space…the colors...the feeling that it could not be real, were overwhelming. I didn’t feel the need to write about Paul Bunyan (sp) and his ox Babe in order to explain what was there. It was more than any story could possibly address. There is that same sense of awe when I come upon a flowerbed full of flowers I bloom. It amazes me that a simply packet of wildflower seeds can become such an extravagant display of colors and textures. Awe begins to lift our eyes so that we can see something more than just scenery passing by.



Connection: Who knows when and where you may be struck by awe today? It may do us all a bit of good when it happens.



Creating Lord, you give birth to the most amazing sights and sounds within our lives. Give us the eyes to see and the ears to hear the depth of the beauty of your creation and of our own lives within your wonder-filled creation. Amen.