“…we’re
hushing the hurry and
feeling
the holy and savoring the wonder.”
Ann
Voscamp
I
have been on a quest for holy lately.
There
is something pushing up in me,
a
desire to find this thing that's missing.
So
when I read Ann Voscamp's post,
something
stirred in me.
It's
been hard to describe this feeling.
But the word that best describes the
feeling
that I am searching for is "holy."
We
live in the age of familiar and common.
Not
much takes our breath away.
Not
much flips our shoes off.
It’s
not that God doesn’t have
holy moments all around.
It’s
just that they are hard to find.
Today’s
churches have taken some
awe and wonder and
replaced them
with comfortable and common.
Where
there used to be holy water at the door,
there
is now coffee and donuts.
We
want to take some of the mystery away
so
seekers can find connections.
That’s
not a bad thing.
It's just that sometimes we trade away a thing
that will have to come another way.
I
have this strange longing for cathedral ceilings
and
incense filled air and candle lit altars.
I
want to walk into a sanctuary and
sit
in the holy silence
and
breathe in the anointed air.
But this is just part of wanting to find holy
and
those moments have to be everywhere.
A
holy moment presents itself when
I
am faced with two reports, and I decide
to
turn from the report punctuated with fear
and
look to the one stamped with peace.
It
happens when I am all alone and
my thoughts have
free reign to go anywhere.
But
“Joy to the World” plays on Spotify
and
I’m struck by the
repetitive declarations filling my home.
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders and wonders of His love.
And I realize that I can think anything I want,
but grace has stepped in and led me
to think about wonder.
The wonder of His love.
He uses a music app to remind me
that His wonder is as real in my home
as it is in any cathedral.
The next song declares that
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
And I choose His gospel--
which is always about good news--
over the report filled with fear and doubt.
I had my breath taken away
and I wanted to flip off my shoes.
I am grateful for wonder and love.
No other season more loudly proclaims
the wonders of His love.
There are people who have no understanding
of Jesus singing about this great love.
And there are those, like me, who sing of it with
a measure of understanding but sometimes
as if seeing the wonder of this great love
for the first time.
And if I close my eyes,
I can smell the incense and
see the candles burning.
I think that I'm feeling the holy
and savoring the wonder.
In the midst of wonder,
hurry is easily hushed.
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