From the Pastor - December 2019
Peggy…sees the world with a sense of curiosity and appreciation – actually, it is the gift of wonder. The gift of wonder is the ability to be amazed by little things – the see more when other people see less; to be surprised again by the beauty you’ve seen a hundred times, feeling about it the way you did the first time you saw it – and to wonder how life could give you such a marvelous gift.
~An excerpt by Ron Renfroe from The Wonder of Christmas, chapter 1
Those who believe in God can never in a way be sure of [God] again. Once they have seen God in a stable, they can never be sure where God will appear or to what lengths he will go or to what ludicrous depths of self-humiliation he will descend in his wild pursuit of [people]. If holiness and the awful power and majesty of God were present in this least auspicious of all events, this birth of a peasant’s child, then there is no place or time so lowly and earthbound but that holiness can be present there too.
~Frederick Buechner, The Face in the Sky
These two quotes are at the heart of why I chose the book that will guide our Advent and Christmas Eve meditations. We are so focused as a society on science and technology (left brain activity) that I fear our children will lose their sense of wonder. We spend less and less time educating children in the arts, shrinking the curricula (not to mention teaching hours!) for art and music to such a degree that we nurture less and less of our children’s brains for wonder and creativity (right brain activity). Don’t science and technology require wonder and creativity so that the work of scientists and engineers and mathematicians is empowered is inspired? And perhaps more importantly, when wonder is absent, how are we nurturing spirituality?
During this season of Advent, we are providing you with a daily devotional book which is available in the Narthex for you to use as you wish, perhaps as readings as you light your Advent wreath at home.
As we approach the birth of the Baby, won’t you join me in being intentional about finding wonder-filled and awe-full moments in our daily lives during this season when there is far too much to do and it is far too easy to be so distracted that we are just not present to the daily wonders of a God who risked everything by sending a small baby to save us all?
Advent Blessings,
