I was driving home yesterday and there's a billboard somewhere along either I-40 or I-75 with Susan Boyle's picture on it and something about inspiration. It got me to thinking about a debate I read about where the reality of the 'shock' on everyone's face at her first performance on Britain's Got Talent. (If you haven't seen it, go here) Apparently there is a good chance that it was all staged.
I stand in the camp that doesn't really care whether it was staged or not. I want there to be magical moments in the world that take my breath away, that leave me stunned and amazed at what I have just seen. It reminds me of the end of the movie The Iron Giant--it's one of those magical endings that reminds you of the power of the cinema. We need moments like this, moments where awe overwhelms us, where life seems too wonderful to behold in our human eyes, where nothing but amazement can speak.
Do we still find this in God? Does the sweeping grandeur of God still amaze us? Does the thought of God speaking over the watery chaos in Genesis send shivers up our spine? Does the reality of God hanging on a cross out of love that we might have life conjure something up, deep within us, that stirs the emotions within? Does the thought of the empty tomb send something indescribable, something beyond joy, racing up our spines? Or have the thoughts become so familiar that they have lost their magic?
I wonder how we as the church might recapture our awe. I wonder how we might become moved once more by the selfless love of God, how the God of creation and redemption might break through our comfort and remind us of how big God is and how loved we are.
I think much of it has to do with our time spent in God's love story, the Bible. I think we have to go back to the stories, so that we turn the pages and see God's love written out in the stories of Abraham and Moses, of Gideon and David. David once danced out of joy and gratitude--shall our souls dance, too, when we remember that the God who loved God's people enough to part the seas loves us just the same?
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