Psalm 8:3-4 (NRSVUE)

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are humans that you are mindful of them,
    mortals that you care for them?

Greetings Glen Mar,

I hope you have had a good week. As I was looking for inspiration for this week’s “Pondering,” I remembered that I used to use a devotional called “Common Prayer for Ordinary Radicals,” which was developed in some way or another by Shane Claiborne and his folks at “The Simple Way” intentional community in Philadelphia, PA. At some point along the way, I stopped using it as a devotion and resource, but I used it for my daily prayer for years. I commend the online version to you as another devotional tool to have in your toolbox. Here is a link.

So, I thought for fun, I would go back to the resource for today’s order of prayer for a little inspiration, and, sure enough, I found something that inspired. In the devotion portion of the daily prayers for July 18, “Benedict of Nursia wrote: ‘The first step of humility is to cherish at all times the sense of awe with which we should turn to God.’” This made me think, how often in my prayer life, devotional life, or just my general life do I experience a sense of “awe” when I think of God? How about you? How would you answer this question? I’m not sure about you, but I know that I don’t experience the awe of God enough! I can get so comfortable and stuck in my routines that I fail to realize that when I pray that I am praying to the God of the Universe. The great, I AM! And that spending time in prayer, praise, and devotion to God is a privilege that I should regularly be in awe of, but I hate to admit it, I often miss the honor of spending time with God.

With that said, this week I am going to encourage you not to settle for the “ho-hum” faith that is comfortable and routine, but to intentionally look for God wherever you go and be inspired. Allow that sense of wonder and appreciation for God to turn into the “awe” that Benedict is talking about. Watch the sunset or sunrise, go for a hike in a park, and marvel at the wilderness beauty, or simply be intentional about your prayers and devotion and pray that ancient prayer, “Come, Holy Spirit,” before beginning them, and let God meet you there and get lost in wonder, love, and praise.

God is AWEsome! Let’s remember this together this week.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Chris