Engagement
Dear Eugene,
“It is not easy to convey a sense of wonder, let alone resurrection wonder, to another. It’s the very nature of wonder to catch us off guard, to circumvent expectations and assumptions. Wonder can’t be packaged, and it can’t be worked up. It requires some sense of being there and some sense of engagement.”
You said that.
I think the key word is engagement. I am still learning, and often failing, in engaging people to see the wonders for themselves.
This past Easter I had experienced much success in engaging people to wonder about Christ's resurrection. And just as much failure.
It must be wonder-full to cross the Red Sea, to experience the trippiest miracle of all, surrounded by a 3-D mega-Imax aquarium, feeling the water-conditioned coolness of an undersea chamber (Honey, can you get my jacket?), songs of freedom and triumph lingering in the air. But what if the slave wants to remain a slave? That he genuinely and thoroughly enjoys life in Egypt, growing comfortable with and even fond of being compromised?
How far should Moses go before he is guilty of "working people up" or peddling "packaged wonderment"?
It is easy for a person to say, Let him be then; God has his timing, when he doesn't care about the person or even God. It is different when you are in love. C. S. Lewis once wrote, "Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable."
So there is a contradiction here. To listen attentively is to stay silent; yet the Word is meant to be spoken.
Oh how we need the Spirit to stay robust!
Still learning when and how to speak, Alex
“It is not easy to convey a sense of wonder, let alone resurrection wonder, to another. It’s the very nature of wonder to catch us off guard, to circumvent expectations and assumptions. Wonder can’t be packaged, and it can’t be worked up. It requires some sense of being there and some sense of engagement.”
You said that.
I think the key word is engagement. I am still learning, and often failing, in engaging people to see the wonders for themselves.
This past Easter I had experienced much success in engaging people to wonder about Christ's resurrection. And just as much failure.
It must be wonder-full to cross the Red Sea, to experience the trippiest miracle of all, surrounded by a 3-D mega-Imax aquarium, feeling the water-conditioned coolness of an undersea chamber (Honey, can you get my jacket?), songs of freedom and triumph lingering in the air. But what if the slave wants to remain a slave? That he genuinely and thoroughly enjoys life in Egypt, growing comfortable with and even fond of being compromised?
How far should Moses go before he is guilty of "working people up" or peddling "packaged wonderment"?
It is easy for a person to say, Let him be then; God has his timing, when he doesn't care about the person or even God. It is different when you are in love. C. S. Lewis once wrote, "Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable."
So there is a contradiction here. To listen attentively is to stay silent; yet the Word is meant to be spoken.
Oh how we need the Spirit to stay robust!
Still learning when and how to speak, Alex
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