And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Ephesians 6:18-20
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:2
“I just don’t understand it. How are these mountains even here? How do they come out of the ground like this and look like that?”
My son sounded exasperated and dumbfounded, and in awe of the sight that stood before us as we looked at the jutting, stark, breath-taking, snow-capped mountains. We stood in the valley of Jackson Hole and looked up at the beauty and the mystery of the Grand Tetons. We felt so small, humbled by the magnitude of God’s creation that was right in front of our eyes.
It was amusing how everyone in the vehicle fumbled around trying to explain the science to him, drawing on what we could remember from basic high school geology (something about tectonic plates forming mountains over hundreds and thousands of years). But that wasn’t enough for him, and it wasn’t even really what he was after. He wanted to know how God put these mountains into our world and why it was important to add the mountains to this earth. He wanted to explore the mystery and the wonder of what he was seeing – beyond the mere mortal understanding – and wrap his mind around the Divine mind that had a vision for mountains like these. Our “scientific explanations,” weren’t enough for his curiosity and no answer we gave him would satisfy.
John Muir, a pioneer in drawing our attention to conserving these mysterious and beautiful natural spaces once said, “The mountains are calling and I must go and I will work on while I can, studying incessantly.” Muir didn’t just stand at the base of the mountains and think, “Wow, that’s beautiful.” It was more than qualitative analysis. He, too, wanted to understand the depth, the breadth, and the wonder of the full mystery that was before him. And, he wanted others to understand it, too.
As people of faith, when we encounter the living God, we stand in awe and wonder of this great mystery. We want to explain God through our Bible Studies, our theological waxing and waning, and our prophetic sermons filled with our limited understanding of divine truth. But no matter how hard we try, the encounter of God is both intensely personal and inexplicably communal. It is like standing at the base of the mountain with the people you love, each of you having an encounter with the Divine that touches your very soul, while giving thanks that you have this moment to share with those who mean so much to you on this earth.
Sometimes we need to allow the experience of God to lead us not to certain answers, but to more expansive and imaginative questions while we marvel at God’s wonder. I love the second half of Muir’s quote reminding us that yes, God is calling and yes, we must respond, and yes, we must work on while we can and study God incessantly – because we are inexplicably drawn to and in love with the beauty and the mystery that stands before us.
Questions to Ponder:
- Does your faith community provide space for wonder and awe? Is it comfortable with questions that lead to more questions?
- Do we find ourselves trying to “explain” the Divine, through words and wisdom that is limiting versus expansive?
- Do we offer “experiences” of God that have no need for explanation?
Ellynda Price Lipsey
Posted at 13:54h, 15 JuneThanks for this wonderful post, Amy! These are questions I have pondered as well. Each week I encourage my congregation to ask questions and post pictures that lead into deeper contemplation or simply photos that bring us joy or help us to see God’s creation from a new perspective.