Hints of Transcendence

Psalm 8 offers this prayer, “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?”

The Hebrew words “mindful” and “care,” could also be translated as “remember” and “visit.” “What are human beings that you remember us, mortals that you visit us?”

This Psalm is a hymn of praise that was born out of a moment of wonder and awe. And it invites us to share in that wonder and awe.

Sometimes when I’m sitting on the ocean, I’m awed by how small and insignificant we are in the overall scheme of things. Or, while looking up at the stars, it’s hard to contemplate how far away they are… If you were able to travel at the speed of light, it would take more than four years to get to the nearest. When I begin to think about how vast it all is, it makes me realize that the God we worship is so much bigger than we can ever begin to imagine. To think that God created all of this and continues to create. Stars continue to be born, life continues to thrive.

I think about other moments that I’ve had, and I know you’ve had. Eugene Peterson put it this way, moments “…when ‘Life’ spills over the containers of mere survival or utility.” It is a moment of realization that there is something more going on in the world than just getting by. Maybe sitting far out on the ocean in a sailboat, or on a mountain top, or at the birth of a child, or even at the loss of a loved one, or during a stirring piece of music. We catch glimpses of the connections between everything we see and everything we can’t see. We get hints of transcendence, perceptions that there is more going on here than we can account for.

This Psalm, among many others, calls us – compels us – to stop in sit in awe and wonder; to marvel at the wonder and beauty of the gifts God has given us; to notice the holy and the sacred in the everyday, and to respond with open hearts and with our deepest praise.

Let us pray: Awesome God, we thank you for those holy moments, moments that are often few and far between. Today, we ask you to help us notice the beauty of your handiwork in creation, to catch glimpses of your Spirit at work in our lives, and to stand in amazement and wonder. We praise you for the gift of life, and for your love that binds us together, in Jesus’ name. Amen.