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“When men cease to be lost in wonder, love, and
praise, they are in spiritual peril. The
most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the mystical. It is
the source of all true art and
science. He to whom this emotion is a
stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good
as dead; his eyes are closed.... To know that what is inpenetrable to us really
exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty
which our dull faculties can comprehend – this knowledge, this feeling is at
the center of true religiousness. In
this sense, and in this sense only, I belong in the ranks of devoutly religious
men.” Albert Einstein, quoted in Man’s
First Love by Ralph W. Sockman.
We turn the calendar page to the finale of
another year and begin the rush of preparation for Christmas. I have installed
another hand crafted chalet
on the bannister of my deck for my feathered friends, hoping that a pair of
Carolina wrens will find a new home here; the door is designed for tiny
birds. Ergo, great expectation of the
first snowfall setting the scene for the joy, wonder and welcome of visitors,
no matter the species.
Crowding my thoughts in this rush to the
Christmas season and year’s end is a beckoning for prayer that the season will
be one of discovering a deeper knowledge of who God is. These thoughts are prompted
by Ralph Sockman’s
book, Man’s First Love, coming to me more than a half-century after it
was published, but profoundly getting my attention. His understanding of God’s
love for His children is a benediction:
“We
agree with Pascal that we seek God because we have already found Him; that is,
it is our experience of God which wants us to know Him more. We should ever
remember that the Bible
interprets God as taking the initiative in His relations with man. God is not
an aloof Being waiting to be
discovered. Jesus taught that God is a
Heavenly Father who seeks us as the father of the prodigal saw his son coming
afar and went to meet him. Hence, in
preparing ourselves to pray, we are to make ourselves responsive to the God who
is seeking us, so that we shall recognize His presence. In praying, listening
is preparatory to
talking. There is a word which appears
scores of times in Scripture but is seldom heard in our conversation. It is
the word “hearken” which is a stronger
word than listen. To hearken is to
listen intently with faculties alert... to listen not only intently but
expectantly....How, then, do we prepare ourselves to seek God? By remembering
that He is a Father seeking
us, by listening intently and expectantly for His approach....In Our Lord’s
Prayer he taught us to begin, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name.” Our first attitude in prayer is
to hearken to God, keeping our thoughts focused on Him, and not looking too
quickly to see what He is to do for us.
In preparing to pray, we should fasten our gaze on God until we do
hallow His name and like the psalmist exclaim: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic
is thy name in all the earth!”
Vinete Adoremus Dominum
And when we give each other Christmas presents in His name, let us
remember that He has given us the sun and moon and stars, the earth with its
forests and mountains and oceans – and all that lives and
moves upon them....and to save us from all our sins, He came down to earth and
gave us Himself.” Singred
Undset, Nobel Prize in Literature-1928
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