Our Rich Liturgical Heritage
Awe and Wonder
The Rt Revd Dr Peter Brain
‘And fill them with awe and wonder in your presence, through Jesus Christ our Lord’ is the bishop’s prayer for those about to be confirmed. It ends a wonder-filled prayer, that those who confess Christ may grow in grace and be strengthened with the Holy Spirit for a life of godliness.
There are a number of ways that we are filled with awe and wonder in God’s presence. Yesterday as we sang our last hymn ‘O Lord my God when I in awesome wonder consider all the works your hand has made’ our hearts were reminded of God’s grandeur in His creation and sustaining power. It is a humbling and ennobling truth in and of itself. But how much more, and how much deeper, our wonder and awe ought to be as the third verse reminded us: ‘And when I think that God His Son not sparing, sent Him to die - I scarce can take it in, that on the Cross my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin’.
Our various Prayer Book Holy Communion services give us every reason to be filled with awe and wonder as we remember our Lord’s death in our place to deal with our sins. Our Lord, in giving us this sacrament by which to remember him, gave us a means to help us never forget or take for granted God’s mercy towards us sinners. Consider the various prayers of consecration in our prayer books. The BCP words are full of meaning and repeated in AAPB and APBA first order services. ‘Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world. . .’
Could there be anything so full of wonder to occupy the minds of redeemed sinners than this? We who pretend we are righteous enough to enter in to the presence of the Holy God, are humbled at the initiative and cost that God the Father and God the Son were willing to go to in order to make it possible for repentant sinners to find mercy. And for those who fear that their sins would make their fellowship with God an impossibility are heartened at the way God’s tender mercy has been demonstrated at the Cross.
The second order services help us stand amazed at the kindness of both God the Father and God the Son. Are not our hearts lifted to them in gratitude and humbled by the wonder of it all as we hear the words: ‘By his death on the cross and rising to new life, He offered the one true sacrifice for sin and obtained an eternal deliverance for his people.’ The Father and the Son acting in perfect harmony to bring our discordant hearts in to tune with themselves. We are able to sing from the same song-sheet, so to speak, then serve as we have been served by our Saviour, because our condemnation has been dealt with so willingly by our Saviour, our sins no longer separating us from God and each other.
Wonder and awe are indispensable to us believers because we so easily forget our need for mercy. Especially so as we get older, when cynicism and entitlement thinking, can easily rob us of wonder. It is for this reason why thankfulness is so appropriate for us at all times, for temporal blessings from God’s hand, and primarily for this central and clearest display of God’s love to us at the Cross. What is true of the apostles John and Paul who defined God’s love by the Cross (1 John 4:10 and Romans 5:8) becomes the basis for our wonder and awe at all times, especially when the chips are down and we don’t feel God’s love. Awe and wonder are indispensable to joy and purpose in life, and are found when our hearts and minds are captivated and gripped by our Saviour’s love for us. A truth that the sacrament makes so clear.