Liturgy 025: Hallowing God and My Envy of Eclipse Chasers

5 Minutes to Be Present to God, Self, and Neighbor

🙏 Collect Prayer

Slow down. Breathe in and breathe out these words 3 times.

God of Creation
God who said let there be light
God whose Name was never to be spoken
Grant me the gift of wonder and reverence
That I might worthily magnify your Name
Through Christ our LORD
Amen

📖 Lectio Divina

Read these words of Jesus slowly, listening for what the Risen Christ may be saying to you through them.

Matthew 6v9

This then is how you should pray:
Our Father in Heaven
Hallowed be Your Name…

🖼️ Reflection

Did y’all see the eclipse?

I confess.

I went to the park.

Put on those glasses that reminded me of watching the original Monsters Inc…

and through an overcast morning, I saw…

a little orange circle…

covered by a little dark circle.

Then I went about my day…

🤷

But as I type these words I am considering the mystery…

I am a dot on a giant rock. This rock sustains human life with its precise atmospheric balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water vapor. This rock hangs on nothing. It’s suspended in space. But it orbits around a scorching ball of gas 93 million miles away. To this benign celestial arrangement I owe the experience of taking in a breath of fresh air and witnessing the changing colors in the sky each day. And every couple of decades the Sun and Earth and Moon align to create —

Hmm… still nothing? I feel you.

We are all just teenagers shrugging our way through the wonder of human life. In our culture today…

Wonder, awe, and reverence are at all time lows.

Cynicism and skepticism are at all time highs.

When was the last time you were amazed to no end?

Because this is the starting point of how Jesus teaches us to pray:

To hallow God’s Name is to revere the attributes and activity of God.

What creates wonder and awe in you? For me, it's being outside with a spirit of contemplation, quieting marveling the gift of life. While it can be healing to approach God with an informal casual demeanor, we must also do the spiritual work of contemplating how small we are in comparison to Almighty God. On this Monday, I invite you to hallow the Name of God and stand in awe of Creator and Sustainer God. What a wonder to be alive.

💡 Quotes

The fear of the LORD
is the beginning of wisdom.
— Psalm 111:10

🕊️ Blessing

May you shrug your shoulders at man made stressors, and stand in awe of the glory of God all around you.
Amen.