Hi everyone,
Lately (like in the past couple of days), there seems to be only two kinds of people in the Lower Mainland: those that felt last Friday’s earthquake, and those who didn’t. I’m part of the former group, I was sitting at my desk at home and I heard the closet doors rattling. I thought it was a big truck driving by until I could feel the shaking in the floor beneath my feet and a rumbling unlike anything I’ve heard before. Then it stopped, almost as suddenly as it started.
And then I got a message in one of my group chats, “holy $#!+ earthquake” (not sent by me, btw).
This isn’t the first earthquake I’ve been through, but it is the first one I actually felt. And it was a little unsettling. Maybe a little scary. But it was very much awe inspiring. Like, whenever I think about the amount of force that it must take for those tectonic plates to shift, the sheer strength of the continental drift, the massive amount of power to quake the earth like that, I’m left feeling small and insignificant and maybe kind of weak.
Well, I guess that makes sense since I’m not a planet.
But all that brings to perspective the awesomeness of this, our home. I gives me a renewed sense of respect for the scientific laws at play that make this planet make sense. I am made more aware of how little power I have over the forces of nature.
And that is humbling. Not in a debilitating way, mind you. But more in a way that I feel honoured to be here, to have a name and identity and be known, to even be loved by God and welcomed into a community. That even someone as insignificant as we are in the great grand scheme of things can be heard, noticed, and make a difference.
So I guess all that threatening and overbearing power that we see around us in nature is, in a way, empowering for us to not squander this gift of life, but to go out and live.
Here are the readings for next week, Transfiguration Sunday:
Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12—4:2
Luke 9:28-36
And a video of me reading them:
Transfiguration is an odd situation, in that we likely haven’t experienced anything like that. We probably haven’t seen anyone’s face turn dazzling bright or skin pop with literal radiance. And if you said you have, I probably wouldn’t believe you.
Because it’s weird. It’s odd. It’s outside at least my experience.
But I can imagine how scary it would be, but also beautiful. How frightening, but assuring. How intimidating but also empowering.
See when we are face to face with God, I don’t know if we could ever not be a bit afraid. When we have these “God moments” in our lives, when things line up in a way that can only be classified as miraculous, we are usually pretty awestruck. When such power and might is revealed, we will probably feel a bit intimidated.
But when that power, that strength, that awesomeness suddenly bends down, calls our name, takes us by the hand, and declares us beloved? That is humbling. It is also empowering. And it reminds us of all that we’ve been given in God’s grace, God’s mercy, and God’s unending love.
And that makes me want to live. To serve. To reflect this gracious love to all.
Thanks be to God! Have a great week, everyone!