Second Sunday of Advent, December 8
The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display God’s craftsmanship.
Psalm 19: 1, 14 (NIV)
I don’t suppose we’ll ever agree about when the beginning began –
I don’t suppose it matters really when God made God’s plan.
But I do wonder…
I wonder at what point, as God created all this stuff,
I wonder when God looked at it and said, “That’s enough”?
Think about it.
Was God bored or was the celestial landscape just that tired?
Did God see a blank canvas and just, I don’t know, get inspired?
Did God have us in mind when the wheels started to turn,
when the picture started to unfold,
when desire started to burn?
And were there edges to the canvas?
Was there a theme to the story?
Did God have a goal in mind?
And was God looking for glory?
God hung fire in the heavens and made it ebb and grow;
God shaped rock and gas and dust and placed them just so.
God painted them and laid them out – planets and constellations –
and made galaxies and galaxies in a cosmic congregation.
Solar systems, solar flares, orbits, comets, moons and sun,
Nebulas, giants, supernovas, neutrons, black holes…
but when was it done?
And then God thought bigger and got smaller with the brush;
Each stroke brought life that moved and morphed
so little, so much.
Clear blue skies and darkest nights and Aurora Borealis
and hombre dawns and purple dusks like tapestries in a palace.
God set in motion a stunning array of atmospheric conditions;
rain and bows and fog and snow and clouds forming apparitions.
Varieties of patterns – cirrus, lenticular and stratus;
catching light and carrying storms – nimbus, cumulus, mammatus.
They can bring us feelings of joy or awe or fear.
They can make us feel like it’s just for us, like God is near.
I wonder what God wanted when all of this began
I wonder if God knew we’d wonder at the works of God’s hands.
I wonder if the wonder of it all is that God is still creating stuff,
because the beauty of God’s beauty is that it can never be enough.
I can never get enough.
That’s why I wonder.
Prayer: God of wonders, fill us with awe as we mediate on the grandeur and majesty of your creation. Fill us with hope as we anticipate the coming of a new heaven and new earth, singing, “Come Lord Jesus.” Amen.
Sam Perkins
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