Becoming
"When I look up at your skies,
at what your fingers made—
the moon and the stars
that you set firmly in place—
what are human beings
that you think about them;
what are human beings
that you pay attention to them?"
psalm 8:3-4
I use to drive out to a spot near the lake in Waco at night. I would park my car in a gravel lot and walk to a cement picnic table near the water. I would queue up some music on my ole iPod and watch the night sky--clouds lingering and meteors flashing across the black. I love the sense of considering the tiny space that I occupy in the universe.
I often try to remind myself how much in my life I do not see. It's easy for us to find routines and patterns that blind us to the pure enchantment and variety within the world. You may have traveled, but you have not been to every city. You may know about other countries or cultures, but there's no way to experience each of them intimately. This idea of unknowing is even more prevalent in science. According to the National Ocean Service, humans have still only explored 5% of Earth's oceans, which make up 70% of our planet's surface! Scientists now agree that the edge of our expanding observable universe is around 46 billion light years. But it gets better... That observable expanse of galaxies, stars, and planets only accounts for 4% of the universe! The other 96% is dark matter, which still largely remains a mystery.
"God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see."
I love that the book of Genesis, which itself simply means "Becoming," begins with a poem about the mysterious creation of everything. Our reading this week (Genesis 1) acknowledges the mystery and beauty of the created universe. The "Becoming" that we now find ourselves in the midst of our own becoming. This week, Trinity Sunday, in church life is based on the exploration and expression of Christians' experiences with God. What if this week we consider God the original Artist--the creative sort that we usually don't fully recognize?
May we find moments to experience the artwork of God that is all around us. May God open us up to new possibilities and experiences that allow us to be in awe of our significance in the Creation that we read about in the beginning of this story about Becoming.
