The Search for Awe

 Mark 1:22

The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.

                When was the last time you experienced awe and wonder in church? When is the last time you were amazed by Jesus?

                I was talking with a pastor friend of mine the other day. He had just preached a message out of the book of Mark. He mentioned that he was struck by how often in Mark it is recorded that the people were amazed at Jesus. Wherever Jesus went, people were captivated by Him. He stood out from the crowd.

                Have we lost our sense of awe and amazement with Jesus? In our attempts to make the gospel more “relevant” have we emptied it of its power to amaze us?

                Throughout the centuries, God has used sacred places to capture the imaginations of people. God gave the people of Israel an amazing Temple to remind them of just how amazing He is. God gave Moses specific instructions on how to construct the Tabernacle, which eventually was transformed into the Temple in Jerusalem. People from all over the world came to Jerusalem to gaze at the magnificent Temple. The Temple represented the presence of God in the world and it caused awe and wonder in all who saw it.

                In the past, the church has tried to recreate that sense of awe and wonder. You cannot step into a cathedral in Europe and not be struck by the sense of awe and majesty portrayed there. Those buildings were intentionally designed to represent the majesty of God. Their steeples and high vaulted ceilings pointed people toward heaven. Their sheer size was intended to reflect the enormity of God’s love and grace. Their stained glassed windows were there to teach the basic truths of the Bible in ways that everyone could understand. At the same time, they were designed to illicit awe and wonder. Even today, when so many of those cathedrals are little more than museums, people instinctively hold their breath and stand in quiet reverence when they enter.

                We are such sensory creatures. We often need tangible things to inspire our spiritual senses. One of the unfortunate outcomes of the Protestant revolution was an abandonment of tangible symbols to inspire. In an effort to purify the church from all forms of idolatry, we also took away valuable tools that the church had used to inspire awe and wonder.

                Today, many evangelical churches have embraced this iconoclastic approach to gathered worship. We have stripped away most of the elements that make a church building unique. Instead, we have substituted the “black box” format, which allows for cool light shows and better project of images, but which often takes away any sense of reverence or awe. Instead of having our breath taken away by the awe, wonder, and mystery of God, we are entertained by sound and light shows, complete with smoke machines.

                After WWII, the church in England dramatically declined. One of the major reasons for this decline was that the leadership of the Anglican church chose to downplay the uniqueness of the church. Instead, they chose to become political activists. The result was that attendance dropped dramatically. In contrast, the Roman Catholic church maintained its historical stance and held its place in society.

                Today, many young adults are gravitating to more liturgical churches, looking for a genuine sense of awe and wonder. They are tired of being entertained. Instead, they desire a genuine experience of God’s presence. Many evangelical churches are working hard to offer that experience, but we have a long way to go. I am not suggesting that we go back to some older form of worship. What I am suggesting is that we need to seriously consider what makes the church unique in our world. If all we have to offer is a poor imitation of the entertainment of the world, what can we hope to gain?

                We need to ask ourselves some hard questions. What does it mean for us to experience the presence of God? What does it mean to stand in awe and wonder of the Unknowable One who made Himself knowable in the person of Jesus? How can we recapture the amazement that people felt when they were in the presence of Jesus?

                Many people are tired of stale religion that seems like just a set of rules to follow. What they are yearning for is a genuine encounter with God, even if they don’t realize it. What the church has to offer is not a better social system, but a life transformed by Jesus. Instead of imitating the world, let us unashamedly proclaim the good news of redemption, renewal, and rebirth that can be found only in Jesus.

Romans 12:2

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.