Pentecostal Awe & Wonder

Aahhhhh!!!! Yawn! Church is a big yawn, don't you know? An increasing number of people in our culture figure that this is a reality, if they bother to think about us at all. And in many congregations, including lots in mainline churches, such as the United Church, there may be strong evidence that not much is happening, that the air has gone out of the tires of our faith traditions.



Instead of "Ah," what about "Awe," and wonder, and a sense of the holy? This weekend there is an interesting piece in the New York Times called Why Do we Experience Awe by two researchers who wanted to examine why humans experience awe. It starts out this way:

HERE’S a curious fact about goose bumps. In many nonhuman mammals, goose bumps — that physiological reaction in which the muscles surrounding hair follicles contract — occur when individuals, along with other members of their species, face a threat. We humans, by contrast, can get goose bumps when we experience awe, that often-positive feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends our understanding of the world.

Why do humans experience awe? Years ago, one of us, Professor Keltner, argued (along with the psychologist Jonathan Haidt) that awe is the ultimate “collective” emotion, for it motivates people to do things that enhance the greater good. Through many activities that give us goose bumps — collective rituals, celebration, music and dance, religious gatherings and worship — awe might help shift our focus from our narrow self-interest to the interests of the group to which we belong.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/opinion/sunday/why-do-we-experience-awe.html?referrer=&_r=0

On this Day of Pentecost when we celebrate the air or pneuma of the Holy Spirit pumping into the tires of those frightened followers of the crucified and Risen Christ it would be worth our while to consider how we experience awe and the glory of God, rather than just "same old, same old." I have experienced "goose bump" awe in large gatherings of praising Christians, and in the tranquil chapels of monasteries and in the beauty of creation. Even in moments when I have been on the brink of terror such as holding on in  whacking great thunder storms while paddling I have experienced something wild and holy. There is no set way to experience awe, yet for me the common factor is being lifted into the extraordinary from the mundane and predictable.

What about for you? Where and when have you experienced awe? Do we have too many yawns and not enough wonder?