Wonder, Love, and Praise

Ruth Kayaking -- St. Martin's New Brunswick

1 Love divine, all loves excelling,
  joy of heaven to earth come down,
 fix in us thy humble dwelling,
  all thy faithful mercies crown.
 Jesus, thou art all compassion,
  pure, unbounded love thou art;
 visit us with thy salvation,
  enter every trembling heart.

3 Finish, then, thy new creation;
  pure and spotless let us be;
 let us see thy great salvation
  perfectly restored in thee,
 changed from glory into glory,
  till in heaven we take our place,
 till we cast our crowns before thee,
  lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Love Divine -- Charles Wesley VU 333

Yesterday the CBC radio science show, Quirks and Quarks, did a segment on the science of awe. It noted that awe and wonder can be both awe-some and aw-ful, and that religion can evoke both joy and fear. We experience awe listening to music in a church or in the natural world or before beautiful works of art.

They spoke with a researcher, Beau Lotto, who collaborated with Cirque du Soleil and 280 audience members to explore what happens in the brain. Some were equipped with EEG caps that could read their brain waves while they watched and reacted to what they were seeing. 

The EEG revealed that activity in their prefrontal cortex, the part of our brain responsible for controlling attention, decreased, reflecting the way the audience members became lost in the experience. Analysis of the data from questionnaires revealed they were affected in several significant ways.

• They were more willing to take risks.
• They were more comfortable with uncertainty.
• They redefined their perceptions of themselves.

"All of these changes are really quite profound because they're all related to the need and desire to step into uncertainty, which is itself essential for things like creativity, optimism, positive behaviour, decreasing fear, decreasing hate, increasing tolerance etc," said Lotto.



Exeter Cathedral, Devon (one of my favourites)

As I listened I thought of the Charles Wesley hymn, Love Divine, which I've sung within large congregations, accompanied by a pipe organ, with choir members singing the descant. Words, music, and the sense of gathered praise created a sense of the divine and it was awe-some.

I have also walked seashores after a storm when the wind and sheer power of the surf enveloped me and created a sense of both uncertainly and wonder.

Perhaps we need to engage in worship in ways that take us out of ourselves more often. It's probably why people want to be part of congregations with thousands of people, even when the experience seems rather cheesy and manipulative. Somehow being "Lost in wonder, love, and praise" seems like an awesome idea.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/mar-9-2019-science-of-awe-blue-whales-and-sonar-chromosomes-and-sleep-and-more-1.5047142/exploring-the-powerful-emotion-of-awe-how-it-can-be-awe-some-and-aw-ful-1.5047156



Cirque du Soleil