120122 - The 5 As

Yr B ~ Epiphany 3 ~ Psalm 111
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. (Ps 111:10)
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom. Hmm. That's ok, but I'm not sure that all those words carry the same nuance today as they did when they were written. So I would offer this as an alternate translation: The awe of the Lord is the beginning of all knowing, insight, understanding – faith. Today I'm going to speak about awe, because 'fear of God' is an oxymoron in my world.
 
If the fear of the Lord only means to be scared or frightened of God then this verse is theologically suspect and psychologically abusive. If fear means how we usually define it then God is a tyrant and you can’t be wise or faithful until you’re suitably petrified of his merciless, vengeful wrath. That’s utterly ridiculous. That’s not God. That’s somebody using God’s name to scare people into something.
 
I’m not saying that the word fear is wrong or that this verse doesn’t include our usual connotations of it. My point is that fright is only a tiny sliver of what God’s presence ought to produce in us, and it’s not fright and distaste like in a slasher horror movie but the kind of fright that comes when something is so big, and fantastic, and mind-blowing that we can’t comprehend it so it frightens us.
 
I always insist on substituting the word awe for fear whenever the bible refers to someone being afraid of an angel, or an encounter with the holy. The messengers of God are forever telling people, “Be not afraid” – by which they mean frightened. Don’t be afraid, but do be awestruck!

 
The problem is that we're trying to conceptualize the impossible here. As soon as you say anything at all about God you are a blathering idiot. (Yes, I’m aware of what I do for a living!) To hear people spout off so arrogantly that God says this, or God wants that, or God condemns this thing, or God does whatever is not only silly but potentially dangerous.
 
And I guess I’m really no different. I too make certain general claims for God that I think are reasonable – like God loves you, and God misses you, and God wants you to commune with God. But I can’t prove any of them. In the end all I have to rely on is my lived experience. And to be honest, when I do really, deeply, fully commune with God I couldn’t possibly put it in any clearer words than this: bububububububub [fingers flipping lips].
 
When I’m really in that spiritual zone – those rare but breathtakingly beautiful mountaintop moments when God feels really real and powerfully present – I am awestruck – impressed, shocked, amazed, stunned, astonished, awed, awe-inspired, dumbfounded, struck dumb, wonder-struck – and I’m not ashamed to say that in those moments I’m also daunted, intimidated, afraid, frightened, terrified, cowed, horrified, and fearful – because that’s part of the game when you encounter such holiness.
 
That's how it feels to engage God. People throughout time been awestruck and “afraid” as they dare to open themselves more fully to the breath-taking presence of God. Just listen to the language used by the psalmist in Psalm 111 to describe God:
Great honour majesty righteousness renown gracious merciful food mindful power heritage faithful just trustworthy faithfulness uprightness redemption holy and even awesome
When you’re talking about God the words just fly out – and they’re never enough. Truly trying to comprehend and engage in the incredible awesomeness of God invariably reduces us to a quivering puddle of goo. But it’s a good puddle to be – and it doesn’t happen on its own.
 
Listen to the last verse of today’s psalm again. It’s a very famous verse of scripture. It appears in slightly different forms in several places in the bible. Listen carefully:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever. (Ps 111:10)
 
We’ve talked at length about the fear part, which is really about awe, but look at that next phrase. All who practice it (the awe of the Lord) have a good understanding. All who practice awe. You can practice awe like you practice the piano. You cultivate awe. And awe, wonderment, reverence, these are the starting points for the life of faith - not fear. Anything else, it seems to me, is just academic – a head game. If your faith isn’t based in some measure of awe, wonderment, and reverence then I’m not really sure what it is you have faith about.
 
So how does one cultivate awe? Should we? Is the spiritual experience active or passive? It’s an interesting question. I think the answer is both. The actual movement of the Spirit – the actual experience of the presence of God is not something that can be forced. You can’t go and select a can of God from your grocery store shelf. We use language that says that God is ever-present and waiting for us to take notice, but this Presence requires something very important from us.
 
So I guess I’m saying that we have to do something to get something – but not in the sense of a transaction, like if you invest ten minutes of prayer you get to experience a 'level 4 God-Presence event'. I’m saying that if you just go about your regular life without giving God, or Jesus, or the Spirit a second thought it’s not very likely that God is going to light up a bush as you’re walking your dog and tell you to kick off your snow boots because you’re on holy ground.
 
How about this one: If you want to watch the hockey or football or soccer game you’ve got to at least show up in front of your TV set and tune the channel in. The game will be happening whether you tune in or not, but for you to receive it you’ve got to at least make yourself available. (That’s what I mean by you have to do something to get something.)
 
I have no doubts that God could make Godself known if God really wanted to – break through our busyness and knock us off our feet to get our attention. But that’s not the way it works. God doesn’t coerce God lures. God doesn’t blare God whispers. God doesn’t barge God nudges. Minimally, we have to show up.
 
So if we want to speak of being in awe of God we have to think about how we can nurture our spirits so that we’re in a state that we can notice that God is awe-full. What I’m suggesting this morning is that we can cultivate awe. If you want to be fully alive and fully in God’s Presence you might want to consider practicing the 5 As.
 
These are the 5 As of the spiritual life, or perhaps more personally the 5 As of your day. Every day you can cultivate your relationship with the Holy Mystery that we name God by following these 5 As: Awake, Aware, Active, Attentive, Awestruck.
 
We begin each day by being Awake – both literally and spiritually. We can awaken not just from sleep but to God’s presence. It’s a conscious ‘yes’ to start your day – "Yes God, I’m awake and ready to notice you today." In my sports analogy this is the equivalent of turning on your TV set – powering up the system – consciously choosing to begin the process of tuning something in. It has to start with an on-switch even if you were riveted to the program the night before. It’s a new day. You can start it with a clear choice for God. Your alarm clock has gone off – it’s time to awaken.
 
But the spiritual life doesn’t end with the flipping of that on-switch, that’s just the start. Awakening is how it begins, but then you’ve got to get up and get on with your day. How will you choose to take your awakening with you so you can maximize your chances of being in awe during the day? The simple answer is that you think about it. You choose to be open – seeing, sensing, perceiving, and practicing God’s Presence in every moment. The word is Aware.
 
You can strive to be aware – aware that every moment is pregnant with Presence if you want to see it. Awareness is being ready to notice. Awareness is a mindset that expects to notice God in all things and through all people. Awareness is your general readiness to accept what flows your way or what bubbles up from within. Awareness is an open hand, and an expectant gift.
 
To awaken is to choose to engage – to be aware is to choose to recognize – and the next A is to be Active - to choose to make an effort. We live, move, and do – we are active – we’re involved and engaged in whatever our day brings us, knowing that God’s Presence is not just there in the silence of the prayer room but is actively present even when we’re out and active in the world. God is active, so too should I be.
 
To be active is to be intentional – to create space and opportunities to notice God. Deepening faith and increasing awe don’t happen by accident. To be active is to pray – in whatever ways you can, whenever you can, as fully and openly as you can. Remember, prayer is much more than words composed and recited. Prayer is any intentional attempt to commune with God – through words, through gestures, through breathing, and yes, even through actions. If whatever you're doing carries with it the intention of communing with God through it then it’s prayer.
 
The fourth A is to be Attentive. This is similar to awareness but awareness is more of a state of being open and having noticed things where as attentiveness is more the conscious act of looking for things – seeking God’s presence. Attentiveness is having your antennae up – watching, listening, wondering, observant mindfulness. Attentiveness is seeking, desiring, yearning.
 
The 5 As are not sequential, they're all interconnected. You awaken, and you choose to be aware, active, and attentive through your day, and the result, the benefit, the fruit of it is that you will dramatically increase your likelihood of being Awestruck - the 5th A.
 
Now, imagine if you awoke every day with an intention to cultivate your ability to be present to God’s Presence. You put your feet on the floor beside your bed and you say to yourself, “Today I will be open to noticing God. Today I choose awareness.” Then you go about your normal day – but there’s nothing normal about it anymore because now every thing you do seems infused with God’s Presence. And through the day you intentionally draw your consciousness to think about God – to actively strive to commune with God through prayers, and actions, and breathing. And imagine that as you’re doing all those things you’re constantly looking for glimpses of God – mindful and attentive to the million nudges, and feelings, and intuitions that surge through your spirit.
 
Imagine being awake, aware, active, and attentive every day – all day – day after day. I think if we did that – if we even made fleeting, flailing attempts at living that way – that we would be absolutely, totally, thoroughly, utterly, completely, wholly awestruck by God's Presence. We would be entirely overwhelmed, and amazed, and astounded by how supersaturated every moment is with the Presence of God. Every breath, every flower, every leaf, every smile, every song, every heartbeat is infused with wonder, and blessing, and beauty, and love.
 
Awake, aware, active, and attentive people are awestruck people. The awe of the Lord is the beginning of all knowing, insight, understanding and faith. As you journey ever-deeper into the Way of Jesus may your days be nothing but awe-full!
 
Awe-men!