“Lost in wonder, love and praise,” is a line from one of my favorite hymns, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.” They hymn was written by Charles Wesley. He is estimated to have written between three and six thousand hymns and over nine thousand literary texts. Wesley’s friend, Henry Moore, remembered Wesley bursting through his front door crying out, “Pen and Ink! Pen and Ink!” Before he could even say “Hello,” he needed to get a verse out of his head and on a piece of paper.
Charles and John Wesley were the founding brothers of the Methodist movement. Charles was the celebrated hymn writer and John the celebrated preacher. The movement didn’t begin with a plan. It didn’t even begin with great theology, though the Wesley brothers were much better theologians than they get credit for being. The movement began with singing and preaching that stirred hearts and changed lives. Theologians are vital to the church, but some theologians can get lost in thought. Thank God for those theologians who can get lost in “wonder, love and praise” because it is in wonder where the greatest discoveries begin… in art, in science, in faith, in life.
I offer a memory of my daughter, Paige, as a parable of what I am saying. Paige was maybe two or three years old when we went to a park for a picnic. Suddenly she started making a panicked noise: “Uh, uh, uh uh…” We looked over and she was frozen in terror looking at what was crawling on her hand; a ladybug. I explained to her that a ladybug was one of the friendliest bugs around. I said, “Look how pretty it is.” I put my hand down and let the ladybug crawl on it and said, “I like watching it.” After a bit I asked, “Do you want it to crawl on you again?” Paige nodded her head “Yes,” and so I put her hand next to mine and the bug crawled back on her. Eventually, Millie and I went back to our picnic and baby Rachel, and for at least half an hour, Paige was lost in fascination watching that ladybug crawl over her hands and arms. Wonder changed her that day. From then on, she has had a fascination with animals she can hold.
Some people think that science and theology are at odds with each other. I believe they actually share the same spiritual DNA because they both begin in wonder and explore the mystery. Sure, there are jobs in the field of science that are simply ways to earn a living; and there is religion that degenerates into something utilitarian like eternal life insurance or a justification for one’s own life and prejudices. But great science and true faith share a sense of wonder at creation. They look to the skies, looking for black holes and for God. They look around and within exploring the mysteries of creation and of the body, brain, and spirit. And the more that is discovered, the greater the wonder grows. High level scientific research and high level theology is the practice of wonder…. and it can lead to discoveries that can heal and save. Even before worrying about what is useful, though, wonder simply seeks understanding.
Let’s go back to Charles Wesley’s hymn that ends with the words, “lost in wonder, love and praise.” Faith begins in worship, in the awe of being lost before God. When we stand in lost wonder before God, everything that usually matters ceases to matter because only God matters. And when the Sabbath moment is done, we re-enter our lives knowing that we actually do matter because we matter to God. That is when our lives change. That is when we start to understand better what should matter because we are God’s children, and others are God’s children, and this world is God’s world. The Methodist movement was a social movement because it changed lives and law. But it began, as true faith does, in the pause of wonder.
I am a Presbyterian who celebrates Charles Wesley’s kind of faith: the ethical and moral life that begins in wonder and praise.
Dr. George C. Anderson is Senior Pastor at Second Presbyterian Church. Visit them on the web at www.spres.org
