"Fearfully
and Wonderfully Made"
a condensed version of the
sermon delivered by Rev. Kirk Moore on Sunday, January 18, 2009 at Union Congregational Church, United Church of
Christ, in Somonauk, Illinois.
PODCAST of "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made"
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Wondering out loud
Sometimes a good "WOW!" really helps to lift my spirit. Last week I took a vacation to Bonaire, a tiny island in the South Caribbean. Each day I snorkeled and scuba-dived in the sea and saw some pretty awesome sights
The sights were amazing – and I kept an online journal (a blog) of my experiences – including pictures and video. I also made a web page showing even more pictures at our family website. What you’ll see there – and what I experienced, can really only be described with something like, "WOW – this is so marvelous" I still can’t help but wonder out loud, "How much goodness and feelings of awe can one person experience?!"
I also had a bittersweet experience as we thought much about my father-in-law, Joe, on every dive. We also scattered some of his ashes at one of his favorite dive sites and over the reef at the resort he and my mother-in-law Mary Anne spent many a winter.
The range of emotions in the Psalms are . . . awesome.
The experience of the Psalmist from this week’s reading from Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18, while not related to a wonderful or bittersweet experience on a tropical island, is nevertheless one that I believe was inspired by a "WOW" moment and I think that it expresses the writer wondering out loud the wonder of God’s creation and God’s care for each of us. I think it wonders out loud how vast God’s thoughts are – and yet how in the hugeness that is God, there is room for something deeply personal between the psalmist and God.
Fearfully and wonderfully made
Fearfully? Maybe a better way to understand "Fearfully" is "Awesomely"
"You made me awesome, God-dude!"
"Like – you like created me to be totally awesome, Oh my God!"
Thank you for letting me do my Bill and Ted and Valley girl impersonations just for a moment. I’ll go back to being normal now.
Awesomely and wonderfully made.
Can you imagine if we believed that about everyone? Can you imagine a nation and a world inspired to live as if everyone mattered? Can we dare to hope for the impossible to happen – the end of religious, racial, class, orientation and gender hatred?
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929-- 90 years ago this week. It’s been 42 years since he was assassinated.
God has made each person – precious – awesome – wonderful.
God has made our planet – precious – awesome – wonderful.
What if we believed that -- and treated people, animals, all of nature in that way?
We are closer now to his dream than we were 42 years ago . . . but his dream that inspired great strides forward for civil rights wasn’t the original, was it?
Close with prayer.
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