Wonder

G. K. Chesterton, the “Prince of Paradox” once said, “The world shall starve not for a lack of wonders, but for lack of wonder.” This is never more clear to me than each December as the “holiday” playlists arrive in stores, and everything from Handel to hip-hop brings the vibe of the season alive.

Music defines a culture.  Take, for example, a current hit (#8 on the Billboard Holiday Chart for 2014):

…Crowded room, friends with tired eyes, I’m hiding from you and your soul of ice.
My god, I thought you were someone to rely on. Me, I guess I was a shoulder to cry on
A face on a lover with a fire in his heart, a man undercover but you tore him apart—
Ooh hoo, now I’ve found a real love–you’ll never fool me again.

Last Christmas I gave you my heart, but the very next day you gave it away.
This year, to save me from tears, I’ll give it to someone special…

This is certainly not the only self-obsessed holiday song, nor will it be the last one ever written. The sobering reality is that for many, many people, this is Christmas. We’re starving for lack of wonder.

So, we buy all the “wonders” we can. The National Retail Federation estimates that, before the last return clears the plastic, Americans will have spent $600 billion in 2014 trying to up the wonder quotient with trees, lights, parties, and, of course, presents. We are gorged at the mega-buffet of wonders. Meanwhile, we’re starving for lack of wonder.

To genuinely experience wonder we may have to step out of the crowded rooms, walk past the light shows, put away the MasterCard, and put down the presents. We need to consider for more than a mistletoe minute that the Creator of everything we will ever discover in any universe we are ever able to visit chose to become one of us—flawed, frail, and finite—ultimately a victim of the anger and fear of people who were starved for wonder. He did this so that a seemingly irreparable breech in a cosmic relationship could be repaired for you, for me, for the world. That is the starting point for wonder.

So, this year, “to save us from tears” (and further wonder starvation), let’s give our heart to “Someone special:”

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant; O come ye; O come ye to Bethlehem!

Come, and behold him, born the King of angels!

God of God, Light of light eternal, lo, he abhors not the virgin’s womb:

Son of the Father, begotten, not created.

Sing, choirs of angels; sing in exultation; sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!

“Glory to God, all glory in the highest!”

Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning; Jesus, to thee be all glory given;

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!

O come, let us adore him; O come, let us adore him;

O come, let us adore him, Christ, the Lord!                        

John Wade

Merry, wonder-filled Christmas.

Paul Detterman

for The Fellowship Community.