The theme this month is Awe.
It is a grand thing, awe.
The very nature of awe is that it defies words. So this brings a dilemma of how to talk about it.
So, I decided to break it down into five explorations to share with you this morning:
Awesome, Awh! Aaaahhh, Shock and Awe, and Awe.

First, Awesome.
Awesome is a cool new jacket.
Awesome is a cool new car.
Awesome is fancy drinks.
Awesome is a triple huge lego set.
Awesome is the latest new ice cream.
Surprising things.
Things.
More things.
Fancier things.
When I was a child, an elder told me that the word awesome should not be used for all these things.
that the word Awesome should not be used as slang.
that Awesome is a word that should be reserved for a house of worship.
Hmmmmm…. I wonder what you think.

Second, Aaaaahh.
Aaaaahhh is finally relaxing after a long day.
Aaaaaahh is taking off the tight shoes.
Aaaaahh is having a good drink of water when you’ve been thirsty.
Aaaaahh is the sun warming your skin
Aaaaah is the smell of nourishing food
It is the healthy release that matches healthy exertion
It is about balancing energy

A third exploration: Awh!
Awh! is the new puppy with the huge feet and soft fur.
Awh! is a slam dunk at the basketball court.
Awh! Is getting an A on your spelling test.
Awh is a baby’s tiny fingers.
It is opening a letter from a grandchild.
And then there is ‘Awh, I can’t complain.’
Awh is at risk of being sentimental
Awh is when you can find words.
Awh is a luxury because words are still available.

Fourth, Shock and Awe
Shock and awe is the name of a general strategy seeking to paralyze an enemy by rendering them unable to respond emotionally, mentally, and physically.
Shock and awe is the name of a specific military campaign in 2003 by US Forces in Iraq.
Shock and awe is what some abusers do to the people they harm, perhaps with the glee, perhaps with quiet satisfaction.
Shock and awe at first it is very loud,
And then,
It is very quiet
But not in a good way
Not in a good way for those whose experience the horror.
Not a good quiet for the witnesses of the pain who want to look away but whose conscience tells them to try to face the truth

Because fear and shock and exhaustion are not a place to stay.
May we pray to notice our own fear before it blinds us.
Pray to not grow so numb to the pain that we become numbed to life.
Pray to feel the pain without multiplying it and turning it toward others.
May some Good in this universe protect us from the Harm in this universe
May some Good Power accompany us while we resist the harm
I declare: that this Shock and Awe is not a connection to the good, for those who cause it, or those who experience it.
Indeed, in ancient times, people feared God, and some still do.
One dictionary definition of Awe is a terror before the power of God.
I would suggest that the Awe we are going for here is an Awe about the interconnectedness with God.
Indeed, we are humbled….. but humbled and lifted up.

Compare: Shock and awe reduces a person to stillness, but pushes them down. While Awe reduces a person to stillness, but lifts them up.

So, now…
Fifth, Awe.
Yes, awe is usually quiet.
Awe is the quiet of hope
Awe is the quiet of leaves that have come again to trees like tiny green origami
Awe is the intricate design of the striated purple on white violets in the grass
Awe is looking at photograph of a black hole and wondering what else we don’t know and can’t do
Awe is of course a sunset, sunrise, and the northern lights
Awe is the so many blues beyond naming blue in the Blue Ridge
Awe is not only the amazing creation around us, but the amazing creation within us.
Awe is that courage has arisen in your blood
Awe is that someone has forgiven you when you weren’t sure you deserved it
And then they forgave you again
Awe is the melting in your own heart, when you feel your own forgiveness arise unbidden
Awe is that you loved again.
Awe is all the things that don’t fit into words.
While the military strategy sought to paralyze an enemy into inaction, Spiritual Awe is also an inaction, in a humble and reverent re-remembering of the greatness and beauty in this world.

Awe is a state of being
It is when the spiritual and the human overlap
It is Essential to our spiritual health.

Awe is the good in this life that does not fit into words.
Awe is the YES that deserves the respect of silence.
A silence that is awake and tingling.
With eyes, ears, skin, gut all listening.
To be a spiritual witness.

What shall we do with this gift?

1) Bask in it.
Allow it.
Let it be a state of being that you experience often.
Take hope that if you haven’t felt it in a while, it has a way of springing up, wrapping itself around you, settling in your bones, and rising in your blood.

What else shall we do with this gift?

2) What could it mean to offer this not only to the Beauty of Nature, the Creator, the Divine,
But also to our fellow humans, the ones we know well and the ones we don’t,
The ones we agree with and the ones we don’t.
What could it mean to bring an open listening after someone speaks to us?
In other words, to let the unbidden experience of awe seep into how we see every person we interact with, as if they were the amazing green leaf, the miraculous sunset.
Just as we pause, in a healthy paralysis, before Spiritual Awe, could we let this guide us to pause, in a healthy respect, listening to each person we encounter.

Blessed be,
Amen.