These instrumental songs were originally written as underscoring for readings in The Wonder Film (you can find it on youtube).
Wonder is a word that sneaks up on you with complexity. It is commonly used in two distinct, but connected ways. One could say, I wonder what the weather will be like next week? or I wonder when this difficult season of my life will improve? In this way, we speak of wonder as an expression of uncertainty– as a sort of question.
In another sense, we use the word to describe amazement and awe: As we look at a newborn baby or watch a beautiful sunrise, we’re filled with the kind of wonder that moves beyond words.
I think my favorite thing about the word, though, is how it can combine both question and amazement into a beautifully nuanced articulation of human experience. The shepherds saw baby Jesus and then started telling people about him. And, Luke tells us, those who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
Here in the busy chaos of our times, we need wonder. We need the amazement and we need the questions. We need it all. And the beautiful, compelling invitation of the Gospel is to come and experience it.
Revel in the creative heart of God waking the world to life; ask, along with the Psalmist, whether wonder can even be seen in the dark; stand slack-jawed with the shepherds in the reality that God came as a human baby; smile at Jesus on His hands and knees with the children; consider His statement that becoming like children is the way to the kingdom; anticipate like a child on Christmas Eve the day when we will be returned to ultimate wonder.
We need some truth, beauty, and goodness to shake us up and clear our eyes.
credits
released January 21, 2021
Written, performed, and produced by Michael Van Patter
Cello on tracks 3 & 5: Karl Ronnevik
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