The Beautiful Mysterious

 

7:32 am

Christ Church College

Walking through Tom Quad to the Hall for breakfast.

The Hall on the right. The Cathedral on the left (two doorway entryway).

Footsteps echo off the stone buildings of Christ Church. I stop in mid-step when I see this glow of the sun haloing the corner of Christ Church where I am heading. It's one of those beautiful mysterious moments provided by nature and usually spanning seconds. Catch it or it's gone. 

...time's drops are precious to me. (Saint Augustine)

Augustine of Hippo was a great orator, speaking from his memory in the moment for all of his sermons, instead of writing anything down or even memorizing anything specific. He spent time in prayer and quiet as his preparation. He believed the present moment could be read by the emotion and reactions of his audience. He practiced dwelling in that moment; delivering words that would suit the nature of who he was speaking to. An expert in rhetoric, this is partly how he was such a great thinker and debater of deep theological issues in a turbulent time in Northern Africa. 

When I step into a moment suddenly clasped in a beautiful perhaps unexplainable mystery I am immediately drawn toward the presence of God. I hear the poetic words of a favourite poet Gerard Manley Hopkins - 

The world is charged with the grandeur of God...

Is the world charged, as in fully charged like a battery? Charged up with the grandeur of God? Or is the world charged, as in summoned or entrusted with the grandeur of God? This play with words is why Hopkins was a poetic master, using words that play with meaning (hold double meanings invoking deeper thinking), yet always pointing to the One Creator who made it all possible. He uses the beautiful mysterious letters of the alphabet to capture readers and listeners of his poetry. 

Likewise, Augustine played with words in his sermons and speeches, using rhyme and wordplay of alliteration (in Latin of course) to capture his audience. He didn't shy away from the paradoxes of Christianity. He pointed them out to demonstrate the wonder and mystery of God's mind and how He interacts with us (think: the incarnation), and how we can never fully comprehend or explain it. The goal was always to persuade and captive so that the listeners would be turned to Christ. He understood in this use of words the power of persuasion could be used for good or ill. And in that understanding he was often drawn into difficult debates and situations where his training in rhetoric and his deep faith could speak truth into the many falsities that existed in his day. We can see many similar (albeit different looking) situations today, perhaps concealed underneath ambition and hunger for power and control.

In the moments of mystery, my mind turns to God. What else would explain it? Whilst walking to breakfast a glorious halo shone in the dawn sky. Before I go into the Hall to sit down with eggs, beans, toast, tomato, and tea, I marvel at something wondrous. The wonder in this world does not cease to amaze. Something so simple to the everyday is charged with the grandeur of God.