Wonder-seeking Rabbis

Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Jewish rabbi who lived during WWII. That one fact should astound you. He was a Jew and he actually lived through WWII. It was not without loss though. His entire family was killed by the Nazis in Germany. He escaped safely because he was a professor at Hebrew Union College. But, enough background info. If you would like to learn more about him, check him out on wikipedia or something or I strongly recommend you read his book I Asked for Wonder. It's sweet. But this guy said once, and I don't have the actual quote, but it goes something like this..."I did not seek to gain human understanding or knowledge, but instead I asked for wonder from God." Now, stop reading and think about that for a minute.

Let go of your preconceived notions about Judaism. After all, truth is truth. If you're still skeptic, read the Bible, especially Paul's letters. Paul pulls out truth and puts it in his letters wherever he can find it. But this blog entry is not about truth so that's as far as I'll go today. Maybe someday I'll go into more detail about that. Til then, read Paul's letters and Rob Bell also has said some stuff about that too.

"I asked for wonder..." I thought this was a fitting concept to think about to start this blog. There's nothing wrong with seeking knowledge, don't get me wrong. Seek the wisdom and direction of the Holy Spirit, who is by the way crazy, unpredictable, and not afraid to put you in uncomfortable, scary, awkward situations. Rather, I ask the question, what would happen if we actually asked God for wonder? What would happen if we actually asked God to reveal to us His power and love? What would happen if we actually asked God to blow us away with His wonder, even if that meant for us confusion, uncertainty, and risk?

So many times, we live like we don't even appreciate or dare I say respect God's wonder. What if we actually gave ourselves over to God's wonder rather than trying to figure everything out? I don't necessarily have the answers. I guess I'm more or less simply dreaming. But still, ask yourselves those questions.

I don't want this to turn into a novel so I'll leave with this thought. May I, may you, may we, give ourselves over to the wonder of God so that maybe, just maybe, we may hear the whispers and utterances from the One who is always Faithful.