There are moments in life are truly holy. Sometimes those moments come with a fury of terror. A midnight knock on the door by a state deputy. An unwelcomed meeting with a supervisor. A call from family that begins with "I want you to know that we're okay, but...." A twister the demolishes all that that dares to stand in its path. These moments shock us into a turbulent whirlpool of chaos, shattering our past assumptions about life, about people, about creation, about God.
Sometimes those moments come in an encounter with overwhelming beauty. On a cliff overlooking the grandeur and power of the first cataract at Victoria Falls with your dad and cousins. Listening to a virtuoso performance of a majestic score for the first time. Sitting in an old graveyard sharing life with your best friends. Watching the unmatchable beauty of the woman who said "yes" break through the doors at the back of a sanctuary and choose to make her way down the aisle toward you. A newborn creeping its way to suckle for the first time from its mother's breast. These moments shock us into a turbulent whirlpool of chaos, shattering our past assumptions about life, about people, about creation, about God.
Sometimes the moments of beauty and the moments of terror are closely liked; sometimes the mountaintop and valley are miles away. But whatever the case, they are moments of change, of transformation. Though somethings return to "normal" (whatever that is), in so many ways we will never be the same. These moments shock us into a turbulent whirlpool of chaos, shattering our past assumptions about life, about people, about creation, about God.
The Lives of Others, one of the best movies that I've seen recently, has a scene where terror and beauty collide in a moment of transformation for all who bear witness to it. Shortly after receiving a shattering call that his friend had lost hope and committed suicide, Dreyman a play write in Eastern Germany, plays "Sonata for a Good Man." Wiesler, a member of the GDR Stasi, is listening through a tapped line as terror and beauty collide in a moment of transformation. (I wish I could write more about it, but it's all I can do to just get put this down right now.):
"Can anyone who has heard this music, I mean truly heard it, really be a bad person?” I'm captivated by that line. ""Can anyone who has heard this music, I mean truly heard it, really be a bad person?”
What about you? What moments in your life have been moments of transformation? What did they teach you about God, about creation, about life, about "others"? How have you been changed because of the experience?
3 comments:
I love your post, Eric! Thanks for your insight and for making me think. You're gone from the blogging world for months and now multiple posts in a few short days. Welcome back! :)
Occupational hazard. I go through seasons where I let myself get bogged down in the work right in front of me that I don't take time to write myself. Hopefully I can be more disciplined to write here.
Thanks for following along (when I do actually post at least!).
This is going to take more thinking- maybe a glass of wine or two and good long talks with a close group of friends... Good questions.
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