December 22, 2025

Filled with Wonder

in Reflections on the Life of Faith

When I think of the word “wonder” the first thing that comes to mind is a scene from the movie The Prince of Egypt.

The movie recounts the story of Moses, who was brought up as a prince in Pharoah’s household, but eventually flees Egypt after killing one of Pharoah’s servants.

After he has fled and started a new and comfortable life in Midian, God appears to Moses in the burning bush. “I will send you to Pharaoh,” God says to Moses, “to bring my people out of Egypt.”

Moses, as you might expect, has some questions about God’s message, and the scene does a brilliant job of capturing the complicated emotions Moses is feeling.

On the one hand, Moses feels fear and dread in the presence of this all-powerful God. “Who am I,” Moses wonders, “that you would send me? You must have the wrong person.”

On the other hand, Moses is moved by the power and mystery of this God who speaks to him through the burning bush. He recognizes something much bigger than himself, and he is drawn into God’s warmth and love.

In a word, Moses is filled with wonder.

This scene, for me, captures beautifully what some have called the “fearful and fascinating mystery” of God’s holiness. This holiness is both awesome and terrifying. It both attracts us and makes us aware of our own limitations. It draws us out of ourselves to something bigger, something deeper. And it reminds us that we are not alone. As God says to Moses in this scene: “I shall be with you, Moses.”

Years later, this same God would remind the world of his commitment to be with us—all of us—by entering human history as a baby born in a small and unimportant town outside of Jerusalem. In Bethlehem, those present at the birth of Jesus—Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the animals, the wise men—recognized that they, like Moses, were in the presence of the holy. And they, too, were filled with wonder.

Two millennia later, as we enter this season of Advent and move into Christmas and Epiphany, I pray that our eyes might also be opened to the presence of God in our time and place. I pray that we might trust God’s eternal promise to us: “I shall be with you.” And I pray that we might recognize that, thanks to this promise, we are, in fact, always in the presence of the holy.

“Take the sandals from your feet,” God said to Moses, “for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” So it was—and so it is.

This winter, each time you stop to take off your wet, snowy shoes, allow yourself to pause in wonder and realize that you, too, stand on holy ground.

Wonderfully Yours,

• #Christmas
• #Epiphany
• #Moses
• #Prince of Egypt
• #Winter
• #wonder