The following compilation was read aloud by inTACT members one beautiful summer day at the beach. Some of us then began sketches, music, poems, or took photos of things that inspired us to be in AWE of God. 

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We are opening up this opportunity to respond to all inTACT members. Just find an inspiring place in nature and read any or all of the quotes and verses below, then let your artistic imagination enter into a time of worship.

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Submission Details: (For inTACT members only.) Contact us with photos, audio, or video recordings of pieces that have been inspired by AWE. These could be expressions you have already made or will make after reading some or all of the words below. Or possibly, an experience will happen to you and this could be the inspiration. We will choose and compile from all the submissions for a digital and online exhibit and possibly at an in-person event in St. Catharines, Ontario. There is no deadline to submit. When we have gathered a nice collection to show, we will find a place to exhibit it! Online or in-person.

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READINGS (Read any or all). . .WHAT IS AWE? 

 

INTRO:

History, the dictionary, and the Bible are all in agreement that AWE is a feeling of a combination of dread or terror mixed with respect or wonder. It is often inspired by being confronted with inherent power or authority….like being overwhelmed by our Creator’s beauty.  

I have compiled quotes, verses, and excerpts from various places which have been kept anonymous so they won’t distract from the thought-provoking ideas. The authors are all available and will be posted on our group. 

[Awe] holds similarities with gratitude, admiration, elevation, wonder, and love, but also with confusion, fear, and dread. Both ‘awesome’ and ‘awful’ find their etymological roots in awe.

 

"Awe is also one of the few emotions that can reconfigure our sense of time and immerse us in the present moment."

Emma Stone

 

"Losing Awe for God leads to Awe of Self." 

Paul Tripp

 

Can Man “ '…tie up the chains of the Pleiades,

Or untie the cords of Orion? 'Can you bring out a constellation in its season,

And guide the Bear with her satellites? 'Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, Or do you establish their rule over the earth?'"

Job 38:31-33

 

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

Albert Einstein

 

"[In]an awe-deprived world where narcissism, materialism and disconnection from the natural world and from others predominate and screens absorb many of our waking hours, moments capable of evoking awe seem somewhat diminished. Many of us traditionally associate awe with rare transcendental or extraordinary events, such as religious ecstasy or near-death experiences, but awe also occurs in everyday contexts."

Emma Stone, Ph.D. Understanding Awe, Psychology Today

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"To fear God means to live in such a way that you would be afraid to insult God with your life. To fear God is to demonstrate by your life an awesome respect for the integrity and the holiness of God. A person who fears God has too much respect for Him to live a shabby life."

Dr. Grant C. Richison 

 

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction” Proverbs 1:7

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"Awe occurs in response to diverse stimuli: threat, beauty, ability, virtue, and supernatural phenomena."

Emma Stone

 

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God;and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands."

Psalm 19:1

 

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."

Genesis 1:1-2

 

"By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host."

Psalm 33:6

 

How Great Thou Art, by Carl Boberg

 

"Oh Lord My God, When I In Awesome Wonder,

Consider All The Worlds Thy Hands Have Made;

I See The Stars, I Hear The Rolling Thunder,

Thy Power Throughout The Universe Displayed."

 

"The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord is over many waters. The voice of  the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is majestic."

Psalm 29:3-4  

 

"God dwells in His creation and is everywhere indivisibly present in all His works. He is transcendent above all His works even while He is immanent within them."

A. W. Tozer

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"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made."

John 1:1-3

 

"And When I Think, That God, His Son Not Sparing;

Sent Him To Die, I Scarce Can Take It In;

That On The Cross, My Burden Gladly Bearing,

He Bled And Died To Take Away My Sin."

 

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved."

Ephesians 2:4-5

 

"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

1 John 4:9-11 

 

'When Through The Woods, And Forest Glades I Wander,

And Hear The Birds Sing Sweetly In The Trees.

When I Look Down, From Lofty Mountain Grandeur

And Hear The Brook, And Feel The Gentle Breeze."

 

"For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse."

Romans 1:20

 

"In a mouse we admire God’s creation and craftwork. The same may be said about flies." 

Martin Luther

 

"When Christ Shall Come, With Shout Of Acclamation,

And Take Me Home, What Joy Shall Fill My Heart.

Then I Shall Bow, In Humble Adoration,

And Then Proclaim, 'My God, How Great Thou Art!'"

 

'Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great;

You are clothed with splendour and majesty, covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, stretching out heaven like a tent curtain. He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind; He makes the winds His messengers, flaming fire His ministers."

From Psalm 104

 

"Then Sings My Soul, My Saviour God, To Thee,

How Great Thou Art! How Great Thou Art!

Then Sings My Soul, My Saviour God, To Thee,

How Great Thou Art! How Great Thou Art!"

 

"For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent."

Colossians 1:16-18

 

"And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!'"

Revelation 5:13 

 

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Galatians 2:20

 

"Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

1 John 4:11

 

"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert"

Isaiah 43:18-19

 

"Opportunities to [be] mindful of these more subtle moments that can easily evade us…live music, art galleries, theater, museums, spending time outdoors and allowing unstructured time for exploration to invite more awe into our everyday lives."

Emma Stone

 

"You only have one life. And you only have one life of worship. You have one brief opportunity in time to declare your allegiance, to unleash your affection, to exault something or someone above all else. So don't waste your worship on some little god, squandering your birthright on idols made only with human imagination. Guard your worship. And carefully evaluate all potential takers." 

Louie Giglio

 

"When humans should have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory, or rather that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch."

C.S. Lewis

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"Awe-inducing truths: Our complexity; Our individuality; Our unique purpose; God’s Love; God’s Forgiveness; That God hears; That God knows; God’s unfathomable grace and mercy; The Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ"

Unknown

 

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts”

Isaiah 55:8-9

YET

“There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.”

Corrie TenBoom

 

"Depression tends to turn us away from the everyday things of God’s creation. But whenever God steps in, His inspiration is to do the most natural, simple things- things we would never have imagined God was in, but as we do them we find Him there."

Oswald Chambers

 

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

Pablo Picasso

 

"Our scars are a witness to the world. They are apart of our story. Healed wounds…are symbols that God has restored us."

Louie Giglio 

 

"Creativity takes courage."

Henri Matisse

 

"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while."

Steve Jobs

 

Prayer: "Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee."

Augustine

 

REASONS to be in AWE:

Our Complexity - Genesis 1:26-27

He thought the world needed one of me- Jeremiah 1:5

How much he had to plan before we were even born - Ephesians 2:10

Things I hate about myself he loved - Psalm 139:14

I am loved and forgiven time and time again - Romans 5:8

God hears us - 1 John 5:14.

God knows our futures -Jeremiah 29:11

God Knows us better than anyone else - John 10:14

God's grace - Ephesians 2:8

The Death and Resurrection of Jesus - Luke 24:4-7

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"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see." 

Edgar Degas

 

"Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, stretching out heaven like a tent curtain. He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind; He makes the winds His messengers, flaming fire His ministers."

Psalm 104:1-4

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