G.K. Chesterton (1874–1936) was an author and Christian apologist who is perhaps best known these days for one of his fictional characters, the priest-detective Father Brown. But Chesterton was also the author of many wise and often paradoxical sayings, including “The world will never starve for want of wonders, but only for want of wonder.”
I remember those words around this time every year. We’re in the long shadow of Easter with all the holy hoopla behind us. Now the secular world looms large, demanding our attention—Mothers’ Day, basketball playoffs, baseball season, proms, graduations, weddings, spring cleaning, garden planting, vacation planning, conference preparations, and countless other things are demanding that they now receive first place in our minds and hearts.
And yet, we have just proclaimed the most astonishing truth—the wonder of wonders: the Lord God Almighty came to earth to incarnate his love, died to pay the debt of our sin, and rose from the dead to eradicate the power of death and hell! Did you have a chance to meditate on that reality this Easter, or was there too much going on? Did another Easter just come and go with evaluations to follow and lots of music to file before next fall? It’s a question I struggle to answer myself. And, if the Resurrection doesn’t leave Christian worship leaders nonplussed, God’s wonder that fills the “ordinary” days and weeks that follow might not stand much of a chance.
This is a serious challenge for every Christian. But, as regular readers may have come to expect, I have a hymn for that—actually a poem that can be sung or simply read. It packs a punch either way. The author is Fred Kaan (1929–2009), a Dutch-born minister of the Congregational Church in the U.K. and a prodigious hymn writer. Kaan’s early life was influenced by his family’s participation in the Dutch anti-Nazi resistance. Weapons and fugitives were frequently hidden in his family home. This experience was one of the factors that shaped his uniquely direct and convicting poetry. See what these words say to you:
Each Sunday brings to mind again
that Jesus is risen: the Easter Sun!
And life has never been the same
since Easter came.
The sign of every rising sun,
the thought of life in the grave begun,
renews our will to do and dare,
good news to bear.
Each Sunday sets the tone anew
for labor and leisure the whole week through,
for Easter turns the dullest day
to holy play.
Of all the days that still remain,
today is the first! Let us rise again
and run with haste to spread the word:
“We’ve seen the Lord!”
Each Sunday is the starting point
for freedom in which we are called to join
the movement that will lead to change
till love shall reign.
I love the simplicity of these words even as I accept the potency of their challenge. Without any superfluous syllables, this hymn can bring home the reality of Chesterton’s words. We who are God’s people will never starve for a lack of wonders, especially in light of the Resurrection. But are the people around us—the ones who are completely immersed in all the events of spring—starving for the wonder we so routinely proclaimed on April 5? Hmm… are we?
“Easter Sunday brings to mind again … life has never been the same since Easter came.” There is profound beauty in the cycle of the Christian year, but the very cyclical nature of the Christian story can be what subverts the wonder we’re actually worshiping. How did the singular reality of the Resurrection alter the world permanently? What importance does the wonder of the Resurrection have for the day-in-day-out world? This is an urgent question as we plan and prepare hymns, songs, and ensemble music throughout the church year. Where is the Resurrection wonder? Christian worshipers must never be too far removed from the recognition that we are people founded and formed by an astonishing, counterintuitive, once-and-forever event.
We have been given the awesome opportunity and the equally daunting challenge of living in a season of universal doubt, profound despair, deep distrust, and frequent distortions. Never in our lifetime has God’s truth and the proof of God’s love been more necessary. If we can struggle to embrace the wonder of the Resurrection we just proclaimed, imagine the hunger that wonder could satisfy in the world around us.
Sharing that good news is not a burden. “Easter turns the dullest day into holy play!” Consider the day ahead of you. With whom are you meeting? Where could they see wonder? What projects need to be accomplished? Where can you see wonder adjacent to the work you have to do? How can the reality of Easter turn your “ordinary” day into something holy? All the commitments will still be there, but can you find the wonder?
The final stanza has particular meaning for me. I was going to the post office yesterday, enjoying the wonders of God’s world that have been awakening in a beautiful Louisville spring. When I walked in, I noticed a strange atmosphere. Apparently I had just missed a major confrontation between a postal worker and a customer, with many people looking on. The woman behind the counter was still visibly shaken. Her co-worker said, “Don’t let it get to you—I know that person. She’s a professional provocateur.” I thought to myself, what a miserable existence it must be if your life is largely defined by how successfully you can upset other people. I can only believe that is the result of starving for wonder.
“Each Sunday is the starting point” to revisit the wonder that defines our faith and the faith of those we serve. But each ensemble rehearsal, each time we practice our personal craft, also provides the opportunity to experience and to share the wonder of Easter, to recommit to being part of “the movement that will lead to change till love shall reign.”
