RE-ENCHANTMENT

I keep coming across this word: enchantment. 

It comes from the same roots as incantation - the placing of a magic spell on something or someone.

I hear people speaking of our need to recapture the enchantment of life. And everything in me screams "Amen!" 

It feels like we are all vaguely aware that some of the magic of existence has disappeared. Or perhaps it has simply been crowded out.

In this high-tech age where gadgets and AI and doomscrolling dominate what little is left of our individual imaginations, we are less likely than ever to stop and smell the roses. 

Depression and loneliness are common. And deadly - if not to the body, then quite often to the soul. You don't run into too many optimists these days. 

Re-enchantment isn't a luxury. It's a necessity. 

Perhaps the church should lead the way. Afterall, we have not been immune to this general disenchantment.

So often our practice of faith, prayer, and worship are routine. Dried out and stale. And Scripture holds no wonder or mystery.

Where are the psalmists who can remind us of the magnificent magic of God and reality?

The church would make for an appropriate launch site for a renewal of hope and wonder. 

How do we recover the enchantment?

God willing, two weeks from now, Melissa and I will be stepping off a plane in Edinburgh, Scotland. I haven't visited Scotland since I spent my junior year at the University of Aberdeen in 1988/89. I am looking forward to touring castles, drinking some whisky, and eating a ton of fish and chips. 

But what I find myself truly excited about is simply the pervasive magic of Scotland. There is something enchanted about the entire country and I feel like I NEED to experience it again.