Open our eyes to your wonders
The world we live in is amazing. We don’t have to look too far before we can see some aspect of the beauty and wonder of our planet.
A vote was taken last year to see what were considered to be the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Millions of people voted in this poll, organized by a little known Swiss film maker and businessman, Bernard Weber. He said he wanted to invite the people of the world to take part in selecting the world’s greatest wonders. Organizers estimate that some 90 million people voted.
The winners were:
- The Great Wall of China
- Jordan’s ancient rock city Petra
- Brazil’s Statue of Christ the Redeemer
- The hilltop city of Machu Picchu in Peru
- Mexico’s Chichen Itza pyramid
- The Colosseum in Rome
- India’s Taj Mahal
In addition, the Great Pyramid of Ghiza, the only one of the original list of seven wonders compiled by Greek scholar Antipater of Sidon more than 2,100 years ago that is still standing, was made an eighth “honorary wonder”.
We don’t need to go to quite such exotic places to be able to appreciate the wonder of God’s world. The photograph at the top of the post is one of my favourite images from the middle of Cambridge, the back of Kings College Chapel, just about twenty miles away. Stonehenge is a pretty stunning place, within relatively easy travelling distance for me. And there are so many other images I could have chosen.
But our world, our world full of God’s wonders, is a fragile place. We need to work at trying to keep it the place of beauty and wonder it is. And that’s going to take effort from all of us. We each of us need to continue to do “our bit” — as small as that “bit” seems sometimes. Every little bit will help!
Lord of creation,
whose glory is around and within us:
open our eyes to your wonders,
that we may serve you with reverence
and know your peace at our lives’ end,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.Additional Collect for The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council
