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Morning Reflection
July 18, 2026
I am a Christian because, when I live toward God, when I allow myself (or am allowed) to inhabit a reality whose very realness depends upon God, I feel … right. I feel like my life and mind align with the stars and the trees, and I am both utterly myself and freed from that. It’s the oldest lesson in Christianity, no?
Christian Wiman: Glimmerings: Letters on Faith Between a Poet and a Theologian
Reflection by Peter Vanderveen
Three dots make all the difference. Grammatically speaking, one ellipsis. Christian Wiman is the poet referred to in the subtitle of his new book (Miroslav Volf is the theologian), and he writes with the efficiency and fullness of someone whose task is to pack words with meaning – without making them overbearing. This little statement is a good example.
For what if that ellipsis were eliminated? How would the mood and the import of that one sentence be changed? If someone simply stated that “Christian faith makes me feel right,” the implication might well be that what follows is a harsh condemnation for all those who aren’t Christian, who, thereby, are in the wrong. This is the toxicity of our times, that we so quickly and presumptively narrow almost everything to the polarization of opposites.
By his use of an ellipsis, Wiman gives the word “right” a much softer tone; one which refers less to him as an individual who can be proudly certain and more toward his gracious inclusion in a magnificent world not of his own making. As he notes, to be “right” is to be “aligned,” which is such a lovely, complementary concept. One might also say “attuned,” which is to be in harmony with the whole. Think of how deeply satisfying it is when, at the end of so many musical pieces, a final chord resolves all that has preceded it. By indicating an indefinite pause in his thought, Wiman removes all the stiffness and sterility of “being right.” He invites us to mull over, to wonder, and to search for a word that doesn’t capture the experience but, instead, captures us in the experience.
Christians and the long heritage of Christendom have a long history of forgoing
the ellipsis in order to choose power over freedom. That’s such a loss. Christianity, however, remains, waiting for our pause, so that we can realize the joy of “its oldest lesson.”
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