Gravity of The Law

Last night I saw the much touted new movie Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.  Deserving of every accolade.  From a technical standpoint, awe-inspiring.  The writing and the acting were both exceptional.  Truly worth more than a few Oscar nods. As testament to how well done it was, I hated it.

Without giving away too much, the scenes where Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are floating in space, un-moored, un-tethered?  I found them un-nerving and un-settling. I actually felt panicked and helpless as I watched them careening, spinning and looping.

All of the basics I know for living, breathing, moving from point A to point B, none of it holds true in space.  Everything that keeps me moored and tethered, with nerves in place and a settled feeling in my gut and in my spirit begins with the law of gravity. One little law.  Things fall down. Objects have weight. I can re-orient myself out of a tailspin.  The law of gravity.

As I prepare Sunday's sermon, I'm holding the Law of Gravity up against the Gravity of God's Law. When the Psalmists praised the virtue of "Thy Word", they must surely have meant the 5 books of Moses, the books of the Law.

Without God's Law am I, in a similar sense, un-moored, un-tethered, un-nerved and un-settled in the world?
- "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it."

With God's Law am I at last able to stand -- bruised and on shaky legs -- but safely moored to my foundation, tethered to what gives me meaning, bolsters my nerves and settles my spirit in the end?
-  "But those who look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continue in it -- not forgetting what they have heard but doing it -- they will be blessed in what they do."