08/17/2026
Dear Trinity Lutheran Community,
My name is Nathan Pegors and I am the new Dean of Education for Trinity Lutheran School. I have decided to write a series of monthly articles to start a conversation with you - the parents, teachers, students and congregants of Trinity Lutheran Church and School. In doing so I hope to create opportunities for the church and school to develop a common vocabulary. One of the largest, yet most manageable barriers in education is that we do not know what we are talking about. All of us, from the 2 1⁄2-year-old in Preschool to the grandfather that picks up his grandchild from school every day, uses words whose meaning we have not considered. This creates barriers in our communication - we mean one thing and the other cannot truly understand what we mean. But when we explore words together, we begin speaking the same language, which leads to greater community and communion. Each of these essays will explore the definition of a single word.
Wonder
When was the last time that you experienced wonder? Was it looking at the Grand Canyon? Smelling the roses as you walked through your neighborhood? Watching the Rocky Mountains lit up by the sun on a cloudy day? Think of a time that you have wondered. Share the story with a friend or family member. What happened? Why do you think that object provoked wonder in you?
Many ancient Greeks believed that philosophy was the goal of education. Philosophy means the love of wisdom - those of you that know your Greek root words can see that Philo or Phileo means love and Sophia means wisdom. They prized philosophy above all things. Plato and Aristotle are the two most influential philosophers in history, both famous for founding philosophy and disagreeing about almost everything. They agreed about one thing, however, that philosophy begins in wonder. In Plato’s Theaetetus, Socrates says, “he said that you were a philosopher, for wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.” The key to loving wisdom is not knowledge, strength or insight. The key is wonder. But why is wonder the most important thing?
What did you notice when you reflected on an experience of wonder? I often notice that when I wonder, the object of my wonder catches my attention - all the things that I worry about and try to figure out fade into the background while that leaf, that cloud, that scent of cinnamon fills my soul with its goodness. I am reminded that the world is larger and more beautiful than I thought.
This is why wonder is the most important thing. The world is larger than we think. When we experience stress, anxiety, fear or shame, our world gets smaller, our vision contracts. I do not know about you, but I experience these things frequently, and my vision tunnels onto my concerns often. But in wonder, my vision opens, I look up and see the sun and the clouds and the sky and I am reminded that the world is larger than my concerns.
When I was doing my bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, I tried to do too much too fast. I took too many courses and overwhelmed myself with projects and assignments. I recall one day, walking to the engineering building, overwhelmed, when my vision was drawn upwards. I saw the clouds above me and remembered that there was more in the world than my projects and homework.
When I am overwhelmed, I orient my life around surviving the next moment, the next assignment, or the next requirement. I try to hold it all together. This takes me out of reality, distances me from the fact that I am a limited human being who cannot hold it all together. Wonder reorients me, reminds me that I am limited, and that the world is governed by a good God who orchestrates all things. Wonder is the experience of enjoying my finitude, enjoying my limits. This allows me to be surprised by what comes next. Suddenly the whole world is available to me, and I can think, enjoy and imagine.
