Collective Effervescence and the Awe We Were Made For

Photo Credit: Igor Batista

Something remarkable happened in Boston this June. Tens of thousands of Scottish fans—the famous Tartan Army—descended on the city for Scotland's first World Cup appearance in 28 years. They came with bagpipes and kilts, singing, dancing, and good-natured mischief.

They filled the bars, the parks, the streets, and even the school buses. And somewhere in all that joyful chaos, a guarded, weary city began to soften. When 64,000 fans sang together in the stadium at a record-breaking 125 decibels, it could be felt. The whole atmosphere became filled with a kind of contagious delight.

And then something similar happened later across the country. Cue Seattle, Washington. In the USA-Australia match, the ground literally shook. The crowd came together with such a powerful collective force that the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, which monitors earthquakes and volcanoes in Washington state, registered seismic activity from Seattle Stadium. The reading surged with the USMNT's second goal of the day, a header from one of the youngest Americans ever to score a goal in a FIFA World Cup.

And who can forget the clips of fans singing "Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver after the USMNT's victories? Fans found themselves swept into the celebration. Strangers became fast friends.

Psychologists have a name for this: collective effervescence.

A Word for the Joy of Gathering

Sociologist Émile Durkheim coined the term back in 1911 to describe the powerful energy that rises when people gather with shared purpose. He noticed it most clearly in religious rituals—moments when a community's worship lifted everyone into something larger than themselves. I know I feel this awesome feeling during the worship songs at church services. The heavier the beat, the more I feel that feeling, but that's just me.

Today, researchers like Dacher Keltner recognize collective effervescence as one of the most healing forms of awe we can experience. Keltner describes it as "a powerful, awe-inspiring experience that arises from shared, synchronized movement or action, creating a sense of unity and connection among individuals." It quiets our self-focus, pulls us into the present, and reconnects us to one another.

God takes our ordinary acts of togetherness—our prayers, our songs, our meals, our laughter—and transforms them into sacred glimpses of what is possible, but we have to have awareness of it. Collective effervescence is not just a psychological phenomenon or a sociological term; it's a spiritual truth. In some cases, it is the work of the Holy Spirit, drawing us closer not only to one another but to God.

Long before science measured these moments, Scripture celebrated them. "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!" (Psalm 133:1). There is something sacred about belonging—about voices joined, hearts aligned, and joy multiplied.

We were not made to walk through life isolated. We were made for communion, woven into one another's lives. "In Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others" (Romans 12:5).

Six Factors of Awe—and the Truths They Reveal

Researchers developed the Awe Experience Scale to identify six markers of a genuine encounter with awe. As you read through them, you may notice how each one echoes a deeper spiritual reality.

• Vastness. Looking out over a sea of faces and flags from many nations, fans felt the immensity of the moment. Scripture invites us into a far greater vastness—the boundless love and majesty of God, whose ways are "higher than the heavens" (Psalm 103:11).

  
  

• Need for accommodation. The experience was too big to take in all at once. So it is with the things of God. We ponder, we wonder, and we "see only a reflection as in a mirror" (1 Corinthians 13:12), trusting that fuller understanding will come.

  
  

• Alterations in time. In the height of celebration, time seemed to stand still. Worship does this too. When we gather in praise, the rush of the world fades, and we taste the eternal present where "a day is like a thousand years" (2 Peter 3:8).

  
  

• Self-diminishment. Caught up in something far bigger, people felt wonderfully small. This is the heart of humility—the quieting of ego that lets us say with John the Baptist, "He must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:30).

  
  

• Connectedness. Singing, dancing, and cheering together, people felt a deep sense of oneness. This is exactly what we are called to in Christ: to "spur one another on toward love and good deeds," gathering together and encouraging each other (Hebrews 10:24–25).

  
  

• Physical sensations. Chills, goosebumps, gasps of wonder—our bodies respond to awe. This happened at Pentecost, when the believers gathered in one place, and the Spirit came "like the blowing of a violent wind," resting on each of them (Acts 2:1–4). Awe is not only felt in the mind. It moves through us, body and soul, trusting that fuller understanding will come.

  
  

The Awe We Were Made For

Here is what strikes me most. The joy that transformed soccer fans is a fleeting glimpse of something we were created to know fully. The longing for togetherness, the thrill of shared celebration, the sense that we belong to one another and to something greater. They are echoes of the unity God designed us for.

"The Lord your God is with you... He will take great delight in you... he will rejoice over you with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17). The God who made us is, even now, singing over us with delight. The collective effervescence we feel at a stadium, a concert, or during worship is a faint reflection of that divine joy.

Let these moments point us home. No, not toward a country road, but toward the God who delights in us and the unity we are called to share in Christ. We were made for one another. And in those collective moments of joy, we catch a glimpse of both.