Worship of God in Creation – A Reflection

The clouds this evening as we came back from a quick trip to church were amazing. I had stopped by to sign a Pastoral Letter to the congregation giving them an update on what the Session and I were doing to care for them and keep them safe. We are now entering the third month of Shelter-in-Place and Virtual Church. While this has been a great experiment in being the church beyond the walls, it is still unsettling. During times like this, we all need the assurance of the Spirit’s presence and sustenance as we walk through this particular Valley of Shadows and Uncertainty.

One of the daily blessings which we have received is the opportunity to simply Be Still and Breathe in the blessing of God. This particular blessing is to simply Be Still and be in awe of the wonder of God’s creation. On some days it is our winged friends, on other days it is our four-legged friends. Today it was the simple awe and majesty of our mountains and the incredible cloud formations wrapping the mountains and our mountain town like a quilt.

My challenge (and yours dear reader) is to find God in the messiness of life. Our challenge is to hear the still, small voice of the Spirit in the wilderness. Our challenge is to follow Jesus as we walk through the wilderness.

Thomas Merton challenges me to seek God in the midst of Creation and be guided as we walk through the wilderness together. He wrote the following in his poem “Cables to the Ace”: My worship is a blue sky and ten thousand crickets in the deep wet hay of the field. My vow is the silence under the song. (Collected Poems, p. 400)