Dear Friends,
Wow, I love the psalm reading for this Sunday (104:1-9, 25, 37b). I share Zoom Compline one night a month with some members of a contemplative order to which I am committed: The Society of Ordained Scientists. We were looking at the psalm together after Compline last night, and one of the people on the Zoom said, “How funny that they snatched a Hallelujah and stuffed that snippet in at the end of the selection!” I knew right away why that “snatched” Hallelujah felt so perfect at the end of the text selection. It was because of some of the experiences I have had when nature overwhelms me with awe.
The first time I went to Antarctica, I was so excited that I was practically jumping up and down in the C-130 transport plane. For those of you who have not been in the military or had other reasons to be in such a plane, it's one where the “seats” are nylon webbing along the fuselage. They don't make you keep your seat harness on during the 7.5 hour flight from Christchurch, New Zealand, but you have to wear the government issued cold weather gear, including neoprene boots and a heavy parka. I'm telling you these details to illustrate how hard it actually is to jump up and down in that get up.
Nevertheless, I was bouncing along the aisles looking out different viewports as the icy continent came into view-- it was so beautiful, and it was a life's dream to be there in person. When we landed, I exited the plane onto the icepack that serves as a runway, and I really did start jumping up and down-- here I was at the bottom of the world! Everything was mystically wonderful, and I actually did yell out, “Hallelujah! I'm finally here!”
Sometimes the things that God has made take my breath away-- not just nature, but also beautiful music and other art, amazing people... “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.”
In spite of the challenges that spring up in my life or in anyone else's, there is much to remind us that God is there-- the God of excellent greatness-- the God who is wrapped with light as with a cloak.
That same God who methodically made everything that exists has made us as well, and from that I must infer that there is amazing complexity and creativity within us because we are made in the image of God. Of course we're not perfect, but to focus on broken-ness as a way of characterizing ourselves may be sabotaging our ability to confidently solve some of the problems that confront all people to some degree or another. We are made to solve problems-- we don't need to be perfect to do so. We just need to be curious and to be stubborn.
As the psalmist said: O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.You see? We are made in wisdom-- there's not telling what we can do if we fix our hearts on our divine creator and our agency on being the stewards of all that God has commanded us to respect and protect.
In God's love,
Pan +