Lent, Week Three

During this season of Lent, I'm writing reflections based on the psalm assigned for each Sunday by the Revised Common Lectionary (look it up, if you want), and sharing those with the congregation I serve when we gather for Evening Prayer on Wednesday evenings. This reflection is from March 26, week three, and is based on Psalm 95

the first time you see the ocean

      marvel at its vastness,

            its power

or stand atop a mountain peak

            with a 360 degree view of

      everything below you

have you wondered at the apparent

      symmetry and similarity between

            atoms and solar systems?

                  the universe’s micro and macro

      or the patterns replicated throughout creation?

            fibbonacci’s addition swirling around

                  flowers and seashells

the first time, and every time,

            we stop in wonder

      we meet our God

            God, right there, right in front of me,

                  as if I see  through a glass clearly

***

water, evaporating & condensing & falling

      simply finds the lowest place – and

            there’s so much of it

obviously the ocean’s big

plate techtonics

      move the rocks around – of course

            some places are higher than everything else

& given physics,

            why wouldn’t the

      micro, the macro, and the obvious

            all hold together in the same pattern

what works for one works for another

and the wonder is explained away

      no longer face to face with God

            we think we know, understand,

      the world around us

***

Or,

what if we delight in

            the explaining

      delight in the vastness of the divine

            an ocean containing the singular

                  drop of my own existence

      delight in the beauty of

            360 degrees of creation,

                  above and below

      delight in the delight

            the creator surely takes

                  in our exploration of the

            caverns & heights & hills

            the sea & the dry land

***

We stand, most appropriately,

      alongside rather than in opposition to

the God of the universe

Come, let us sing to the Lord.