Thursday, March 27, 2014

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.


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