Mid-week Message

Greetings!

“Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your judgements are like the great deep; you save humans and animals alike, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.” - Psalm 36:5-7

The weather is finally turning to summer and we can all get outside to enjoy the beauty of the world around us. In Celtic Christian spirituality, God can be found and encountered in Creation. Just as this Psalm uses the natural world to explain God’s character, so the natural world helps us to learn about God’s character. Interacting with nature, whether that’s on a hike, or caring for a potted plant in our living room, connects us with God’s presence. The vastness and beauty of Creation raises our awareness of the awe of God and God’s capacity to be beyond our imaginings. At the same time, simplicity and humility of Creation raises our awareness of God’s presence with us in our own hearts.

To that end, I want to leave you with a Celtic benediction from J. Philip Newell in his prayer book Sounds of the Eternal: A Celtic Psalter, likening the presence of God to Creation, and asking for God’s presence to be with us throughout the day:

The strength of the rising sun, the strength of the swelling sea, the strength of the high mountains, the strength of the fertile plains, the strength of the everlasting river flowing in and through me this day, the strength of the river of God flowing in and through me this day.

Grace and peace, Rev. Sarina