Sacred Pathway #1 Naturalists
Last week, I wrote about exploring alternative ways to sustain a vital relationship with God - other than the conventional daily devotion model. First up is the naturalists - loving God outdoors. It's fairly self-explanatory. The Bible is replete with descriptions and metaphors from nature. Many of the OT theophanies (appearances of God) happened in the wilderness. Jesus often taught outdoors. And Eden, paradise, representing the temple of God is a garden. In Church hisotry, people like Jonathan Edwards and Francis of Assisi were inclined towards this. Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning was probably one too, although the following quote (which I have posted before), demonstrates that not everyone is.Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries,
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning “Aurora Leigh”
I think that David was very possible one too. His Psalms so often describe the beauty and majesty of nature:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
- Psalms 19:1-4This is definitely one of my pathways to God. Even before I ever heard of a thing such as sacred pathways, my heart has soared heavenward whenever I behold the majesty of nature. When I went to Arizona, I absolutely fell in love with the Grand Canyon. (Unfortunately, the links to those pictures are now dead.) As I browse some old posts, there is no doubt that I am a naturalist. From writing about being a silly baby wattle bird, to reflections on duck-watching, and what Christina Rosetti's wind poem means to me. It's pretty obvious, no?
Still, in a bid to use this naturalist pathway this week, I've been going on plenty of walks at the Southern Ridges, which thankfully, are just behind my house. I can see it from my bedroom window! Here's a glimpse of the view (with the side of the building to give some perspective on how delightfully close it is!), and the other photo on the right is one of the paths close to home. I love how tropical foilage is a rich deep green. (Unlike outback Australia plants, which tend to be more yellow-green.)
For the naturalists, here's a beautiful video using footage from the BBC Planet Earth Series, set to, “Creation Calls” by Brian Doerksen.
But we need to seek the Creator behind the creation, or risk making an idol of the created. As I discovered for myself this week, I can be in creation and yet not worship the Creator. And Nature also offers several other temptations. Individualism is one - we must make sure that we are not using creation to escape our duties of Christian living. We also need to carefully guard against spiritual delusion - anything 'received' on a walk with God cannot be considered authorative, but must be tested. We must never seek an expereince - something Satan can counterfeit to lead us astray.
The foregoing are reflections and interactions with Chapter 2 of Gary Thomas' Sacred Pathway. This the second part of a series I intend to write, blogging my way through the book. The first post, mentioned above, is The Danger of Bible Reading in Daily Devotions & Quiet Times.
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries,
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning “Aurora Leigh”
I think that David was very possible one too. His Psalms so often describe the beauty and majesty of nature:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
- Psalms 19:1-4This is definitely one of my pathways to God. Even before I ever heard of a thing such as sacred pathways, my heart has soared heavenward whenever I behold the majesty of nature. When I went to Arizona, I absolutely fell in love with the Grand Canyon. (Unfortunately, the links to those pictures are now dead.) As I browse some old posts, there is no doubt that I am a naturalist. From writing about being a silly baby wattle bird, to reflections on duck-watching, and what Christina Rosetti's wind poem means to me. It's pretty obvious, no?
Still, in a bid to use this naturalist pathway this week, I've been going on plenty of walks at the Southern Ridges, which thankfully, are just behind my house. I can see it from my bedroom window! Here's a glimpse of the view (with the side of the building to give some perspective on how delightfully close it is!), and the other photo on the right is one of the paths close to home. I love how tropical foilage is a rich deep green. (Unlike outback Australia plants, which tend to be more yellow-green.)
For the naturalists, here's a beautiful video using footage from the BBC Planet Earth Series, set to, “Creation Calls” by Brian Doerksen.
Click to viewBut we need to seek the Creator behind the creation, or risk making an idol of the created. As I discovered for myself this week, I can be in creation and yet not worship the Creator. And Nature also offers several other temptations. Individualism is one - we must make sure that we are not using creation to escape our duties of Christian living. We also need to carefully guard against spiritual delusion - anything 'received' on a walk with God cannot be considered authorative, but must be tested. We must never seek an expereince - something Satan can counterfeit to lead us astray.
The foregoing are reflections and interactions with Chapter 2 of Gary Thomas' Sacred Pathway. This the second part of a series I intend to write, blogging my way through the book. The first post, mentioned above, is The Danger of Bible Reading in Daily Devotions & Quiet Times.