St. Paul’s United Church Earth Sunday, April 18, 2010
Sacred Spaces, Sacred Places – Rev. David Mundy
Psalm 84 Isaiah 35:1-7 Mark 1:32-39
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I have been able to visit Israel on several occasions and
every trip has been worthwhile, but the first trip was unique for a number of
reasons.
Not only did I experience the freshness of discovery during
the trip, that first group was small, which allowed us to travel in a smaller
vehicle and snoop around in places inaccessible in larger tour coaches. Our
guide was an odd guy, a big rangy man who didn’t speak English that well,
although his knowledge of profanity was quite impressive. He didn’t seem to
realize that sprinkling conversation with swear words might not go over well
with church folk. It turned out that he loved the natural world and was a keen
environmentalist.
One of our overnights was in the guest house at a kibbutz, a collective
farm on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was a beautiful location with the
waters of the lake stretching out before us and the hills behind us. After supper that evening our guide asked if
any of us would like to go for a ramble up one of those hillsides and while
most of the group declined, I am always ready for a walk. A couple from my
congregation decided to join us, so the four of us headed out together.
It was April, and as in Canada it was Spring.
It might surprise you to hear that the hills of Galilee were covered with
wildflowers. We tend to think of stark, arid deserts in Israel, not greenery
and colourful flora.
As we climbed, we could see a herd of goats up ahead, and as
we got closer our guide saw that they were grazing in the midst of a meadow of
wild irises. He was horrified because these flowers are a protected plant in
Israel, so after pointing to a two thousand-year-old Roman fortress further up
the hill he ran off to scold the goatherd.
We kept going and eventually arrived at the ruins of the
fortress which we explored before sitting and contemplating the lake below. It
was a lovely, tranquil moment which didn’t have a hint of tourism in it.
Although we visited lots of “X marks the spot” religious sites and churches
during our ten days there was no holier moment than on that hillside. I suppose
I could say that it was a sacred moment.
I should add that our eccentric guide eventually rejoined us
and informed us that the fortress was in danger of collapse and off limits! It would
have been helpful to know this before we had clambered around in it.
Today is Earth Sunday, a celebration of God as Creator and
thanksgiving for creation which we observe on the Sunday before Earth Day,
April 22nd. Often on Earth Sunday we talk about the pressing and
sometimes ominous environmental issues facing our planet. We ask ourselves what
we are doing and what we yet need to do to make a difference in safeguarding
our earthly home. It can be rather earnest and a little overwhelming at times, but
it is the United Church way!
We can easily overlook the importance of simply savouring and
giving thanks for the beauty of what we experience around us and realizing that
the sacred is not just found in places of worship such as this one, but spills
out of the doors and into the world around us.
One of our “earthy” passages for this morning is a brief story
from the beginning of the gospel of Mark. We’re told that from the beginning of
his ministry, while still in Galilee, Jesus had to contend with crowds of
people who were eager to hear him and find out whether the rumours that he was
an extraordinary healer were true. Early one morning, before sunrise, Jesus
went to a place where he assumed no one would find him for a time in order to
pray and connect with God.
We might wonder whether Jesus went to a favourite spot from
boyhood –after all he grew up in Galilee and he probably did his own share of
scrambling and exploring in the hills with childhood friends. We realize that a
climb in the early hours would have raised Jesus’ heart rate and his breathing.
We can imagine him praying with eyes wide open, facing the east and the rising
sun. The warmth of that sun would have been welcome. We know that Jesus taught
in synagogues, the local places for religious education and worship, and he
spent time in the magnificent temple in Jerusalem. Yet it’s good to remember
that he was also aware of the sacred in the natural world. In a way Jesus was in a long line of God’s
servants including Moses and Elijah who experience God’s holiness in the
natural world.
Of course this time of tranquillity didn’t last for Jesus. The
disciples “hunted for him” –what a graphic phrase -- and he returned to
his ministry once again. We might assume, though, that while this is the only
time Mark recounts Jesus going away in this fashion there must have been other
occasions when he took these restorative, prayerful moments in nature.
Today, on Earth Sunday, we can consider those spaces and those
places which are sacred to us which may not be within four walls. As humans we
feel the need to create specific places of worship where we can gather for
worship and praise and learning. It’s not just Christians who do this.
Virtually every religion erects buildings to the glory of God, as they know
God, and many of them are magnificent, creating a sense of wonder and awe. Yet
we often feel God’s presence in nature, and name it as sacred and holy. We
cannot only hear God when we are outdoors, we enter
into conversation with God.
Perhaps we should consider a definition of the word sacred:
1. consecrated to or belonging to God or the divine
2. regarded with the respect or reverence accorded holy things; venerated; hallowed
3. set apart for, and dedicated to
4. secured as by a religious feeling
You will notice that there is nothing
in this definition which suggests that this sacred encounter will occur indoors
in a building such as this one, or outdoors. Actually the word templum, which gives us our word temple,
originally referred to the outdoor area set out by priests of ancient times to
observe birds in their flights. If that sounds rather pagan to you, remember
that in what we call The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew Jesus encourages
to overcome anxiety and worry by observing the birds
of the air and the flowers of the fields.
This is such an important message in
this time when we are travelling deeper and deeper into a virtual world where
experiencing God in nature is becoming less and less common. And we tend to
scurry frantically from event to event, whether it is work,
or activities for our children, without allowing much opportunity to savour the
One who has brought all things into being. The ability to pay attention to the
beauty around us and to recognize that this is a gift from God is essential to
our lives as Christians.
Even though we are living in a much
more secular society, we might also notice that there is a craving for
reverence and the sacred. There is a motion picture which you may have heard
about, a popular little film called Avatar. Well, of course Avatar is
the blockbuster of all time, although once you get past the special effects and
the 3-D glasses that made me queasy, it is a fairly simple and even simplistic
storyline. Evil humans go to the planet Pandora, a sort of Garden of Eden, and
take on the natives who honour nature in a way the humans have forgotten. It’s
basically Dances With Wolves in space. You
could also say that it is a very religious film, with a Tree of Souls and
scenes of the Na’vi people gathered to worship their
goddess, who keeps the ecosystem in balance. Tens of millions of people have
now witnessed this gospel according to James Cameron.
Our Good News is that we don’t have to
go to a distant planet to experience the sacredness of God’s creation, or even
to the movie theatre for an imaginary depiction of reverence for the diversity
of life.
We don’t have to go to an exotic
location on this planet either. Our sacred space may be in our own gardens, or
by the water at a cottage, or even as someone suggested to me this past week,
in a graveyard. Why not? What did we
hear on Easter morning? On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene became
aware of the risen Christ in the garden of the cemetery where he had been
buried.
Now, this may all sound like
permission to give up on going to church! A round of golf or a paddle around
the bay is all we need. Or course this is not an “either/or” but a “both.”
There are lots of people who love being out-of-doors who don’t give a moment’s
thought to God the creator or spend much time expressing gratitude. When we gather for worship as we have today
we orient our lives to the God revealed in Jesus Christ. Our Sunday morning
experiences allow us to go out into our week with eyes and ears, hearts and
minds, open to the possibility of that sacred encounter with God.
Perhaps what we can all do on this
Earth Sunday is ask how we will attune ourselves to the sacred in the every day as Spring unfolds and
opens into Summer. We can at least figuratively join Jesus on the hillside and
prayerfully open ourselves to the glory of God.
I will leave you with a painting and a
poem as two forms of prayer and praise to God who is revealed in the world
around us. The painting is by a great Canadian, the late Emily Carr whose
depictions of the forests and totems of the British Columbia coast are
breathtaking. In the Art Gallery of Ontario there is a Carr painting called Indian
Church which places a small Christian church in the midst of a cathedral of
trees which also give glory to God.
The poem is by Mary Oliver, the
Pulitzer Prize winner, who has reflected on her moments in nature for decades
and has always been a deeply spiritual writer.
In recent years Oliver has returned to her Christian roots and now
writes poems which reflect her rediscovered faith. In the poem entitled Praying
she encourages us:
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together, and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
We can all find our sacred places and
sacred spaces where God speaks to us, and we can answer.