Day 54 - Issue 26
Amos 9:6 NLT
'The Lord’s home reaches up to the heavens, while its foundation is on the earth. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is his name!'
When people visit us here in St Cuthbert’s Oratory, each one is engaged in their own essential search, one that unites us all, of pursuing God. God made us for friendship and so there are aspects of the infinite with which we can connect. Many find such touch points in nature, where the veil between finite and infinite seems to be suspended momentarily.
God is the source of creation that itself provides the context within which we live. This context surrounds us with distractions that draw us away from our primary purpose which is the pursuit of God. Every disciple I speak with has discovered that relationship with God is the product of intentionality. I guess we recognise that every intention requires a plan, and so a retreat or workshop exploring ways to encounter God are natural parts of any such plan. It provokes us to continue intentionally to seek God for ourselves so that we have some stories to share with companions along the way.
While the ways of God lie beyond human comprehension, we have insight into the nature of God through the incarnate Son. We are also reminded by Paul that creation bears God’s signature (Romans 1:20).
A friend of mine who is establishing a Christian community in the Sussex Downs has to be careful when considering external lighting because he is an area of protected dark sky. Here there are no competing, man-made light sources to dim the stars or dilute the depth of the deep blue of the night sky. In such a space, one is overwhelmed by a sense of God’s awesome reality. It is a reality beyond language, silence its natural home. Indeed, one reason why silence reveals so much of God is that it does not suffer the limitations words are subject to. Perhaps that’s why God speaks so clearly through nature and the beauty of creation.
QUESTION: When did you last take time to enjoy God in his creation?
PRAYER: Lord, all that you have made declares your glory, as do I.
