There are things you can’t reach. But
You can reach out to them, and all day long.
The wind, the bird flying away. The idea of god.
And it can keep you busy as anything else, and happier.
I look; morning to night I am never done with looking.
Looking I mean not just standing around, but standing around
As though with your arms open.”
Mary Oliver
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I have decided God is a visual
Yeah, I know, there is that whole “word of God” thing
God spoke
God spoke
God spoke
But what happened when God spoke?
There was light
And land
There were oceans and mountains and streams
There we fish, and animals, and birds
And those strange creatures
Image bearers
Us
God spoke
And the “Word became flesh”
It seem as if whenever the Sacred
Really wants to make sure we get the point
Sacred gets visual
Creation
The parting of the seas
Manna from heaven
Pillar of cloud, pillar of fire
That tent!
A symbol and sign that God was
“tenting” among the people
The ark of the covenant
Over and over again God shows up
In signs and wonders
Gideon and the fleece
The wind!
The earthquake!
The still small voice
The altar and the prophets of Baal
Then there was Jesus
And that whole manger thing!
And the baptism in the Jordan
Jesus teaching
And using visuals
Water into wine
Fish and loaves
Jesus and the cross
God showing us what sacred love looks like
When God speaks, things happen
When God is present, we not only feel the love
We see it
Which should say something to us
James got it
That faith
Is a pretty meager thing if it does not become
Visible
If it does not show up in how we talk
How we give
How we forgive
How we care
(faith without works is dead)
This is not about merit
It’s not even, really, about us
It is about what God, working through us
In a grace full way
Looks like
And I think the fact is
When we have awakened to Sacred Presence
When we have set aside ego enough
When we have set aside our priorities and agendas enough
(when we have died to self)
so that God has room to work
God shows up
People are looking for the Sacred
They are looking everywhere
With arms wide open
They are looking for the Sacred in the sunrise
In the beauty of the earth
They are looking for it in sacred tomes
And in times of silence, and times of prayer
And they might well find the Sacred in all those things
But they should also see the Sacred in us
for we are God’s workmanship
we are God’s art
we are meant to be
A sacred object lesson
In love
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