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we’re mystically wired to meet God in the outdoor cathedral
Jesus, Moses and Elijah met on a mountain. The disciples fell asleep as glory short-circuited their attention span. Jesus blazed whiter than the white hot sun. Hmmmm….the most extraordinary experiences of God seem to happen out in nature, as though nature were an outdoor cathedral.
It wasn’t the first time for any of the three. Moses was instructed to take his shoes off, standing before the burning bush. God was manifesting his presence there.
Elijah met God at the mouth of a cave in a mountain. A howling wind got his attention, then an earthquake, then a fire, than a period of intense silence. Finally a still small voice–the voice of God.
Jesus stood in a river, praying. Suddenly the a rift opened in the sky and a bird alighted on him, then a voice from the sky spoke to him. Some thought it thundered.
Neither Jesus, Moses, nor Elijah were pantheists. They learned the lesson of Genesis, chapter one. The earth is the Lord’s. The greater and lesser lights are not deities to be worshiped. The earth is a temple for his glory to inhabit, so God rested in his temple (not built by human hands) on the seventh day.
How far we have fallen from a spirit-infused understanding of the world around us! How we have reduced nature to a depository of natural resources–a Super Wal-Mart in which we live and move and have our consumer being.
Sure, we may take a hike from time to time. But most of our time “in nature” is driving through it with the windows up and the AC on, listening to a CD playing digitized music with a techno-beat.
Our expectation of meeting God in the outdoor cathedral is at an all time low, as if the experience of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus inspired us only a little.
So we spend less time outdoors than ever, hunt and fish less than ever, go camping less than ever, visit our national parks less than ever. We wonder less in the wilderness and wonder why believers seem to have more fun assailing each other for dangerous thinking than meeting God in the outdoor cathedral.
There are places a person can go to meet God. Places. One can go where the people of God are worshipping God and meet him there. (A young man told me recently that since he was baptized a few weeks ago he finds himself “vibrating and shaking” off and on during worship.)
One can go into the outdoor cathedral to meet God there. As Moses did. As Elijah did. As Saul of Tarsus did on the road to Damascus, the Risen Jesus outshining the noon day sun. As Peter did on the rooftop in Joppa, where the sky opened and a vision of creatures played out in nature-color. As Jesus did, seeking “wild places” to meet with Abba, Father, World Creator.
The fact that this makes us nervous because some New Agers (who are often broken-hearted children of the church) enjoy nature’s charms and stumble into pantheism is irrelevant.
Tags: elijah, horeb, Jesus, joppa, jordan, moses, nature, new age, pantheism, tabor, transfiguration
May 10th, 2010 at 10:21 am
this is a great post. i sometimes think that if i had the same amount of care and concern for His God-Made creation as i do for man-made posessions I and the world would be better off. I think of times when i’ve damaged the posessions of others–staining a shirt I borrowed, etc. and without a 2nd thought I replace or repair what i’ve damaged–yet I have much less of a sense of responsibility when I’m figuratively breaking things left and right in the outdoor cathedral.
May 10th, 2010 at 10:56 am
Thanks Ken! I’ve shared some other worldly moments with God in the outdoors. On my first solo backpacking trip in the Sierra I watched the sunset for over an hour from a granite outcropping. That sunset was the most amazing sunset of my life to that point. It not only lit up the sky, but the ground and all that I could see for over 100 miles. I remember dancing on that rock singing a worship song, or maybe I was listening to music…. I was hooked! That was back in 2000, and I’ve been going into the wilds alone ever since. My father passed this connection to God through the wilds to me and reinforced it throughout my life.
I once considered living in the Eastern Sierra where there is an “outdoors” church that meets on Sundays in trail head parking lots for service. After service and a tailgate brunch the faithful share an adventure in the wilds.
God’s greatest testimony is all around us, his other bible is his creation, words can not express….
May 10th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Ken thanks for this post. I just finished your new book, Mystically Wired, and thought it was amazing. Spoke to my heart. I do believe we are mystically wired and the outdoors might be one of those “thin” spaces where we experience God easier than in the midst of our urban or town lives that are so cluttered and busy.
As I flew back from Miami today I enjoyed the beauty of the flight. So often when I fly I take the scenery outside the window as secondary and focus what is right in front of me, usually a book. But today I concentrated on the amazing shapes of the clouds, the beautiful seacoast and the wonder of seeing our world from 40,000 feet above it.
It was a blessing.
May 10th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
I don’t think too many of us get concerned about pantheism because of people connecting with God through His creation. I don’t know many people, if any, who haven’t had such an experience.
I think we get concerned about pantheism when trees, moon, sun, and stars get referred to as our ‘brothers’, ’sisters’, ‘fellows’, etc.
But viewing nature as an outdoor cathedral-I completely agree.
May 10th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
I like where you are going, Ken. Keep it up. I feel God’s presence uniquely in nature, in particular places in the natural world. And I am drawn to writers who describe their experiences of God in the natural world. God is with us, wherever we go. But he seems particularly perceptible for many of us in our experience of the natural world.
May 11th, 2010 at 8:12 am
Brian,
I don’t think calling The sun brother or the moon
sister is in anyway consistent with pantheism in which says that all is God. I think it expresses a relationship to creation in which we all have one father who created it all. This makes me in some
way related to all created life because of the fact that we all have the same father.
May 11th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
Hey Commonman, I saw your post about hiking the JMT this summer. We might cross paths, I’m hiking the PCT this summer and will be sharing 200 miles of your trail in late September. What amazes me is how much a spiritual journey these trails become. It’s always physical, but the journey is equally mental and spiritual. Click on my name and you’ll see photo links on my page to my section hikes of the JMT. Happy hiking
May 12th, 2010 at 1:39 am
Commonman,
I don’t think I said that referring to sun or moon as brother or sister was pantheism…but it does get some of us concerned about pantheism…as in a step in the wrong direction.
I don’t see any evidence in Scripture of this type of ‘brother’, ’sister’ relationship with trees, plants, stars, etc. But if you can refer me to where I can find it, I’m happy to be corrected.
May 12th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Yes, we are all material. We are all made, in part, of matter. And much of the matter of which we are made was itself made by stars. Much of the material universe was made by stars, at the atomic level and molecular level. So we are correct to see relatedness between ourselves and other material objects and beings.
May 14th, 2010 at 9:49 am
And how about those of us who really don’t have these mystical experiences by simply watching nature? Those of us who see it as sometimes pretty and appreciate it, but don’t necessarily make a God connection out if it?
Brian, must we as believers only do things described in scripture? If something not mentioned in scripture brings us closer to God, is it to be ignored because there is nothing like it in scripture?
May 14th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Joao, This might be helpful. it is C.S. Lewis from the book the four loves. “Say your prayers in a garden early, ignoring steadfastly the dew,the birds and the flowers,and you will come away overwhelmed by its freshness and joy;go there in order to be overwhelmed and after a certain age, nine times out of ten nothing will happen to you”.
Brett, I envy you in a good way. It has been a dream of mine to Hike the PCT from Mexico to Canada.
May 14th, 2010 at 10:26 pm
Joao,
Nope, we as believers needn’t only do things described in scripture. But scripture should inform everything we do. Viewing plants and animals as our ‘brothers’, ’sisters’, and ‘fellows’ seems enough of a step in a pantheistic direction that I’d think Christians would want some biblical basis in order to hold such a view.
May 15th, 2010 at 8:30 am
Brian, When someone like St. Francis uses the term “brother-sister” to refer to other creatures or created things, he is using the term metaphorically. The Bible specializes in the use of metaphor. Putting one thing next to another to shed light on one from the other. The Bible clearly indicates that all creatures share a common source of life, hence we are “fellow creatures” or “fellows”. In Genesis 1 we share “the breath of life” with other creatures. In Ps. 148, David addresses sun and moon as fellow worshippers. To say this is a step toward paganism is a stretch. Recognizing other creatures or created things could also by this thinking, be a step toward paganism since in order to worship the sun one first has to recognize or acknowledge its prescence.
May 15th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Commonman
Great quote!
I think I’ll try that.
May 15th, 2010 at 11:06 am
Brian
Isn’t the kind of thinking you are suggesting based on fear?
Paul made religious folks nervous by claiming works did not earn you salvation, Jesus was criticized by religious folk for hanging with drunks and prostitutes.
It just seems to me that part of being a true christian sometimes involves taking risks in areas that even fellow believers would feel uncomfortable with.
I would hope that those who follow Jesus could be free to experiment in new ways to connect with God, safe in the knowledge that their Master would nudge them away from those practices that would be truly harmful.
May 15th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
while i’m not a big bumper-sticker fan, i did grab one at the last RE:FORM conference that read: “Your soul needs the wild – Luke 5:16″
Luke 5:16? from the Message: “As often as possible Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer”
He went to the wilderness…and increasingly in my practice and posture of solitude, i go not to my study or my bedroom (which are still decent places), but instead i go to the wilderness…to the wild.
May 15th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Ken,
The sentiments posted here seem to go beyond the Genesis 1 and Psalm 148 references you site. In my opinion.
And I am aware of the Bible’s use of metaphor.