Pastor Cara, Puyallup UMC
Just beginning weeding
I am not a fan of weeding unless I am going to get something in return. For example, weeding a flower bed is something I’ll put off forever. However, weeding around my berry bushes, I am far more willing to do. This Spring, though, I was not looking forward to wedding anything in my backyard. The grass had taken over and pulling rooted grass out of muddy dirt is no fun. I didn’t relish the task but it had to be done.
This past week I began a new podcast from the Center of Action and Contemplation called Turning to the Mystics which made me think differently about weeding my yard. James Finely begins session one of his podcast by reading the last few paragraphs of Thomas Merton’s book, New Seeds of Contemplation. Here is a brief quote:
What is serious to men is often very trivial in the sight of God. What in God might appear to us as ‘play’ is perhaps what [God] takes most seriously. At any rate the Lord plays and diverts Himself in the garden of His creation, and if we could let go of our own obsession with what we think is the meaning of it all, we might be able to hear His call and follow Him in His mysterious, cosmic dance.
Merton goes on to say that we can catch a glimpse of this play in a star lit night, a flock of geese descending, or even children playing. This morning I heard the dance in the calls of the birds in my neighborhood and the gentle wave of the trees in the wind. If we look closely, we can see the cosmic dance all around us.
Later in the podcast, Finley uses a quote from another mystic, St. John of the Cross, who writes “In the beginning, the beauty of the created order of physical things, the world, in possessiveness at heart, it can be seductive. We want to own it.” This is a problem for us as humans. We want to own creation.
After weeding
Yet, when we look at the beauty around us and take a long deep breath in, it is hard to miss the divine in it. Just imagine a soft Spring rain falling, the smell of your favorite flower, or the moon casting its light in the dark of night. St. John of the Cross then says, “Then I realized my Beloved is the mountains.” To this mystic, the mountains are God’s body—the Earth is God’s body—and every element of creation is God’s love bursting forth.
If the earth, is God’s body, then when we care for the Earth, we care for God. When we plant our vegetables and flowers this Spring, we are bringing forth life from God’s very own body. When we weed our gardens, we are allowing God’s love to burst forth unencumbered. What if St. John of the Cross is right, that we are living in God, just as God is living in us?
You may find yourself a bit uneasy with this use of imagery. Mystics are known for using metaphor to help us understanding concepts that are hard to put into words. I encourage you to not so quickly dismiss this imagery. Instead, go outside, take a couple of deep breaths, and wonder with me, what if we are living inside God’s body—the Earth?
May you be blessed in your wondering.