Beloved "Hope punkers" we must be!!! Part 3

 So then you are pretty awe-full. Full of mystery, full of wonder and this leads to prayer.  How many claim the cathedral of the great outdoors to be there place of worship.  They experience The Above, The Beyond,  The Alone in their encounter with nature and are brought to the awareness of a reality they experience but cannot put into words. That is the way with all spiritual experiences.  We do not possess the words to adequately describe the encounter.  That is the place where artists come to our rescue, and become part of the solution.  All we have to do is read a poem about nature, or read a book which reveals where the secrets of nature are waiting to restore our souls to us.  Go to a museum and gaze, not look at a masterpiece of one of the great nature artists. It is too much for us and we go WOW. Here Wonder On Wonder is revealed and we are touched with a touch beyond description.  Elvis singing "How great Thou art" sure helps us here.  If you cannot get it on You Tube, Google the words and ever so slowly read and reflect on what you read, and your soul listens to.  You can also play  any one of the great symphonies and be transported to another state of being.

That is why nature is called the first bible.  We can thank the Irish monks who championed this reality, but then The Carpenter from Galilee was there ahead of them.  How many examples did The Prophet Jesus draw from nature to describe the unseen Kingdom He was sent to reveal.  Again in all reality is both hidden and revealed so much of what we need to know to be healthy spiritually.  Is there a conflict between the first and the second bible, only in those minds that are closed to the sacramentality of all of our Creator’s creation.  This is not about either/or, that is religiosity. It is however about both/and which is the spiritual way of looking at all of reality. WE come to the awareness that both the seen and the unseen have their origins in the loving creative mind of The Creator.  We are to "put on the mind" of The Creator so as to be an effective instrument in the continuing demanding ever so holy work of being co-creators of our universe.  If the workers do not have the mind of The Creator, what destruction awaits us. 

continued on July 22 Part 4