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“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of your glory.” Isaiah 6:3

Last week I painted this scene from the beach looking up the coast toward Mount Washington. The air was cold, the sun bright, the morning sparkling. My eyes could barely take in the wonder of the vanishing mountains through the blue misty atmosphere, the weight of the ocean with it’s brilliant blues and greens, the shore with white flashes of shells, the cry of gulls, and the sharp sting of the air. I stood rooted in awe. God’s sanctuary. I and everything around, above, and beneath me shared communion, together, in God’s sanctuary. God is not aloof, this our home, nature’s home, is imbued with God’s presence.

God’s first word to humanity came through creation, and through nature, God continues to heal and restore. Churches, mosques and synagogues are closed, but we are still in God’s sanctuary. In the heart of matter is the heart of God, Light within all light. Celtic spirituality in particular has affirmed that creation contains God’s grace and goodness. Rather than, or along with, lamenting the temporary absence of familiar rites and religious practices, all we need do to pray is step outside.

Even COVID can’t close God’s sanctuary; or cancel spring, a theme developed by Grammy-winning musicians the Okee Dokee Brothers in their new song, “Church of the Woods” https://youtu.be/ZMQ50fIJ6C0

As Michelangelo said, “My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth’s loveliness.”

Let us give thanks for the world around us.
Thanks for all the creatures, stones and plants
Let us learn their lessons and seek their truths,
So that their path might be ours,
And we might live in harmony, a better life.
May the Earth continue to live,
May the heavens above continue to live,
May the rains continue to dampen the land,
May the wet forests continue to grow,
Then the flowers shall bloom
And we people shall live again.

-Hawaiian indigenous prayer