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Unless the eye catch fire,

God will not be seen.

Unless the ear catch fire

God will not be heard.

Unless the tongue catch fire

God will not be named.

Unless the heart catch fire,

God will not be loved.

Unless the mind catch fire,

God will not be known.

~William Blake

There are many places where I experience the living presence of God. I love to worship God in familiar liturgy that survives the test of time like Rite I. I love prayers that I have been saying since I was young like the Lord’s Prayer. I love holy, beautiful, and magnificent spaces like Cathedrals. I love to hear God praised through prayer, chant, and song. I love to share Eucharist in community. I love to read the bible in community and discern what the Holy Spirit is saying.

But church is not the only place where I experience the eternal. I love to watch the sun rise and watch the sun set. I love to watch wind as it blows through trees. I watch wind as it forms ripples on the water and moves across the sea, I love to see waves at the ocean and to hear the melody of the water crashing against the shore. I love to watch water flow from the top of a mountain, through a waterfall and form a river. I love to stare into a fire. I enjoy the smell of burning wood, the feeling of warmth on a cold night, and the crackling of the fire. I love to hike deep into the woods. I love to hike so far and high into the wilderness that the only sounds I hear are the birds singing, the water rushing, and wind dancing through the forest.

It is in these places that I drift off from my mortal existence to the eternal truth and presence of the One, Holy, God. Time seems to dissipate as my soul emerges from the restrictions of my conscious mind to the beauty and freedom of my sub conscious existence. I don’t know what heaven will be like, but I imagine that God gives me a taste of the eternal in these and other ways. God’s eternal presence seems very close to me.

I tell people that the first step is to have faith that Jesus Christ is Lord. Faith requires a little shift from the front lobe of your brain, and that is where the experience can be lost before it even starts. This shift only occurs when we express true love and thanksgiving to God. I wish this were easier than it is, but God asks us for nothing less than our whole self. God responds by giving us a taste of the eternal. This love eventually burns in all of our senses. Our soul becomes a conduit through all our senses of the ever living God. So what are you waiting for? Go catch the fire of God’s love and share it with everyone you meet.

This Fall, we will travel to the Holy Cross Monastery on September 27^th to September 30^th. We will be led into the living presence of God through worship with the monks and then out into God’s beautiful creation to experience God in the changing of the seasons and in the beauty of mountains, rivers, and lakes. It will be a guided retreat with wonderful meals, great worship, and time to relax. Please contact me if you would like to attend. Please join Fr. John Morrison on zoom on Thursday, June 9th at 4 PM for a Spirituality Group presentation, “music, music, music.” The Spirituality Group is also sponsoring a labyrinth walk on June 11^th. We will meet at St. John’s at 10:00 AM and proceed to CW Post and then to Bar Frites for lunch.

In Christ’s love,

Fr. Duncan