{"id":1717,"date":"2013-07-03T13:37:18","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T20:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/?p=1717"},"modified":"2013-09-05T14:57:40","modified_gmt":"2013-09-05T21:57:40","slug":"pastors-pen-julyaugust-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/?p=1717","title":{"rendered":"Pastor’s Pen July\/August 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cI saw the LORD sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of God\u2019s robe filled the temple. <\/em><\/address>\n
<\/address>\n
Seraphs were in attendance above God…and one called to another and said:<\/em><\/address>\n
<\/address>\n
\u2018HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD of hosts;<\/em><\/address>\n
<\/address>\n
The whole earth is full of God\u2019s glory!\u2019 \u201d<\/em><\/address>\n
<\/address>\n
– Isaiah 6:1-3<\/address>\n

Beloved of God,<\/span><\/p>\n

Summer is upon us\u2014this year breaking the standing rule in these parts by showing up well before the 5th of July! <\/span><\/p>\n

I spent one recent 90\u2070+ day with my daughter Megan in Portland, where we found refuge from the heat in Portland\u2019s exquisite Japanese Garden<\/a>.\u00a0 Nestled in the hills west of downtown among tall Douglas Firs, the Japanese Garden is celebrated as the most authentic Japanese Garden outside of Japan. \u00a0\u00a0Inspired by a desire to cultivate stronger ties with Portland\u2019s sister city, Sapporo, Japan, the Japanese Garden Society of Oregon commissioned Takuma Tono<\/a> to design and supervise the development of the garden in 1963.\u00a0 In the summer of 1967 it was formally opened to the public.<\/span><\/p>\n

The garden opened late the Monday we were there, but because we were among the first to enter, we were able to take advantage of the unique atmosphere offered by each of the five separate garden areas<\/a> without the pressure of a large crowd. \u00a0The experience lived up to its billing: among the carefully placed stones, water features and plants, I felt serenity descend upon me.\u00a0 Such an experience is meant to be savored, and I left the garden restored.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Japanese Garden represents an idealized evocation of the natural world in which human beings, through ingenuity, knowledge of nature, artistic sensibility, and spiritual vision, create a landscape that celebrates the gifts of creation and soothes the soul.\u00a0 I look forward to returning again.<\/span><\/p>\n

During these precious summer months, reconnecting with the natural world is high on my family\u2019s list of priorities, and we look forward to road trips that will take us to western Montana, to the San Juan Islands, and to Central Oregon.\u00a0 These road trips give us access to the larger landscapes of the Pacific Northwest\u2014its mountains, rivers, lakes, and ocean waters\u2014and through these experiences we find ourselves renewed and grounded once again with a sense of place.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his book, Rainbow of Mysteries: Meeting the Sacred in Nature<\/a><\/span>, Australian Lutheran theologian Norman Habel, in his ninth decade of life, writes about his still evolving spiritual understanding of place and how it has shaped who he is and his understanding of who we are as \u201cEarth beings.\u201d\u00a0 Meditating on the prophet Isaiah\u2019s encounter with the Sacred in the Temple (see quote above) as refracted through his own spiritual experiences of sacred Presence, Habel articulates a new grounding point for understanding the place of human beings in relation to the Divine and in relation to creation:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe mystery of Presence challenges me to reconsider the very nature of God.\u00a0 I can no longer resonate with an omnipotent ruler outside of the cosmos who intervenes as necessary.\u00a0 Nor can I accept those past doctrines that separate God from nature.\u00a0 My starting point is now the cry of the Seraphim that the presence of God fills planet Earth.\u00a0 I now understand their words to mean: \u2018The Presence which is God fills the cosmos and is revealed before our very eyes through this planet.\u2019 <\/em>God is that sacred Presence that permeates creation and is revealed through nature.\u201d (p. 48)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am not only a human being,\u201d he continues, \u201cI am an Earth being…I belong to a fragile web of interconnected and interdependent fragments and forces on this planet.\u00a0 And the matter that emanated from primordial times in the cosmos evolved into conscious Earth Beings, who reflect the spiritual imbedded in the material. \u00a0Matter and spirit are not separate.\u201d (p. 54)<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it possible to wrest new meanings from ancient Biblical texts in such a way that they lift and carry us, like a boat on rising river waters, over long embedded traditions to new places of insight and understanding?\u00a0 Habel thinks it is. As our Season of Creation<\/span> planning team prepares for our annual observance of that four week Season this fall, he has become one of our dialog partners and his musings offer much food for thought.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wherever this summer finds you, whatever landscapes you frequent, may you find yourself echoing the chorus of the Seraphim: \u201cHOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of God\u2019s glory!\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

With you on the Way,<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor Erik<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI saw the LORD sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of God\u2019s robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above God…and one called to another and said: \u2018HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of God\u2019s glory!\u2019 \u201d – Isaiah 6:1-3 Beloved of God, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-newsletter","category-pastors-pen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1717"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1719,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions\/1719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}