Life on Earth sings of creativity, multiplicity, abundance. Snowflakes… Soil… Fingerprints… Stars… Everything named “tree” differing from every other thing named “tree.” (Not only every tree, but every wonder-soaked leaf on the same tree. Completely unique.) How much more so for this very human creation called, “religion.”
Maybe religion, like nature or nature’s God, abhors monotony. Maybe religion, like nature or nature’s God, ebbs and flows between unity and chaos in a cosmic dance of creativity, multiplicity, abundance. Perhaps faith, at its best, is different and varied as the eyes and ears and hearts of each beholder.
This summer offers the opportunity to explore sources of faith that are as many and varied as the Gods of the ever-expanding, ever-evolving human imagination: Experiences of mystery and wonder; Prophetic words and deeds; Wisdom from the world’s religions; Discoveries from science and reason; Earth-honoring spirituality that celebrates the sacred circle of life. All these reflect sources of human faith—whether religious, spiritual, secular, or some or none or all of the above. Perhaps they all lead to the same place. Perhaps not. With courage, perseverance, and maybe a little mercy, they lead to more faith, more hope, more possibility, more connection, more depth, more life, more love.
O mystery and wonder: move through us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
O prophetic words and deeds: challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
O religious wisdom: inspire us in our ethical and spiritual life, call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
O human inspiration: counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, warning us against idolatries of the mind and spirit;
O Earth: lead us to celebrate the sacred circle of life and to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.
Amen.