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A WGREN Meditation for the Week of December 30, 2007
"No synonym for God is so perfect as Beauty. Whether as seen carving the lines of the mountains with glaciers, or gathering matter into stars, or planning the movements of water, or gardening - still all is Beauty!"
"This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on seas and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls."
"Going to the mountains is going home."
"The snow is melting into music."
- John Muir
No one represents the environmental consciousness as the naturalist John Muir. It seems appropriate then that the first meditation in 2008 should focus on Muir's wisdom. As these quotes indicate nature, spirit, the divine, the animate and inanimate are all inseparable components in the immense and majestic spectacle that is life. Imagine the consciousness that allows one to see the divine in a snowflake, to see nature as home, to hear music in the melting snow! Shall we resolve to develop that consciousness? Muir is unequivocal here - in that consciousness lies the earth's (and thus our own) salvation! The earth's manipulation and exploitation comes at a price and at our peril. In the end the progress that will save us is spiritual rather than economic. So gaze with awe upon the stars, wander in the mountains and forests, meditate on all that is magical . . . listen to the music!
Mark H. Dixon
Department of Philosophy & Religion
Ohio Northern University
A WGREN Meditation for the Week of December 23, 2007
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth"
- Jesus, as quoted at Matthew 5:5One can 'intellectualize' about this. Ask some questions, such as: What is the nature or condition of the earth that the meek might inherit? Why the meek? Do the non-meek inherit nothing? Do they get it by another way (a non-inheritance)? What is the nature of the blessing? From whom or what does this inheritance come? Is this a collective inheritance, or a series of individual ones? So - think about the questions - but set a firm time limit for yourself, and then stop thinking. Next, go outside - and get a few rocks, or tablespoons of dirt or sand. Put these in a nice bowl, and either: (1) put them on your desk, workspace, or coffee table with a nice sign by the bowl that says "This is my inheritance" (Matthew 5:5); or (2) take the bowl with you from place to place and be free to tell people, "This is my inheritance". You decide how long to do this.
Wayne Albertson
Ada United Methodist Church
A WGREN Meditation for the Week of December 16, 2007
O Wisdom, O holy Word of God,
you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care:
Come and show your people the way to salvation.
O sacred Lord of ancient Israel,
who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush:
Come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free.
O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
Come, shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
O Emmanuel, king and lawgiver, desire of the nations, Savior of all people:
Come and set us free, Lord our God.
These are four of the great “O Antiphons” that for almost fifteen centuries Christians have been using in liturgies during the week before Christmas. In our day amid the hustle and bustle of this time, we can with benefit dedicate some moments to contemplating the role of images from Nature in these prayers. Wisdom, the divine Word, maintains and provides for creation with such profoundly tender care that the inexhaustible livingness of the divine Presence at the core of Nature finds an apt representation in the bush brightly burning and never consumed. We ourselves are part of Nature and as such are subject to its cycles of day and night, light and darkness, life and death. What we yearn for is the splendor of light to dispel the shadow that death casts across our ways; we yearn for the Dawn from on High to be born again within our hearts. We desire what all peoples desire: the freedom of the children of God. We desire freedom, not to break the cycles of Nature, but to become expressions of God’s care for Nature. We desire wholeness both for ourselves and for all creation. So let us voice these desires in our prayer: Come, Lord Jesus! Maranatha!
Bill Fuller
Department of Mathematics
Ohio Northern University
A WGREN Meditation for the Week of December 9, 2007
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation…
- Henry David Thoreau, WaldenThoreau's passage raises questions that call attention to what it means to be a human being in the basic sense. What does it mean to live a deliberate life? And why would nature be important to such a life?
Mark H. Dixon
We can, and often do, choose to 'go through the motions' with no real awareness, enthusiasm, conviction or commitment - we labor, we purchase, we consume . . . and the cycle recommences. The pattern becomes so familiar, so comfortable, that we seldom question its value or justification and in the end come to live "lives of quiet desperation". A deliberate life in contrast is a conscious life, i.e., a life in which we are attentive and active participants. We deliberate, choose and act with a conscious purpose. In Buddhism this is known as sati or mindfulness. When one lives a deliberate life all that happens matters and so deserves our attention.
What is nature's role or value in a deliberate life? Nature teaches us the essential lessons - to live in the moment, to experience the wonder that surrounds us, to appreciate being alive, to appreciate life. Nature teaches us that possessions and status are ephemeral. What lasts are love, gentleness, respect and nature (so long as we treat it too with love and respect).
What is most important though is to avoid the resignation and desperation that characterizes so much human existence. Once we resign ourselves to nature's degradation and loss we come to see its disappearance as inevitable. In an earlier passage in Walden, Thoreau writes that what distinguishes human beings is their unquestionable power to elevate their lives through conscious endeavor. Are we willing to face the essential fact that we live in and through Nature and so, in our deliberate choices, elevate our lives?
Department of Philosophy & Religion
Ohio Northern University
A WGREN Meditation for the Week of December 2, 2007
This week's meditation is an "activity meditation." It is intended to produce reflection by virtue of an activity or set of activities. You are invited to be purposeful in choosing the timing and number of activities, including the repetitions that are done.
Use the following hymn-poem by Shirley Murray by following in order each line per day.
Touch the earth lightly.
use the earth gently,
nourish the life of the world in our care:
gift of wonder,
ours to surrender
trust for the children tomorrow will bear.
Day 1: Touch the earth lightly. On some regular schedule repeat the line and follow the line
literally, such as by touching a leaf, a rock, grass, trees, etc. with your littlest finger.
Do this several times during the day, intentionally, and with the barest of pressure,
only enough to feel it touching you.
Day 2: Use the earth gently. Do something like taking a small stick or blade of grass and
setting it to point in directions you will travel or walk in the day. Use a leaf as a
bookmark; twigs to turn a page; a stalk of a flower or weed to tickle someone . . .
Day 3: Nourish the life of the world in our care. Plant one seed. Give it the best space
you can. 'Feed" it and water it on a disciplined schedule. Pet a furry pet on a
regular schedule; or 'coo' to a non-furry pet the same. How would you nourish
the sky?
Day 4: Gift of wonder. The obvious thing is to think of some "gift:" the stars, a baby, a
great healing, etc. about which we have a sense of awe. Instead, think of what
you could give someone else that could induce or bring about a sense of wonder
or awe. It may be something bigger than you can give, but imagine it. And
imagine the breadth of persons you could bring to a sense of wonder.
Day 5: Ours to surrender. This is the hardest line: 'to surrender a gift.' Why ever?
Light a candle and think about an answer. Then blow out the candle. If you have
a gift you can part with, give it to someone.
Day 6: Trust for the children tomorrow will bear. Make a donation to an organization
that does good things for children, such as a local school, a church camp
scholarship, UNICEF. And give it in the name of a particular child you are close
to. Or pet a pet and say the names of children you know as you do so.
Day 7: On this, the Sabbath, recite the poem on some regular schedule for yourself, once
per hour, before meal times, etc.
Wayne Albertson
Ada United Methodist Church
