Monday, July 12, 2004
textures of spirituality
I am a Protestant. So the Bible has been part of my spirituality. I normally use the lectionary readings; a psalm and a gospel, daily, as part of being centred and attentive to God. The Bible, you see is intrinsic to my spirituality.
Confession time.
Not sure if I should blog this, but you see,
well,
I forgot to take my Bible on holiday.
We had driven 45 minutes when Lynne looks at me and notes that we have no Bible. The Protestant in my paniced. Not sure what the Protestant in you is thinking. 45 minutes, with 2 kids in the car. Too far to go back.
During the rest of the drive, I noticed the detail, the fine patterning of the back on bare maples.
Embolded by Jesus words in Matthew; Consider the lilies of the field, I sensed that the spiritual task of the holiday was to “notice the detail”; the textures of snow, the patterns and colours of bark, exploring the backroads of Geraldine, the cooking of my children.
Today I returned to this;
I have no need for [offerings]
for every animal of the forest is mine
and the cattle on the thousand hills
– Psalm 50:9-10.
A [Biblical] reminder that God is not just in text, but also in the textures of all creation.
)
Sounds more than reasonable to me mate…I’m pleased you had the opportunity to vary your practice…often in itself an opportunity for refreshment…
Comment by Paul Fromont — July 12, 2004 @ 3:33 pm
When I walked the Camino a number of years back, I started out with a small OT/NT bible. I started suffering terribly from blisters, tendonitis and the like and had to cull my pack down to the bare minimum. Although it was small (a bit bigger than my hand), the Bible was very heavy. After a lot of thought, I decided to sent it on ahead to Santiago with some other stuff.
I felt totally freed up. “I have hidden your word in my heart…” (Ps. 119:11). God and I had lots of other things to chat about on those long kms.
Comment by Lisa — July 12, 2004 @ 4:49 pm