Submitted by rlp on Mon, 10/06/2008 - 11:45.
For the last couple of years our church community has been burrowing a path through the dense brush of our land. We've not been in a hurry; we don't even know for certain where the path is going. We've tried to be as gentle as possible, avoiding more permanent plants and taking the direction that nature seems to be offering. So our path winds its way whimsically through the woods, three feet wide and bordered with limestone rocks that we found lying around. Most of the time its surface is nothing more than the packed earth beneath our feet. Occasionally the juniper trees lay down a soft mulch made of their shedding evergreen, and we walk on that.
This path is as gentle and nature-friendly a thing as can be imagined, and yet Mother Nature seems to hate it and is doing everything in her power to destroy it. Along with a vacuum, Mother Nature abhors trails, pathways, walls, slabs, roads, landscaping, parking lots and buildings. My friends and I have been trying to impose the order of our path on Mother Nature, but she is having none of it....
Click here to read the rest of this essay at The Christian Century online.
Archive of Christian Century Articles by Gordon Atkinson
rlp
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Loved this one
Of late, I've found my theological understanding moving more and more to this way of thinking... and recognizing the puniness.... (that looks wrong...PUNY-ness... no, that's not it - oh well, hope you get the idea) of our place in the scheme of things... and how that scheme fits in with the Divine we call God.
Dude, you're a dang good
Dude,
you're a dang good writer. Im just saying. Your street gang cactus metaphor was a stroke of genius.
and that line "those damn armadillos are ripping up our prayer path" really cracked me up.
I love the Franciscan
I love the Franciscan wording of the title, and the way you move from the warlike attitude to living alongside. Sat. (Oct 4) was the feast of St. Francis, and I'm away from my Franciscan brothers right now. It was nice to come across this acknowledgement of Francis's ways of following Jesus here.
Excellent piece - the
Excellent piece - the writing and the content.
Plus, makes me want to come walk the path.
This essay describes the
This essay describes the path perfectly. I have fond memories of walking that path and praying by the tree. It was a special blessing and I hope to return and do it again someday.
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