I’ve returned
from two weeks of being isolated on vacation.
My family and I spent two weeks camping in the wilds of Pennsylvania forests,
most of that time in the Allegheny National Forest. There were lots of opportunities to witness
God’s creation and few chances to be “connected” by cell phone, text message, Wi-Fi,
e-mail and certainly no cable television!
Just prior to
leaving on our vacation, our congregation hosted our annual Vacation Bible
School and one of the activities I invited the children into was an exercise of
“walking with God/Jesus.” We walked in
our neighborhood and I invited the 3-4 year olds, and the 5-6 year olds, and
the 7-8 year olds and the 9-10 year olds to practice “walking with Jesus” by
looking for the signs of God’s presence in the world.
I had in mind,
birds chirping, or a squirrel crossing our path, or the abundant sunshine on a
beautiful day. But I wasn’t at all
prepared for how well they’d take it! “Walking
with Jesus” was a good reminder for me; and sharing with the children made it
more important for me to consider the ways I connect with God in God’s wondrous
world.
Every day on our
vacation we had opportunities to connect with God’s beauteous creation. And I tried to soak up every bit of God’s
presence. We saw grand forests,
substantial vistas, and really cool stuff.
It’s hard not to wonder about God’s creativeness—especially when you discover
an Eastern Newt (a bright orange, lizard looking thing that ambles along on the
forest floor in this really interesting way).
It was easy “looking
for God” amidst all the natural beauty that was so different from our
neighborhood back in Havertown.
But here’s what
really “got me.” One of the things I was
“hoping for” for this trip, was the opportunity to see a bear—in the
wilderness. Yes. I wanted to share wilderness space, together,
with a bear. I know. That’s not exactly what one is taught to hope
for, and if you find yourself with the bear, you are supposed to move in
another direction. But then, all of a
sudden it was happening. And not just
any bear, try a mamma bear with two of the cutest cubs you could ever
imagine!
To be honest,
the bear looked a lot like any bear you might see at the zoo. And at about 50 feet, not close enough for us
to feel threatened or for the bear to be too concerned. For that matter, the bear was totally
unconcerned about the people in the area—even though the people were somewhat
apprehensive about the bear, particularly a mother bear with reason to be
defensive about her cubs. Yet, neither we
nor the bear seemed the least bit afraid.
The surprising
thing? Here was this big black bear
foraging through bushes and shrubbery, but not making any noise whatsoever! In fact, were it not for some other hikers,
we would have missed the bears altogether.
No grunts, no rustling of leaves, no distinctive rubbing of branches. The bears were quiet as the proverbial church
mouse! And it was breathtaking—literally.
I held my
breath, hoping this moment could go on and on, quickly trying to get a picture
of the bears. My children even made fun
of me because as I took pictures, I seemed to catch only the bear’s backside
each time—their giggles were far louder than the bears rustling. It was simply awesome!
So what awed
me? The delicate creativity of almighty
God! The delicateness of small Eastern
Newts ambling in their peculiar way and big black bears rummaging the forest in
almost total and complete silence! I had
to rethink Elijah’s still, small, voice and the sound of sheer silence! The awesome sound of God—who makes no sound,
like a black bear in the forest. It makes
it hard to notice God sometimes. We have
to be practiced at “looking for God” even as that sounds kind of silly. Of course, the kids will tell you, “God is
everywhere.” But it’s kind of like that
bear… you look up and are caught off guard, caught in the moment, there and yet
sneaky quiet.
Where have you
met the delicateness of our wildly creative God?
Where have you
found God sneaking up on you?
And how do you
carry that with you everyday?
The delicateness
of that black bear, silently moving about the forest! What a wildly creative and delicate God. That’s the God I meet—delicate, wildly
creative, giving me hope and inspiration in a world beset with troubles. Wildly creative and delicate enough, un-harried
enough, un-fearing enough. I walk with
that God.
© Rev. David Stipp-Bethune; Teaching Elder and
Pastor, The Presbyterian Church of Llanerch, Havertown, Pennsylvania
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