…Everything is created. Everything carries within its form and texture the signature of its Creator. No part of this material world is unconnected with God; every cell is in the organism of salvation. Biblical religion cannot be lived apart from matter – the seen, felt, tasted, smelled, and listened to Creation. It is all, precisely, Creation. Nothing merely happened along. Chokecherries and tundra and weasel are not random accidents. Since everything is by design, no part of Creation can be by-passed if we intend to live in the fullest possible relation to our Creator in his Creation. None of it is an inconvenience that we are forced to put up with. Nothing is a stumbling block introduced by the devil to trip the feet of those whose eyes are piously lifted in praise to God. Creation is our place for meeting God and conversing with him. The voice that spoke Behemoth and Leviathan into being is the same voice that says, “Your sins are forgiven you,” and invites us to call upon Him in the day of our trouble. External and internal are the same reality. Heaven and earth are formed by a single will of God. We take box seats in this Creation theatre when we pray. We look around. The mountains are huge, heaving their bulk upward. The creeks spill across the rocks, giving extravagant light shows under the hemlocks. The lakes lift up with the sky, on earth as it is in heaven. A lion rips its prey. A sparrow builds its nest. Solomon and the Shulamite embrace. An eagle plummets from a cloud to a meadow and takes a rabbit in its talons; for a few moments the two Genesis creatures are in a terrible entangled harmony. An infant drinks her fill of breakfast from her mother’s breast. Matter is real. Flesh is good.
What a wildly wonderful world, God!
You made it all, with wisdom at your side,
made earth overflowing with your wonderful creations.
Taken from Psalms 104: 24 (as translated by Eugene H. Peterson)
It is my belief that this could serve as the creed for the Ghost Horse Hills Wild Church.
Your ability to weave God's word and nature into a profound reading is a true testament of your faith. Looking forward to updates on GHH Wild Church gatherings.
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