Archive for the 'Spiritual Things' Category

Holy Places

Bryan September 12th, 2008

Stone Door Birthday Trip 007A common theme among the world’s religions is the concept of some holy, sacred place.  For the Jewish, this would undoubtedly be the Western Wall and Temple Mount in Jerusalem.  For the Muslim, it would be the cities of Mecca and Medina.  For the Catholic, maybe it is the Vatican and for the Protestant perhaps it is Westminster or the local church.  Something that struck me recently is that all of these places are built by men.  Oh, I’m certain the shrines, mosques, and cathedrals were built in those places for a reason, as a symbol.  Unfortunately, I believe those reasons are largely lost on the faithful of today, making these holy places little more than idols.

My holy place is pictured on the right.  I can’t explain it entirely, but it seems to be were I can meet with God, my maker, without the distractions of the trappings of man.

What is your holy place?

Act on the one thing you know

Bryan January 28th, 2007

My friend Dixon Kinser posted this entry to his blog a few days ago:

Quoting Dixon quoting Jennifer Schrock from Simply in Season:

If I had to put what I believe about food and the environment into two words of advice, I would say this: Celebrate hope.

If
you can find a farm, a market, a store where you can see that love for
the earth and for future generations is a priority, sell all that you
have and buy their food. If you can find friendly faces in your local
food systems that are willing to go beyond public relations and discuss
tough questions, hug them! If you can smell the Spirit of God on their
sweet potatoes, buy 20 pounds! Eat those potatoes with gusto, thanking
God that someone, somewhere has a vision.

You are not consistent
in all areas of your life? Lord have mercy on you, a sinner: act on the
one thing you know. You can only afford one holy sweet potato and the
rest is boxed macaroni and cheese? Act on what you can afford. You will
love that sweet potato and the earth that grew it even more.
- Jennifer Schrock, Goshen, Ind.

In our microwave, pill-popping society, our food supply tries to deliver.  Pesticides, unneeded antibiotics, genetic engineering, whatever it takes.  You want strawberries in November?  No problem, they’ve been sitting in a warehouse for a month since we got them from Chile.  Our insistence on eating foods out of season (and oh by the way, it better be cheap) is harming our world.  But the greatest damage being done is to ourselves.  For an eyeopening look into our industrialized food system and the alternative (farm friendly food), a good quick read is Joel Salatin’s Holy Cows and Hog Heaven.

To test the alternative, try buying a few things from the Franklin Farmers Market or the farmers market nearest you.  Get to know the people that grow your food.

By the way, my favorite farm is just a few miles away from me at Rocky Glade Farm.

Thursday 1/18/2007 Evening Presentation-The Spiritual Side of Nature

Bryan January 18th, 2007

Ken Jenkins  and Chuck Summers present this program regularly every year emphasizing God’s hand in our creation.  The salmon return to the very stream they were born to lay their eggs before they die.   There is no doubt of God’s design in their lives.

A piece Chuck shared with us:

Slow Me Down Lord

Slow me down, Lord! Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of
my mind. Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of
time.

Give me, amidst the confusion of my day, the calmness of the
everlasting hills. Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles with the
music of the singing streams that live in my memory.

Help me to know the magic restoring power of sleep.

Teach me the art of taking Minute Vacations. . . of slowing down to
look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read a few
lines from a good book.

Remind me each day of the fable of the hare and the tortoise that I
may know that the race is not always to the swift; that there is more
to life than increasing its speed.

Let me look upward into the branches of the towering oak and know
that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well. Slow me
down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of
life’s enduring values that I may grow toward the stars of my greater
destiny.

Amen.

- Wilfred A. Peterson