The reason that we began this new church is because what we’re interested in is creating space for folks to grow spiritually and give of themselves to make the world more like God’s dream for us. This weekend we had an incredibly successful experience in making space for a spiritual need. One of the leaders of our community and I hosted our second Meditation Hike. We began these hikes because we know many people say that they find a connection to the divine and to spirit in nature. We wanted to make a space for that and to give people some tools to reflect upon their natural spiritual experiences and perhaps take them a little deeper. We had 6 SFC folks and 13 members of the public show up after sharing our event on meetup.com. Meetup is something anyone can join and then look for activities they might be interested in attending. Hosts pay about $10 a month to advertise activities. We’ve been doing this since January for a couple of our events and have encountered lots of folks we otherwise would not have been able to know.
On our hike we walked and prayed and listened to readings and reflected with one another. We lay down in the grass and centered ourselves in the creator. This was one of the best worship experiences I have had. Afterwards several of the people visited with us to share how the experience touched them and to thank us for making this space. A few of the participants in the meditation hike have offered to help shape the next one by suggesting locations, sending me readings, and leading a group movement meditation for our closing. Others who were grieving, seeking, hurting, and lost asked for pastoral care which we provided to them.
This work we do demonstrates to me again and again that people are desperately hungry. People want time to center and touch the divine. People want to talk with someone about the hard things in life and to be listened to and encouraged. People want community to share life with and to grow together. People want to be part of something and to contribute to the things that they feel are worthwhile. This is the wild world outside of the church. It’s a place of need and hope. One where I feel like a missionary sent to offer love and life to all. I am so enriched in my spirit by this work.
This poem that we read at one stop in our hike has deeply touched me this week so I wanted to share it with all of you.
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
I’m so thankful for work that allows me to meet some of people’s needs with God’s good love and life.
I’m so thankful for time in nature and the deepening of my own spirit.
-Eilidh
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