It is harvest time in the U.S.!
My facebook newsfeed lit up last night with notes about carving pumpkins and loving the cooling weather. And harvest at “Thriving Among the Lilies” means a week-long exploration into the importance of our earth for your health and radiance.
I heard a phenomenal musician make this point at his concert on Friday: The moon commands the ebb and flow of our powerful oceans, why do we (creatures made of 75% water) think a full moon will not effect us? I had never thought of that before. But, I do deeply believe that we live in an age where we have forgotten our earth-boundedness. And, I long for a Christianity and Christian theology that wakes us up to the sanctity of this place and its role in feeding our bodies, souls, and imaginations.
The changing of the seasons, our innate connection with our earth, and the natural place of death and resurrection: these all conjure up within us an ancient longing to be home here among the complex and simple beauty of our land. And if we loose touch with the soil beneath us, we risk loosing touch with the very soul within us.
So for this week-long journey, I have brought with me a mentor of sorts, Wendell Berry and some of his poems:
“October 10”–
Now constantly there is the sound, quieter than rain, of the leaves falling. Under their loosening bright gold, the sycamore limbs bleach whiter Now the only flowers are beeweed and aster, spray of their white and lavender over the brown leaves. The calling of a crow sounds loud–a landmark–now that the life of summer falls silent, and the nights grow.
