Reading of the Day

Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands; as the prophet says, 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?' (Acts 7:48-50)

In his defense before the high priest, Stephen (in the book of Acts) quotes the prophet Isaiah (Is. 66:1).

When I was a boy, I attended a great (as in large) church with a huge sanctuary.  In it, we always spoke in hushed tones and a joke I make about that is that this is God's house and we need to be quiet because He is sleeping (being very old and all, you know).  Amusing as that may be, it highlights an error.  Oh, sure, God lives in that sanctuary, but She lives in my house, too.  And yours.  And in the fields and forests and ocean depths, too.

As I have wandered down this path, there have certainly been times when I have felt the presence of the Divine in the service, in the building of church.  Much more frequently, however, I have discerned the Divine in a basilica of beech trees and a cathedral of pines.   Like so much of this exploration journey I am on, things which I know to be true by my own experience are later revealed as having been commented on long ago.

"Believe me, you will find more lessons in the woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you what you cannot learn from masters." - St. Bernard of Clairvaux