|
“I AM WHO I AM.” Exod 3-14
If there is beauty
in the forest but there is no one there to see it,
is there still beauty? This variation on the "If a
tree falls in the woods and no one is there to
hear it..." mind-bender struck me as a faith
imperative while I was appreciating a particularly
beautiful bit of God’s creation.
I was hiking in the
wilds of the John Burroughs Nature Sanctuary near
Holy Cross Monastery. The newly fallen snow
revealed the footprints of, at most, two people
who preceded me. But, I was definitely the only
person feasting on the beauty around me. Sanctuary
Pond was solid with a reflective snowy glaze that
emitted a pastel reflection of the surrounding
glacial rock and woodlands The freshly fallen snow
gave a crisp contrast to the drab colors of the
winter foliage. I was bounded by rugged beauty.
Were there no one present to revel in it, though,
would it still be beautiful?
My own thoughts
suddenly washed back over me. "I am who I am." (Exod
3:14) That was the phrase on which I was
meditating as I walked. The theme of the weekend
retreat was imagination in prayer. We were
practicing using our imaginations as an assist in
connecting with God, of apprehending his presence
wherever we may be. The truth of what we were
working with was suddenly all around me.
Every single thing,
down to the smallest sub-atomic particle is a work
of God’s hand. His creative nature goes on around
us continually whether we notice it or not. He is
here, whether we notice him or not. Our Rector
Emeritus, Fr. Hartt, once spoke in a sermon of the
Lord being so near, flesh upon flesh, that there
is no space between our flesh and his presence. It
is our individual lack of awareness that causes us
to think of him as not present.
Yes, the scene in
which I was immersed would be just as beautiful
regardless of whether any human were there to
appreciate it or not. It is the work of I AM.
Therefore it is beautiful. Everything from I AM’s
hand is perfect. It is beautiful whether or not a
human gives an appreciative reaction. Is there
any greater expression of our creator’s
omnipotence than the simple “I AM.”
This train of
thought was further stoked at the Sunday Eucharist
when the strains of Hymn 401 repeated reference to
the majestic reign of “the Lord, the great I AM.”
And it came full circle as Brother Ronald’s sermon
made mention of a Lenten antiphon from “The
Monastic Breviary,” the monk’s extended version of
the “Book of Common Prayer.” The antiphon says,
“Use the present opportunity to the full for these
are evil days; try to understand what the will of
the Lord is.”
These were evil days
before the specter of war rose as a shadow over
the world. Poverty. Hunger. Homelessness. Fouling
of the very environment upon which we depend for
life. Now, on the eve of war, the days are even
more evil. We have an opportunity of stewardship.
Lent is a time for self-examination. “Use the
present opportunity.” And “Try to understand what
the will of the Lord is.” The work of I AM is
always beautiful. It is up to us to seek to
understand it, appreciate it, and join in it. |
