Christ in the Green Places

This morning, out in my secret place, I was reading my new favorite book with which to start the day. Celtic Devotions, by Calvin Miller.

How apt on this lovely morning, when the breeze is soft and the birds are everywhere trilling and courting, that I should open to Day Eight, "Lord of All Nature." I love this little opening reflection, as well as one of the readings, and want to share them with you...

The Celts rarely separated the Christ of theology from the poetry of "Fairest Lord Jesus." He was their praise, ruler of all nature. Christ doesn't just lord over the natural world. He inhabits it. This is not to cozy up to any Eastern views that Christ is one with the elements of his world, but Jesus related to all life that he created. It is as Saint Francis taught: the sparrows were his sisters, the sun his brother. He pervades the world so completely a butterfly may bear witness to the incarnation, and a beetle may extol the crucifixion. All creation with a single voice celebrates the creator Christ.

Reading: Early Middle Welsh Prayer

May the three springs praise you,
Two higher than the wind and one above the earth,
May darkness and light praise you,
May the cedar and sweet fruit-tree praise you....
May the birds and the bees praise you,
May the stubble and the grass praise you,
Aaron and Moses praised you,
May male and female priase you,
May the seven days and the stars praise you,
May the lower air and the upper air praise you....

Mint in the Garden photo, by L.L. Barkat.