Connecting with Creation: Feeling at Home
Earth is our planet home, the place chosen for us to live with God, our sacred site in all creation. The task is to find rites or forms of meditation that help us to connect with Earth and experience it as a true home rather than just a stopover en route to heaven. One spiritual exercise that proves meaningful to some people involves taking a trip into the country and finding a hill that has a view of the countryside. Select a space on the hill that can become sacred for this occasion and perhaps other occasions. A circle of rocks, soil or plants may be formed to represent a sacred centre on the hill. Participants may also wish to take a sprig of rosemary or some other symbol to help stir memories of past connections with Earth as close and special. From this site participants name all they can see that belongs to their home: various kinds of trees, plants, wildflowers, birds, hills, rocks, clouds, animals and so on. Memories associated with any of these may be shared to strengthen the feeling of being at home. We each ask ourselves, ‘How am I connected with the land at my feet or the living creatures I see around me?’ A closing rite may involve participants running their hands through the soil or sand in the circle to make the connection tangible. As they do this they may wish to repeat the words of Psalm 139: ‘I was made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of Earth’. The Earth bowl used in the suggested church liturgy for the Second Sunday in the Season of Creation may be used for this ritual. Reflecting on this verse and our home called Earth can lead to participants expressing their faith and feelings about God’s presence pulsing in the very soil and the scene with which they are connecting.