The Graze V.117: A Spirituality Of Place

Dear Friends:

This week we met to begin next steps on the outdoor amphitheatre space and the reimagined memorial ‘garden’ that sits behind the church. Our Mission Farm project team gathered with the architect, Jack Rossi; stone artists, Dan and Elin from Dan Snow Stone (see more of Dan’s work and his blog here); and Craig from Mosher Excavating. It is a deeply moving experience to reimagine natural space with others. We do not know the next step until the previous step has been completed - when we can stand in the space and listen to the land and to our own body-experience and discover what emerges.

Standing in the memorial garden behind the church looking out at the hillside we spoke about how we might most authentically experience a space of memory and transcendence. Would this space be oriented toward the stone walls of the church or out toward the rolling green hills and towering oak, pine and birch trees?

As we gathered in the outdoor amphitheatre space, we explored the ‘sound scape’; How do we experience our bodies - what do we hear and how do we experience sound in this space in relation to the mountains in the vista, the stone ledge behind, the bell tower rising above? And as we considered how the rest of the creatures in this space might experience us, I was inspired this week by Yo-Yo Ma’s composition for “cello and birdsong” at The Birdsong Project.

There is a particularity of place. We live in specific places and times and this affects who we are and what we do (and how we understand the ultimate mysteries of life). The changes we make today will affect those who pass through this space forever.

We also recognize that we are working with the land - with the curve of the slopes, with the ledge buried underground, with the underground springs that bring water the the surface. We are working with the wildlife and the patterns of migration that have formed over the years as animal make their way down to the river from the mountain above.

There is so much connection with our space and the natural world. How do we find ourselves in this space and declare it a holy space for us(?!) because of course, it has been a holy space for the bird and bear and the microbes for millenia. How do we gently enter this space and move some rocks and dig a bit of dirt and bury our loved ones and perform and listen to music and gather in prayer in the most respectful and gentle and reverent way possible?

And what a gift to contemplate these questions with such a thoughtful and gifted team and with you, dear friends.

Please join us in the orchard this Sunday, July 24 at 9:30 for our Mid-Summer Harvest Blessing and Holy Communion. As always, everyone is welcome - both in person and online.

From the deep beauty of this space to the deep beauty of yours,

Lisa