Sunday, April 26, 2015
Sunday Reflection: Seeing all of God's world
Sometimes I will run into someone who will say "you seem pretty religious." It's not a question, really; it's more of an observation or accusation. When it comes across as an accusation, it is usually because that person is imagining that I have beliefs I don't have about same-sex marriage or the Republican party. It can lead to a good conversation; I never mind that kind of intro, really.
Conversations like that often roll around to proofs of God, and the other person will reflect (if they are generally theistic) that they see God in the beauty of nature. It's a commonly cited center point, and I have felt it myself-- at dusk in the fall, especially.
It always feels incomplete to me, though. All of the world is God's, even the ruined parts. Sure, we have been the ones to ruin it, usually, but it still is a part of creation. Can we see God there?
I'm lucky, because I am the son of someone who does exactly that. So many times in my life I have been somewhere with my father and he will stop the car or pull up short on a sidewalk and take out his camera. I have no idea why, usually; I don't have his eye. Then he will start shooting, and I am still stumped: Is he taking pictures of that abandoned field, or a dumpster, or those guys leaning against a wall?
Then, later, I will see the picture.
And there it is; there is this sliver of beautiful, complex reality. I take a moment and look and drink it in, and in that moment I believe in God, and in art, and in my Dad.
