The Shining

Six years ago today, we were all mid-Holy Week. That particular year I was in the sanctuary at Pine Shores Presbyterian Church in Sarasota early each morning–holding space for anyone who might want an early morning place for prayer, for silence..

On this particular morning no one had come. I was happily sitting in the stillness, prayerful, attentive, with eyes lightly closed. At a pause I opened my eyes to see what you see in the photograph above. The sun had risen enough to stream across the sanctuary and catch the large cross on the chancel. It was at once startling and stunning.

I fumbled through my backpack for my phone and snapped a few pictures before realizing that my heart was racing. A thousand thoughts were going through my mind. Was this an epiphany? A moment of grace? An accident? Was it my imagination, a fluke, a deception? Maybe a blessing. It took a while for the whirlwind to subside–and my heartrate to drop back to normal–only then relaizing I was sitting at the edge of the pew. I sat back and just stared. The sun slowly continued its climb and left the cross, and I continued to sit there for a very long time.

Remembering that morning these many years later, it suggested to me a spiritual concept I first learned from Macrina Wiederker in her book: “A Tree Full of Angels: Seeing the Holy in the Ordinary” originally published in 1988. I likely read it around then. It seems that her ideas have stayed with me in ways that are both simple and profound. Upon reflection, I realize I’ve been spiritually formed by her writings, by a woman I’ve never met. How that happens, she explains in the quote below:

I’m wondering about your awareness of this “holiness in the ordinary.” What burning bushes, or shining things have you seen lately? Where have you seen angels? What crumbs have you collected up because you’ve seen their hidden beauty? These are all spiritual acts. They also require seeing from the heart.

As I write, I am once more filled with a similar wonder as I was that morning six years ago. But not just the wonder of that morning, but at the many ways I have and continue to see shining things and trees full of angels everywhere in my life. I am especially grateful at this time in the history of the world…that I’ve also learned to see beauty in the crumbs. There are seasons when all there are, are crumbs.

My hope as we continue together toward Holy Week 2022, is that we might be attentive to and mindful of the shinings. And that when we see them we take the time to pause. Brother David Steindl Rast says it this way: “Moment by moment, life is offering you gift after gift…. But unless you stop, you will rush right by that gift; unless you look, you will miss it; and only if you go and do something with it can you fully avail yourself of that gift.”— Br. David Steindl-Rast This little offering is one of the ways I live the “go.”

Blessings and joy,

Kathleen — thecelticmonk