Our Sixth Source: Harmony with the Rhythms of Nature

I sped across Montana, alone, in a beat up Buick Skyhawk, heading east. I’ve always loved the high desert plateau. Sagebrush country reminds me of all the backpacking trips I took with my dad, watching him gleefully breathe in the scent of sagebrush. Sometimes he stood so still, I swore he was listening to the rocks shimmer in the sun. I glanced in the rearview, and had to look again. Gold and orange and pink streaked the sky behind me. Those colors demanded my full attention. I pulled over, parked, emerged from my steel cocoon into the dry heat, and leaned against the trunk. As the sun sank lower, pink transformed to red, lavender to purple: a surround-sound symphony of color. Reflected in my body’s memory were sunsets on the Oregon coast. Mom exclaiming, “Oh, come look! Look at those colors!” It was time to drop everything and worship together at the altar of Mother Earth.

As the Pagan song goes, “The Earth is our Mother, We must take care of her.” I invite you to explore what it might mean to truly take care of her, to take care of all the parts of her: Human, plant, mineral, and animal alike, to worship her with your hearts and with your work.

Like my Montana sunset, the sacred Earth demands your attention. Perhaps it was when you pulled a weed and were enveloped by the earthy smell of freshly disturbed soil or inhaled the salty tang of the Sound. Maybe it was when you looked up and were stunned by a Silver City sunset. Or stopped in a Gila wilderness hike to breath in a warm breeze. These experiences can be described by cold hard fact: photons, H2O, and olfactory function. But that doesn’t do your experiences justice. The awe and wonder, the sense of being transported beyond yourself, or of touching an awareness of the divine, is a spiritual experience.

I draw my circle of faith large. I find comfort and meaning in the language of Jewish and Christian traditions of my heritage. My faith is grounded in earth-based spiritualities, aligned with Buddhism, and inspired by process and womanist celebration of our interdependent existence. In short, as Walt Whitman mused, “Do I contradict myself? Yes, I contain multitudes.”
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Reverend Amy will be offering a service at Towanda UU Fellowship in Towanda PA at 3PM on the Sixth Source.