By Scott Herr
The level of noise and distraction in everyday news as we move toward the elections is deafening. It’s not been enough, though, to block the stunning beauty of Autumn leaves, blue skies and billowy clouds these past few weeks. When the cacophony of so many bad reports, whether from the Middle East, or pollsters, or whatever pedestrian gun shootings or squabbles we encounter with everyday life, I’ve found it quite helpful to turn off the devices, and take a walk.
Yes, the days are getting shorter, and an early morning walk is now a “watch the sun rise” excursion. There is nothing quite like seeing in the dim morning light the rabbits scurrying around in search of a fresh nibble, or the fox standing quietly in the middle of the road wondering why am I stumbling through his hunting ground, or hearing the robins starting to chirp as the sun rays begin to reach through the forest mist.
In the gospel according to Mark, we read, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place to pray.” I’ve always loved this verse, and am intrigued especially by the Greek word, ἔρημον (erēmon, translated “solitary,” or “lonely”) which is the root for the English word “hermit.” Part of me wants to get my early morning hermit “on” and enjoy the solitude and quiet of the early morning before most people are out of bed. It’s peaceful and refreshing to my soul.
I love the magic of sunshine as well, especially as the light brings forth the magical colors in this change of season. It’s interesting to me that most leaves contain yellow and orange pigments all year round, but are masked by the greens of chlorophyll. As the days shorten and temperatures fall, the chlorophyll breaks down and drains away — and the yellow and orange colors shine through. The beauty was there all along, quiet and unnoticed. And here’s the spiritual truth of Autumn leaves: the stunning beauty we enjoy is a result not of addition but of subtraction. The letting go reveals the beauty of what was already there…
As a person of faith, I don’t have the luxury of tuning out the world. After all, my Savior teaches, “God so loved the world…” And, I am not a hermit. My early morning quiet time energizes me to serve in the world. But it’s important to take time to turn it all off, to take a walk, to listen to what theologians call the “Book of Nature,” and remember that, come what may, there is still goodness, beauty and truth in the world for all to receive and share.
Perhaps, as one of my favorite poets, Wendell Berry, wrote in his poem, we need to take more time to listen to The Peace of Wild Things…
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry
The Rev. Dr. Scott Herr is at The First Presbyterian Church
