Right Rev. Logan McMenamie
I live very close to Swan Lake and I am able to walk along the Galloping Goose Trail with my dog.
Since moving there in July, I have noticed what an amazingly beautiful place Swan Lake is in the middle of our city. The creation is alive with the presence of the Creator and vibrant with sound, sight and smell. Each morning, it is wonderful to watch the sun rise and experience the birdsong. The sun glistens on the lake. In the evening as the sun goes down a similar beautiful experience is there for all to see along with the sounds of the birds saying farewell to the day.
I travel around these islands and everywhere I see the hand of the Creator. I celebrate this beauty in our midst.
There is another side that I will not honour by giving it much time. Just to say I have named it as the Beast: all that would harm, exclude, alienate or cause pain and hurt; the Beasts of personal and corporate pollution.
A couple of years ago Apple used the following quotes from the movie The Dead Poets Society, to promote the iPad:
“We don’t read and write poetry because it is cute. We read and write poetry because we are part of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering — these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love — these are what we stay alive for.”
And O Me! O Life! (by Walt Whitman): “Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,/ Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd with the foolish,/ … What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer
That you are here — that life exists and identity/The powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”
What will your verse be?
This week we, as Christians, celebrate that the Creator invites us all to be involved with the beauty that was presented in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The Beast attempted to destroy him and what He taught. But Beauty won out in the end.
We are invited with passion to engage this Beauty in our lives. What will your verse be? All creation awaits your response.
The Right Reverend Logan Mc-Menamie is the Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of British Columbia.
