The Source of My Being

From Diane Wells, Parish Administrator: Last Sunday I took the dog and the husband for a walk. It was a beautiful day. Mostly cloudy skies in conjunction with the autumn monochrome of the foothills made everything seem oddly two dimensional. As we walked along, the trail busy with the usual Boulder hikers/runners/bikers/stroller pushers/dog walkers, I commented to my husband on the burgeoning population of Cynomys ludovicianus (the fancy name for the lowly prairie dog!) Of course, Pablo the Wonder Dog had already noticed and was busy snorfelling (see Urban Dictionary http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Snorfel ) along, content to reflect on his prairie dog chasing days, now long past. All three of us were completely unaware of the drama unfolding ever-so-quietly out in the middle of the prairie dog colony just to our right. Then, just out of the corner of my eye, I saw something stealthy move. I turned in time to see a beautiful, healthy, and apparently hungry coyote fake right, fake left then lunge forward. It was a wonderful thing to watch, that young, lean coyote so completely coyote in her autumn-colored body. When she leaped up from that lunge, one of the prairie dog denizens dangled helplessly from her jaws. She proceeded to “play” with her catch cat-like until it was finally lifeless, then she trotted off a ways and buried her treasure. It was an amazing moment. After all, after the one million, one hundred and seventeen hikes I’ve been on in my life, I don’t think I have ever seen a predator actually hunt AND catch prey. It was a vivid reminder that nature, the place I most earnestly seek and find the Source of my being, is really all about the eaters and the eaten. Nature is “red in tooth and claw”, but nature is also the calm breeze, the raging storm, the magnificent sequoia, the blue sky, the wolf spider, the nuthatch, the bull snake, the starving cougar, the frozen stream, the gale force wind…… all at the same time. None of it is “right” or “wrong”; the beauty and perfection of nature is the system of it, the delicate balance of the system that is sometimes played out in a field in north Boulder between a coyote and a prairie dog. It is a place that appeals to the both/and thinking of the mystic’s mind. There is no “good or evil”, no “yes or no”, no “right or wrong”. It is just filled with “is-ness”, the “is-ness” where God lives.

From JK Melton, Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries: The holiest place I have been recently was Collyer Park in Longmont. On Friday evenings at 6 p.m., a group of homeless people gather there for worship and dinner. Deacon Marc Genty leads the service, and the parishioners do the preaching. The liturgy is simple and brief, but the connection between all of the people gathered there as equals is beautiful to behold.

I now have a new vision of what the Kingdom of Heaven looks like. It looks like that group gathered under the picnic shelter in the park. There was a woman who volunteers at the shelter, a woman missing several teeth, a priest, a man who smelled strongly, some deacons, quite a few smokers, some social workers, a man who was grateful for the cart that held everything he owned, and a few suburban people stepping outside their comfort zone. There was also a goofy youth director who was wishing quietly that he had not worn shorts (yours truly), and there were some people who were grieving the recent loss of a friend who had died on the street earlier that week. When we exchanged the peace, everyone exchanged hugs. There was no doubt in my mind that we were in the presence of Jesus.

Some members of our youth group got to know Deacon Marc in August at a youth event called 24 Hours Without a Roof, which is designed to help young people understand homelessness. Marc came and talked about his work, and we all participated in the liturgy he leads on Friday nights. Our youth came away from that event with a much deeper understanding of homelessness and the profound difficulties we face in solving this problem.

At 24 Hours Without a Roof, we met a homeless man who taught us an important lesson: “Socks are gold!” Over the next few weeks, our youth group will be collecting socks to take to Common Cathedral. We will meet up with other Episcopal youth groups from around the county, make sandwiches, and go worship in the park, and share our socks with the homeless. I am eager to return to Longmont and to experience this service again. I’m also excited to return with an offering that will mean very much to my friends at Common Cathedral.