The Gospel in Ireland
We left the "Giants Grave" site and made our way to the rental car. Nearby, we detoured slightly, walking up a hill to the ruins of an old stone church, my friend Suzanna by my side. The sun was lowering in the sky and cast a view of lace-like light over the grounds, filtered through the surrounding tall trees. A gentle wash of sacredness permeated the grounds.
With roofing long gone, the church itself, nestled like a mother hen hovering over the crooked gravestones, as if they were fragile eggs beneath her wings.
photo by Katie Jo
I thought of Saint Francis of Assisi and his prayer:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Wheel pendants dating to the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, found in Zürich. By Dbachmann, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2272798
Suzanna and I spoke later about the word "gospel" and how so often when people use it in a sentence they are referring to "church" with the assumption that it is the same thing. The word "gospel" etymologically roots from the meaning "good story."
When people say "living the gospel" they typically are referring to their individual belief system; but I understand it as the "good story." It had no religious connotations. Knowing the true meaning, it opens up a more whole and inclusive feeling.
Looking at the architecture across "old" lands and buildings in Ireland and Scotland; I noticed the designs the emblems, the carvings, the art. I could see how the patterns and structures are laws of building, laws that have been learned from nature. Inspirations from the natural growth of the plants and patterns found in all organic lifeforms. The same building blocks that we as "modern day man" think are so advanced and grand- are really just the same building blocks of life that have always been here, always around us, humbly offering their truth and wisdom.
The church crumbles. It's beautiful in its decrepit and deteriorating state. It stands as a witness to the people who built it with their own efforts. Testifying with their sweat and blood in the belief of something greater than themselves. Digging the rocks up from the land, placing them one by one to create a sanctuary and holy place where baptisms, sermons, prayers, weddings, and funerals were held. The pivotal moments that mark the journey of what it is to be human and the lives we live.
photo by Katie Jo
But it also bears witness that whatever man builds, will fall. The stones that make the structure were there for thousands of years before and will be for thousands of years beyond today- while the cleverness of mans creating, will not.
The natural world doesn't build monuments to bear testimony of truth, it simply is truth.
All truth is there. In the mystery of nature. In the softness and stillness of being. Of noticing what is already around us.
photo by Katie Jo
Saint Francis' prayer has been made into a song. It's worth a listen. Click here:
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