Articles
Backwaters
R E F L E C T I O N S
Thoughts on nature and the Christian faith
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"And rising very early in the morning,
while it was still dark, he departed and went
out to a desolate place, and there he prayed."
- Mk. 1:35
There is a lake in West Virginia where I often go to photograph in its backwaters. The silhouettes of dead trees arising from the water there give the place a sense of mystery and other-worldliness. And if you are there when the dawn is first breaking, the muted colors are truly amazing. I have to get up in the morning hours before dawn and drive through the darkness for over an hour and then hike for a half hour in order to witness this spectacle. Needless to say, I usually have this place all to myself. And that is why I love it, not just for the photography, but for the isolation which almost always prompts me to worship. Apparently Jesus felt the same way. Jesus was constantly surrounded by crowds pressing him to heal, or work a miracle, or answer a question, or just to try and catch him doing or saying something they could use against him. If the Son of God sometimes needed isolation just to pray and commune with his Father, perhaps it would be a good practice for us to emulate also. There is a place for public prayer and public worship but, at least for me, being alone with God in the natural world seems more real, more genuine. And besides that, the beauty in nature is something no church building can equal. I know I need public fellowship and public worship and that I would be less than what God wants me to be without those things, but my heart yearns for more. And I think if Jesus were here with us today, we might find him at times at the backwaters of an isolated lake at dawn. - John
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