O God of Earth and Altar

 

Dear Friends,

I write this article whilst away on a Priest’s and Deacon’s Retreat at Walsingham. On my journey here, I had to approach Bury St Edmunds from the Sudbury direction of the A134, just as I have to do on an almost weekly basis. On this occasion, my attention was drawn to the skyline in front of me. There was a bright and clear winter sky as I drove leisurely along and, in perfect symmetry, sat the Cathedral Tower on the left and the Sugar Beet Factory Chimneys on the right of my vision. It reminded me of the wonderful hymn by G.K. Chesterton which is entitled ‘O God of Earth and Altar’. As I sat following a stream of traffic, the backdrop seemed to hold the ever-present sanctity of temple and earth in perfect balance. It struck me how important it was for any rounded spirituality to hold a holiness of sacred space and a holiness of the natural world in equal measure - when these two get out of balance, we are in trouble. We are lucky that our beautiful Cathedral Town holds a spirituality of the sanctuary, workplace and natural world so perfectly poised.

During the lockdowns of the pandemic, many people rediscovered a spirituality of the natural world. They spoke of finding a sense of the eternal in the hedgerow and meadow. The natural world can be a wonderful place to encounter the divine. But I wonder, as life has once again resumed its normal busyness, whether that heightened awareness of God all around us has continued? Where is it that you now encounter God?

As beautiful as the natural world can be, we must not forget that God is also to be found in the workplace, wherever that may be. We find him in the intricate tasks, in the skills necessary to perform them and in the colleagues we work alongside. A rounded spirituality doesn’t banish God to an occasional Sunday or leisurely walk in the countryside, as though he were a puppet to be brought out of a box when we feel in need of a little comfort. A rounded faith recognises him in the everyday; even in the messy and mundane. But even that is not enough on its own. Eventually, a spirituality without a sense of holy space and place at its core to ground it will wain and become self-indulgent. That is why Church is so important to complete the circle.

From the beginning of time, holy space has been central to the spiritual journey. In some of the earliest scenes in the Bible we see the great ancestors of faith marking certain places out as holy following encounters with God. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, King David all do this at places where God has been especially vivid to them. Overtime, it becomes clear that God’s people need a settled place in which to encounter God’s presence and so King Solomon builds a temple. The Temple is designed with intricate detail so that those who enter may experience something of the awe-inspiring, transformative, cleansing intimate presence of the divine. Today, all major religions hold holy spaces as important places to come as part of a wider acknowledgement of spiritual presence in our lives; temples, synagogues, mosques, churches. This is not some institutional attempt on behalf of world religions to create buildings to grow property portfolios or wealth. These holy sites are essential in nurturing, experiencing and reminding us of the intimate presence of God in our lives.

The churches of our benefice span centuries, and it is no surprise that almost all have some feature or other that replicate that earlier temple of the Old Testament – the Temple that Jesus will have known and visited regularly in order to keep his relationship with God on track. Our Churches afford us that unique opportunity to at once encounter the timelessness of God, past, present and future. They continue today to be one of those rare places that are untouched by much of the frenzy and fervour of modern-life. ‘Thin’ places where heaven feels that little bit closer to earth.

So, whilst God is to be found in the natural world and the workplace, it is also important that we remember to seek him in the gathered Assembly and at the Altar. As Rachel Held-Evans reflects, ‘Sometimes just showing up to the Communion Table is a way of looking straight into the Beast and saying, “Not today!”.’ At the Altar, God challenges those divisions within ourselves and each other that the world so often entrenches, uniting us in the gift of His Son and healing us from the pain that these divisions so often cause.

In the Benefice, we try our best with the resources we have, to provide wide opportunity to encounter God holistically. We have a varied diet of services. These include services for every generation; provision for families as well as those of more mature years and everywhere in-between. Importantly, we hold regular Holy Communion Eucharistic Services every week so that God can meet us at the Altar, whilst also interspersing other types of services for those who prefer something a little different. We hold services in church so that we can encounter God in the intimacy of the Sacred Space, as well as outside in Forest Church so we get a sense of the magnificence of his awesomeness in the great outdoors. As we approach Lent, a time for attending to our spiritual health, maybe it is a good time for us all to pay a bit more attention to God in earth and Altar.

I leave you with the words of that hymn mentioned at the beginning – rather apt for this and every age:

O God of Earth and Altar, bow down and hear our cry.

Our earthly rulers falter, our people drift and die;

The walls of gold entomb us, the swords of scorn divide.

Take not thy thunder from us, but take away our pride.                                (G.K. Chesterton)

 

May you encounter God in the earth and at the Altar and may he bless you and yours abundantly.

 

Fr Rob