The Wild Glory Mass
Rocks and waters are words of God and so are men. We all flow from one fountain Soul. All are expressions of one Love. God does not appear, and flow out, only from narrow chinks and round bored wells here and there in favored races and places, but He flows in grand undivided currents, shoreless and boundless over creeds and forms and all kinds of civilizations and peoples and beasts, saturating all and fountainizing all.
~ John Muir
St. Gregory's devoted the month of September, 2014 to a celebration of creation and our "dancing saint", John Muir––prophet, naturalist, environmental activist, writer, mountain man, long-distance walker, California fruit farmer, Valencia Street apartment dweller and preacher of the glory of creation—to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of his death. We kicked of the month of celebration with a special liturgy on September 7th, 2014. You can see pictures of our "Wild Glory Mass", above.
John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club and father of our national parks, proclaimed the interconnectedness of all creation: “When we try to pick out anything by itself,” he wrote, “we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” At St. Gregory’s, John Muir is pictured as one of the Dancing Saints in the great icon that fills the rotunda, revealing God’s glory in the stars and planets, in animals, and in the joined lives of people from every time and place. As we sing and dance together underneath the icon to Jesus’ lead, we experience John Muir’s vision of “grand undivided currents.”
Those who love wilderness and work to preserve it are invited to join in the celebrations, as are farmers both rural and urban, and all explorers of mountains, desert and cities who share John Muir’s faith that “No portion of the world is so barren as not to yield a rich and precious harvest of divine truth.” We remember that God’s word is revealed by John Muir’s own habits of attention, surrender and praise, and so we invite everyone to notice wild glory in every place, every day.
Everyone was invited to share photos, sketches, journal entries and observations on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/saintgregoryofnyssa) and on Twitter (@sgnsf #wildglory).
John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club and father of our national parks, proclaimed the interconnectedness of all creation: “When we try to pick out anything by itself,” he wrote, “we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” At St. Gregory’s, John Muir is pictured as one of the Dancing Saints in the great icon that fills the rotunda, revealing God’s glory in the stars and planets, in animals, and in the joined lives of people from every time and place. As we sing and dance together underneath the icon to Jesus’ lead, we experience John Muir’s vision of “grand undivided currents.”
Those who love wilderness and work to preserve it are invited to join in the celebrations, as are farmers both rural and urban, and all explorers of mountains, desert and cities who share John Muir’s faith that “No portion of the world is so barren as not to yield a rich and precious harvest of divine truth.” We remember that God’s word is revealed by John Muir’s own habits of attention, surrender and praise, and so we invite everyone to notice wild glory in every place, every day.
Everyone was invited to share photos, sketches, journal entries and observations on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/saintgregoryofnyssa) and on Twitter (@sgnsf #wildglory).