What a beautiful, warm, sunny weekend this has been! Yesterday found Richard and me up in Bayfield, walking the path to lovely Lake Huron with our Jack Russell terrier, Oscar. Then, when we arrived home from worship today, the first thing we wanted to do was to head out for another walk, this time around nearby Morrison Dam. Needless to say, Oscar enjoyed both walks. Lots of new smells, new scents, and new flowers poking their heads up through the ground, all of them wonderful signs of springtime and new life! It was fun to watch him.
It occurred to me that our walks this weekend were not just about getting some much needed exercise. Nor were they just about breathing in some good fresh air after a long winter indoors. They were also a form of worship: the worship of God our Creator.
Family therapist and fellow Boomer Neil Lackey says that as we enter the second half of life there is an opportunity to think differently about our faith life and to develop new spiritual practices. For Neil, moving rocks and working on his property in the beautiful village of Wellesley, Ontario is a way of nurturing the life around him. This is a spiritual practice for Neil. His wife Linda agrees. For her, going on a canoe trip with friends, or working alongside Neil in their garden, is a spiritual practice. As she says, “Simply being out in nature is a very prayerful, meaningful, life-giving thing.”
Later this spring, I hope to start a new group at our church, but it won’t be your typical church study group. What I would like to plan is a series of walks in the picturesque town of St. Marys, followed by breakfast discussions at a local tea room. Together we will discuss Craig K. Miller’s new book, Boomer Spirituality: Seven Values for the Second Half of Life, to which I have referred earlier in this blog. (See January 28, 2017.) I hope you’ll join us. I will share more details as things become finalized, but if you live too far away to be with us physically, I invite you to read along and share your ideas over the net.
For now, I simply encourage you to head out into God’s wonderful creation and worship!
Boomerality 