Talbingo Poem
by Chris Barrett
This poem is the result of a Sabbath-day drive to our local Church camp yesterday. It was held in the beautiful Snowy Mountain town of Talbingo.
Worship was three tasks. We were to go outside, alone, in the bush and parkland around the facility and find a spot to sit quietly. I sat by a small creek, in a wooded gully, forested with trees, undergrowth, and blackberry vines. The creek flowed to Talbingo dam, part of the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme.
The first 5 minutes were to be spent eyes shut just listening to nature's sounds. The second 5 were to be eyes open observing nature. We were to write down what we heard, saw, and then what we sensed God saying to us through the surroundings.
At the conclusion of this we went inside, formed small groups, and shared what we had experienced. This was followed by 20 minutes to write a psalm/poem about what we experienced in the first segment.
Here is what I wrote and read out in the sharing that followed. The last line was hastily added to “save my soul” when I knew it could go public in the meeting. The leader had a rather puzzled look on his face after I read it, but another member later commented very positively on the poem.
There are changes I would now make with more time, but I've shared it here as was, in the shape the experience and time permitted it to reach. Much of our life is like that, always room to improve, shaped by the pressures of time, circumstances, and what we are at the moment. Unlike this poem, much that we do allows no change or “editing” afterwards. I had not given it a title, nor have I yet!
So, here it is:
I hear your sounds fill the air
Birds and breeze call from tree to tree
Breeze slides past and whispers everywhere
Natures form and shape in sound I see
Bird snaps up worm hunger sates
Life' s cycle flows past my feet
Takes its journey to the lake
Rises to the air and falls as sleet
Nature's doing what nature does
Perfumed and beautiful in its green
Unforgiving harsh and cruel if crossed
It's path ahead its path we've seen…
Unless a God steps in with change!!
Chris Barrett
Nice Chris. Nature has a form and shape and it often pleases, but the part of nature distresses and disomfits us and challenges our desires for a simple, easy, pleasing Creator.
Once with a short chronology it seemed like a temporary dissonance. Now that we see the age of life the temporary looks permanant, and we loose our comfort.
Can we find it again by starting over and reapplying our theology to a larger longer greater controversy?
Keep musing, let us know what you find.
Jack
Chris, what a flood of memories this unleashed, especially of a day trip up from Wagga to Adelong, along the Snowy River Highway. We sat that sunny afternoon dangling our feet in the water by the cascading falls near the old placer gold mining works. How much it reminded me of youthful trips up through Placerville in the Sierra foothills of California, on the way to Pinecrest near Echo Summit along Highway 50. What a wonderful window on nature was provided to the urban kids by the SDA camps.
I think that for many the love of the natural world does not go far beyond pretty flowers and cuddly baby animals. But if we revisit the Garden of Eden story we would learn much more than that. Think about this: Before He created Adam and Eve and other living things, God spent four days creating a habitat that would sustain these creatures. Yes, we know a bit about some of these forces which govern the earth – the law of gravity, the route of the earth around the sun – but we are not told much more in Genesis or what appears obvious to our feeble minds. Some day we will be told the story of those four days. When our minds have been restored to the point that we can understand it. Meanwhile, we can experience a bit of the restoration process that takes place in the human organism frrom just sitting and
observing, or as the poet wrote, wonder about the path we are on, dark and destructive.
I like the earlier account of Creation where Adam is God's first creative act. Adam had the unique opportunity to observe God as he was creating. How much more powerful to be present at this most momentus event! Adam was a participant in naming all the animals, unlike the first chapter where he only was created last and uninvolved. That God chose to demonstrate to Adam His creative acts tells us that we are to participate with God in caring for His creation, not simply placed here with a completed world.
Nature is awe inspiring, and we need not be ignorant or afraid of it.
Each time I am amidst nature, it calls me back to God and can't help but adore Him for His creation.
Unfortunately, oftentimes men forget to take care of God's creation. We sometimes take for granted the things around us which we see for free. I thank God for the author's admiration for nature which reminds us to help take care of it.