When summer lies upon the world...
IT'S JUST KEVIN
By Rev. Canon Kevin George
Those who know me well know that I love to read. They also know I have zero motivation to exercise.
Any time I have taken to physical activity, it has come after admonitions from doctors, some need to raise money for a charity, or because I read in some book that I should really get moving. Funny thing is, when I do get moving, I like it. Well, I’ll qualify that. I get great joy from riding my bike (and once in a while a torn rotator cuff and a stitched-up face), and I take great pleasure in long walks in the woods. That’s pretty much what exercise looks like for me.
In one of his epistles, twelfth century abbot and mystic Bernard of Clairvaux wrote, “Believe me, for I know, you will find something far greater in the woods than in books. Stones and trees will teach you that which you cannot learn from the masters.”
Why make us choose Bernie? For my money the best day includes a long walk in the woods — with breaks to read — the best of both worlds.
The exercise, to be completely honest, is a bonus, not a motivation. I walk in the woods because I do agree with the sentiment expressed by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The stones, the trees, the brooks and streams, the mosses, the way the sunlight breaks through the tree cover to make a dew-soaked leaf shimmer and glow with a transcendent radiance, all make sojourns in nature numinous and sacred. An excursion across rock, root and river is often, for me, otherworldly.
Any vacation for me includes time to read and time to walk in the woods. This summer was no different. Perhaps it’s not surprising then that the question for me late in the spring was where would be a good place for us to enjoy a respite that would be ideal for reading and rambling.
We decided to travel to a beautiful part of the Diocese of Huron — The Bruce Peninsula. According to Bishop Todd Townshend it is “God’s Country!”
I moved to this area from Newfoundland thirty years ago now. Apart from fourteen months in Labrador West through 1997-1998, I have called southwestern Ontario home. I am embarrassed to say that this is the first time I have ever travelled to this beautiful part of Canada. It will not be my last.
Among the gifts of this part of the country is the Niagara Escarpment — specifically the Bruce Trail. On one of our days of respite I took to the trail for a seven-kilometre jaunt. From atop the escarpment the views were breathtaking. The foliage, the landscapes, the scents, and the scenery on the Bruce Trail offered me a glimpse of the beauty of creation that is sadly lacking in the concrete, grey, built environs of our urban centres. Standing atop the Niagara Escapement, I soaked in the majesty of what was stretched out before me and then opened Psalm 96 on my iPhone:
Let heaven celebrate! Let the earth rejoice!
Let the sea and everything in it roar!
Let the countryside and everything in it celebrate!
Then all the trees of the forest too will shout out joyfully
before the Lord because he is coming!
God is coming to establish justice on the earth!
God will establish justice in the world rightly.
God will establish justice among all people fairly.
It was a moment. More often than not, when I look at my iPhone I am scrolling through turmoil, toxicity and tactlessness. Seeing the majesty of canola and corn fields laid out before me, the wonder of 1500 year old white cedars in North America’s oldest forest ecosystem, the beauty of rugged cliff faces, all accompanied by the intonation of the many birds of the air and the caress of a gentle breeze off Lake Huron was a balm for body, mind, and soul.
Sometimes we all need to hearken to the call to step outside, and ‘let the countryside celebrate’ and let ‘the forest shout for joy.’ I pray we all may have opportunity to drink in the promise of God who still is working among us to bring wholeness, justice and equity to all peoples.
As I finished my hike that day on the Bruce, my spirit was filled, and I was nurtured by God’s presence in sacred trips and moments. What came strongly to mind then and what resonates still, I share with you now, the beautiful Song of Ents written by J.R.R. Tolkien in Lord of the Rings:
When Summer lies upon the world, and in a noon of gold
Beneath the roof of sleeping leaves the dreams of trees unfold,
When woodland halls are green and cool, and wind is in the West,
Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is best!
Very Rev. Dr. Kevin George is Rector of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and Dean of Huron.