Further Up and Farther in
Certainly C.S. Lewis had a deep prayer life about which he was mostly very private.

It?s useful to think he was a mystic, because it accounts for his depth of vision in exploring the mystery of the Trinity and offering rare glimpses of heaven.

It is similarly useful to look at Narnia as one way Lewis describes the mystical life. Like Tolkien?s Middle Earth, Narnia is a kind of subcreation.

Lewis used that term to describe imaginary places as secondary worlds, worlds in which the artist imitates the creative act of God.

Narnia is a place of adventure, but Narnia is also mystical terrain.

from "Mystical Narnia"
a commentary by Emilie Griffin

Celebrating the Sacred in All Creation
We are in a season of contradictions. Lights glitter from every structure; meanwhile, the days lengthen, and darkness begins to come earlier, stay later. A little shiver runs through our pre- electric-light, primordial selves.


The ancient human family viewed this time of year with trepidation. They lit fires for warmth and light, and wondered what the winter would bring. ...

As far as we can tell, the pre-Christian religious practices of the Celtic peoples were inclined to celebrate the natural world as shot through with divine presence. ...

This was a time for watching for the light?s return, even in the midst of darkness. This was a time for pondering endings and beginnings.

from "A Celtic Christmas"
by Mary Earle

Consider the lilies, how they grow:
they neither toil nor spin;
yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory
was not clothed like one of these.
Luke 12:27

God is with us in the most ordinary of things. We see that in the Christmas story. God is with us in a census and in a stable, in cattle and shepherds.

This child whose birth is foretold will open eyes to see God-with-us in the fall of a sparrow and lilies in the field, in a grain of wheat and a good catch of fish, in a mustard seed and a leper, in gates and doors, in sweeping, seeking, sewing, in bread and wine.

When we let God remove the cataracts from our eyes, we can see "Oh God, how beautiful!" is the whole universe: The wonder of each breath we take, bringing life-giving spirit into our very depths. ...

There is a way of experiencing every dream, every face, every cloud, every tree, every task, every moment as a container of divine light waiting to be opened.

Living that way is sometimes called enlightenment. It is our response to the Advent cry, "Awake!"

Awaken our eyes to see God-with-us in every moment and in every particle of your mysterious creation, O wondrous and gentle God. Amen

from the Signpost Meditation for Dec. 14
by Lowell Grisham