2/20: Long’s Peak and the John Hancock
Psalm 121 and the Environment
Reading
Nowadays, for example, we are conscious of the disproportionate and unruly growth of many cities, which have become unhealthy to live in, not only because of pollution caused by toxic emissions but also as a result of urban chaos, poor transportation, and visual pollution and noise. Many cities are huge, inefficient structures, excessively wasteful of energy and water. Neighborhoods, even those recently built, are congested, chaotic and lacking in sufficient green space. We were not meant to be inundated by cement, asphalt, glass and metal, and deprived of physical contact with nature.
Reflection
Back in college, I worked at a summer camp in the Rocky Mountains. Each Sunday, we had a Chapel service in a small amphitheater with a beautiful mountain view. Inscribed on one of the wooden beams was a passage from Psalm 121: “I raise my eyes toward the mountains. From whence shall come my help?”
Across cultures and religious traditions, mountains have served as sacred places. Walk across the Alps in Germany and you will see crosses constructed at each summit. Hike Macchu Piccu, and you will see stones crafted to cast no shadow at the Fall and Spring equinox. Page through scripture, and there are countless examples of the leaders and prophets of Israel heading up a mountain to be closer to God.
Mountains have a way of providing perspective. Standing at the top of the John Hancock Tower as an 8th grader in Chicago, I marveled at the network of buildings and roads stretching across the Illinois plains and blurring state lines. I was in awe over what we humans had created! Standing at the top of Longs Peak in my 20s, I was struck with a very different reality: mountains, rocks, and trees, stretching father than I could see. The rough edges of tectonic crusts blasting upward into the sky, unmoved for millennia, placed there as a part of creation. How humbling mountains can be!
I don’t believe that cities inherently lack a spirituality, nor do I think a spirituality of escapism to faraway mountaintops is the answer to our problems. What Pope Francis (and Francis of Assisi!) recognizes is that God is present and alive in a special way through creation, and city life can at times keep us at a distant from those natural things that put us in conversation with God.
So go for a hike! See you on the trail.
Question
- In what ways in my daily routine am I removed from nature? What are some regular practices that I can explore to be more connected to natural spaces?
Prayer
A song of ascents.
I raise my eyes toward the mountains.
From whence shall come my help?
My help comes from the LORD,
the maker of heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
or your guardian to sleep.
Behold, the guardian of Israel
never slumbers nor sleeps.
The LORD is your guardian;
the LORD is your shade
at your right hand.
By day the sun will not strike you,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your soul.
The LORD will guard your coming and going
both now and forever.
— Psalm 121
