“It is in the depths of life that we find you
at the heart of this moment
at the center of our soul
deep in the earth and its eternal stirrings.
You are the Ground of all being
the Well-Spring of time
Womb of the earth
the Seed-Force of stars.
And so at the opening of this day
we wait
not for blessings from afar
but for You
the very Soil of our soul
the very Freshness of morning
the first Breath of day.”
~John Philip Newell

This morning I have to confess to a bit of fatigue. Coming off our annual gathering of United Methodists around the state, I am finding, today, that the lack of sleep and the intense schedule has caught up with me. I felt it yesterday but some of that sleep deprivation has crept into today as well. So I was happy to read these words from one of my mentors, John Philip Newell.

I have always loved this imagine of God as the Ground of all being. I believe it was the theologian Paul Tillich who coined the phrase. It makes so much sense to me, this image of the Holy as that which holds and encompasses all that has being, all that has has life. I am sure for many people this image lacks a definition that they need but for me the phrase hits the nail on the head. On the days when I have a depth of awareness of all things sacred and on days like today, when I am in more of a fog, that Ground of all being is present. It is a comforting and powerful image.

Over time human beings have tried with all their might to define this Holy One. For some their experience is of a divinity that is far out of human reach, the God of sky and clouds. This is often the God we are offered in Sunday School and the one to which we say our “now I lay me down to sleeps.” Some people find this transcendent God to be the one that satisfies their whole life long.

For me, I have needed that God who gets down in the dirt with me, is down in the dirt with me, on a daily basis. This God is the one I witness in the face of the friend and the stranger. It is the God who suffers by my side at the injustice of our world, our church, our nation, our relationships. This is the God who is immanent, right here, right now, as a part of every breath I take, every movement both sacred and profane.

Of course, in reality, the experience of the Holy is both, transcendent and immanent. For this reason we need as many descriptors as possible….Ground of all Being…..Well-Spring of time…..Womb of the Earth…Seed-Force of stars…..Freshness…Soil…Breath….Father…..Mother…..Creator…..Lover…..Giver of Life…..

How are you experiencing the movement of the Holy in your life these days? What words are you using to name this sacred experience? By what name are you calling out to the Holy?

Whatever your experience, whatever metaphor seems to work, whatever the name, I have to believe it is all good.

So be it and blessed be.