Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota
Environmental Stewardship Commission
(MEESC)

God's Presence has been Revealed

by Rev Helen Hanten

Sacred Places are usually associated with some event in human history where God’s presence has been revealed. The Holy Land is sacred to the Jews, Christians and Moslems because of the manifestations of God’s presence to forebearers in that land. In Israel, shrines and memorials have been built at virtually every location believed to be a site of a Biblical event. I have visited some of these places and those experiences were moving to me. They were places related to events in Holy Scripture and in the life of Jesus Christ, both revelations by God to us humans. To me, God is also manifest in the creation itself, "the vast expanse of interstellar space, and this fragile Earth, our island home." Many write, sing or paint about the glory of God in Nature. To me, that Glory is not just in enjoyment of that which is created, but in seeing God’s very presence in the creation. The gifts of creation have been reworked many places where, as co-creators with God, we form the natural gifts into farms, gardens and parks, and with selective breeding develop dogs, cats, cows, horses and trees, crops and flowers to our liking and specific use. Sometimes there is the opportunity to go back to the source, the place where creation is still as it was created. There are not many places to do that. Deserts perhaps. Open seas perhaps. And for some of us land dwellers, a wilderness where God’s presence is found in the land, the lakes, and all the creatures great and small who live in the forest community as it was created, and is, as yet, largely unspoiled. Heaven, to me, is "as God would have it be". Therefore, I believe the wilderness of the BWCAW is sacred, and a glimpse of heaven on earth.



Helen Hanten is a deacon at St. Andrew's by the Lake Episcopal Church, Duluth, MN. She originally wrote this article in October 1996. She and we welcome your comments.  Please send.an e-mail to Helen Hanten, our webmaster, any member of the MEESC, or write to:
 
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