Point Petre, Prince Edward County
Our younger daughter, Emily, and her partner, Brad, live in the heart of downtown Toronto and enjoy life there. They work in demanding jobs but they avail themselves of the best of the city. They are also two peas in a pod when it comes to enjoying the outdoors and it seems that every other weekend they are heading to yet another provincial park to camp. They even brave the cold of winter in yurts and cabins.
Not long ago they shared a video of the two of them driving north to camp belting out hymns. Neither of them attend worship but both grew up in church-going families, one as a Protestant, the other as a Roman Catholic. But they discovered that they both knew some more contemporary hymns because Brad's family attended a "folk mass" service in their parish.
When they were with us a couple of days ago we headed to Prince Edward Country for two hikes and we chatted about their warbling. Emily observed that certain hymns come to mind when she is in the natural world, which is my experience as well. I'm not inclined to walk around our home singing at any time yet when I'm outside, even alone, I'll give forth. We talked about praise and gratitude for the beauty of Creation and that singing is the spontaneous response to what we're experiencing.
I hope you get outside this Thanksgiving Sunday or Monday (I cycled before church today) and please feel free to sing your gratitude for Creation and Creator.
I remember the old song, 'All God's Creatures Have a Place in the Choir'. Since it's true for the animal world and their beautiful Dawn and Dusk 'concerts', it is s true for us perhaps - that the creative instincts inherent in natural world inspires us into harmonious expression. Gratitude in musical form!
ReplyDeleteSo true Katherine. I can't believe that birds aren't expressing joy in their choruses. And, yes, it must be a creative instinct to sing in response to Creation. Our dawn and dusk choruses fade as the daylight hours shrink, cold weather arrives, and many birds migrate. Do they continue year-round in California?
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