Churches are designed to be temples of God. Their architectures inspire spirituality, holiness, and reverence. The best of them do this very well. Their graceful arched sanctuaries and beautiful stained glass windows always evoke a prayerful mood.
First Presbyterian Church in downtown Asheville certainly does this for me. This elegant Gothic stone structure reminds me very strongly of the Church of the Covenant, where I went as a boy growing up in Cleveland.
And yet as much as I admire and respect these venerable houses of worship, there are places where I feel more spiritual. They are always outdoors, in the woods, and off the beaten track. Walking through them, I got a sense of peace and fulfillment that is unlike anything I have experienced in a church.
One such place is the North Carolina Arboretum, a 426-acre park off Brevard Road in Pisgah National Forest. The Arboretum features a beautifully landscaped garden, and a new Visitor Education Center. For me though, the best part is the Owl Ridge Trail. This three-mile walking trail loops around mountains, past rivers, over bridges, and through vast expanses of forest. It is usually little traveled, and I rarely see other people on it. It is in such places that I feel closest to God.
The Christian religion is normally perceived to make a clear demarcation between humans and the rest of Creation. Man is created in the image of God, who gave us dominion over the earth. But I believe that Christianity can also be construed as an impartial faith. In this view, all of God's creatures are equally precious to Him, and he loves them all equally. Humans have an important and rightful place in His kingdom, but they are no more or less special to Him than any other species. It is only our false pride and conceit that has led us to believe otherwise. Consider what the Bible says in Genesis [1:25]: "And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." And in John [3:16]: "For God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only Son."
In our modern, high-tech and increasingly hectic world, we spend more time indoors than ever.
We work indoors all day, and then get in our cars to drive home to our houses and apartments. With luck, we hardly ever need an umbrella. Our climate-controlled Habitrails almost completely isolate us from nature. There are children these days who have never even seen a cow; they think milk comes from a carton. Our society, our concerns, and our attentions are increasingly human-centered. We don’t have time for forests, flowers, birds, and raccoons—let alone giraffes and manatees.
In earlier columns, I have written about the importance of spending time outdoors. I claimed it was a useful way to engender environmental awareness, which could then lead to advocacy and activism. However, there is a deeper reason. It puts us in His World: the natural, rain-washed, sunlit world of God; not the artificial, air-conditioned, fluorescent-lit world of man. Only there can we truly appreciate that we are indeed part of His creation, not separate from it. Once we understand that, we can begin to care about His good gifts to us, and treat them with the reverence and care they deserve.
Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that we should all abandon our deeply beloved churches, and instead go tromping around in the woods on Sunday morning. Churches have an important role to play: they bring us together in fellowship, and teach us powerful lessons that help to strengthen our faith. Also, they are full of symbolism that holds great significance for us, both individually and as a culture.
I'm only suggesting that it might be worth finding your own special place outdoors. Once you do, try to visit it regularly, and get to know its inhabitants. See it in different seasons, as the light and vegetation changes.
Think about it: you spend an hour in church every Sunday morning. Why not spend an hour in God's World?