Lakeside Reflections

Lakeside Reflections          

A meditation delivered by Rev. Dr. Randy K. Hammer, July 25, 2021

Luke 5:1-3; John 21:1-9; poem by Wendell Berry

This past Monday, Mary Lou and I returned from a 2550-mile road trip that took us across 11 states and as far as the northwest corner of Maine, where we spent four nights with Mary Lou’s sister and brother-in-law, who have a summer home on Rangeley Lake.  Their back porch is about two dozen steps from the lake’s edge, where a small stream flows into a quiet inlet.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was sitting on their back porch in the early mornings before anyone else stirred.  I arose early, made a pot of coffee, and sat on the porch in the morning quiet and watched for and photographed waterfowl.  I added about a half-dozen new birds to my bird photographs collection. 

As I drove home and reflected upon those early morning times of quietude, I identified with Jesus as never before, perhaps, and how he must have felt during his early morning times of quietude along the lakeshore.  There are several references in the gospels to Jesus being by the lakeshore, at all times of the day and night.  Having been on Lake Galilee myself, I can just imagine how those early morning times of solitude had to have been conducive to meditation, prayer, and spiritual musings that served as the foundation for the teachings Jesus uttered. 

Indeed, quietude is necessary for the soul, and when we neglect it we do so to our own peril.  Many great spiritual teachers and poets have recognized the need for quietude, those solitary moments of tranquility.  I immediately thought of poets Mary Oliver and Wendell Berry, both of whom have much to say about being quiet, observant, and reverent while being immersed in the beauty and majesty of the natural world.  Hence, Berry’s poem that I selected for today’s second reading in which he speaks of the quietude and peacefulness of a slow-moving river.  And he ends the poem by saying, “Give thanks to the quiet.”

One of my companions during those early morning times of quietude by the lake was a Great Blue Heron.  With each passing day, I came to know and appreciate more and more the Great Blue Heron.  In spite of its large size, for the most part the heron is very quiet in its movements.  In fact, there were times when I didn’t hear the heron fly in, but I would look up from what I was reading, and there it would be standing along the edge of the lake.  And there it would stand in complete silence as though meditating upon some deep subject.

Sometimes we just need to take a break from all the commotion and clamor of the world and be quiet.  For an entire week, we didn’t watch any television news so as to hear all the trouble that was going on in the world.  We sort of lost touch with the outside world for a few days, but at the same time got more in touch with our inner selves.  Those early morning times of quietude were just what my soul needed.  Indeed, they proved to be a soul tonic. 

Poet Maya Angelou said, “Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God.”  The way the world has been the past year, times of quietude are not an option but a necessity to maintain our physical and mental well-being.  

Another virtue that I was reminded of during those early morning musings was the importance of gracefulness.  In spite of its large, bulky frame, the Great Blue Heron is quite graceful in its flight.  Again, when the heron decides to take flight, most often you have to be watching or you will miss it, as you won’t actually hear it flying away.

But when it comes to humans, I’m thinking of a different kind of gracefulness altogether; not the gracefulness of movement, as the traditional definition implies.  Rather, the quality of being grace-ful in the way we live our lives; living a grace-filled life as we relate to those around us – having goodwill and a disposition of being generous and helpful.  For instance, the author of the New Testament book of Colossians encourages, “Let your conversation be always full of grace. . .” (4:6 NIV).

The world is in so much need of people who make a point to live grace-filled, grace-ful lives.  And if we don’t strive to make a difference by the way we live and relate to others, who will?  As the great leader Mahatma Gandhi encouraged, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Related to the virtue of gracefulness (in the spiritual sense of the term) is the virtue of patience.  “Be patient and understanding,” preacher Phillips Brooks advised.  “Life is too short to be vengeful and malicious.”  And Ralph W. Emerson advised, “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

One morning I happened to walk to the end of the dock and look up the branch to see Great Blue Heron standing quietly on a log that had fallen into the stream.  I stood and watched it for the longest time, thinking it would move so that I could get a clear photograph.  (It was obstructed by a tree limb.)  But for 10-15 minutes, that heron just stood there as still as a statue, watching and waiting for its breakfast, I surmised.  Finally, I gave up and went back to the porch and sat down.  A couple of hours later, I walked back down to the end of the dock and again looked up the stream.  That same hero was still patiently standing in the same spot.  What a lesson in patience! I thought to myself.

As I look back to my younger years, I now wish I could have been more patient – as a teenager who couldn’t wait to become an adult; as a parent and spouse, being more patient with those I love; and even as a grandparent and being more patient with our grandchildren.  Patience as a spiritual virtue is something I’m still working on!

Well, as you probably have gathered, this has been more of a collection of personal reflections or musings than a sermon with a central theological theme.  But maybe that is okay.  After all, who of us would not benefit from more times of quietude and from cultivating a life of greater gracefulness and more patience?  By taking time apart for moments of quietude, we change ourselves for the better.  By being more mindfully grace-ful and patient, we change the world for the better.  May it be so.  Amen.