Sacred River Musings
As I take a little time to gaze upon the winter scene of the Great River from the window of my room, it is nice to be far away from the papers, projects and procrastinations that make up my desk. As I write I find myself like you in the midst of a long cold winter. Snow has fallen more than I care to think about. I get email reports each day from my favorite ski slopes in Vermont and it has been a great year for them though I have not visited the slopes as of yet! Yes, it is Winter and there seems to be no end in sigh. The trees are bare; the view of the River is almost unobstructed. While there is no ice floating by today, the coldness of the water and air is felt even from inside my room.
A couple of years ago I was sent an invitation to attend the unveiling of a sculpture in Yonkers entitled, “Muhheakantuck”, pronounced (Muh-HEE-kan-tuck), the Native American name for the Hudson River. The word means, “The River that flows both ways.” I was not able to attend the unveiling but the name for the Great River, “Muhheakantuck” stayed with me. I had heard the name before but never saw it spelled and I was not sure how to pronounce it. How simple and to the point the first people of this land were. What they saw, what they encountered was how they gave meaning through words to the experience. They saw a river that flowed both north and south. They had no scientific explanation to tell them the reason for this. They probably had other references that told them this was something special but their name for it was simple and to the point, expressive of what they saw, “Muhheakantuck – The River the flows both ways!”
As I stand at my window on this cold afternoon I am thinking about “Muhheakantuck” but more so I am thinking about what the Native Americans might have named me. I think I might be afraid to ask. If they were that honest and simple with their name for the Great River after spending and day or two with me I am not sure I would want to know what they would call me!
However, the thought of encountering a place, an object, a moment in time, a person or a community of people and naming it or them just by what you see and experience is an intriguing thought. A friend from the Midwest visited me not too long ago; she is a poet, artist and preacher. She gave me a little thank you card, grateful for her time here. The card was one she created out of water colors and her own poetic verse. The card read, “A person of vision frees what is true to be, what is real.” Perhaps the first people of this land were people of vision; with their simple expressions they freed what was true what was real in themselves and the Great River!
I think winter is a time that calls us to be people of vision. We are called to free what is true to be, what is real and to free it with imagination. During a homily in Advent I spoke about imagination. The prophet Isaiah, the apostle Paul and John the Baptist were people of vision and imagination. They freed what was true to be, what was real, the Kingdom, the Reign of God and they named it. They named it not with fashionable marketing savvy words; they named it not with honorary or politically correct words. No these visionaries looked, imagined and spoke to the true and the real.
Their words that envisioned God’s Reign, God’s Kingdom were simple and to the point; repent, clay in the potter’s hands, peace, watchful, alert, comfort, a highway for our God, herald’s of glad tidings, lambs in the shepherd’s tender arms, patience, holiness, devotion, straight paths for the journey, Spirit, justice, joy, rejoice, faithful, and nothing will be impossible! Some of the many words our visionaries used to express the Reign of God. Words that are often not found in our advertising sensitive, trendy, politically proper world, government, church, community, family and everyday life personal lives.
We have often heard the worries about the youth, with all the electronics and technology have they lost the gift of imagination and vision? Perhaps we don’t have to just worry about the youth but about ourselves. Have we lost the simple vision of those who have gone before us to see the Reign, the Kingdom of God? Have we lost the ability to free what is true to be, what is real in ourselves and others? Have we lost the vision to see a river that flows both ways?
This year as we wonder through winter and prepare to enter the season of Lent We might take the time to simply look into our own hearts, to find the goodness, to find God’s Kingdom and to be grateful, to be thankful that God’s Kingdom, God’s Reign is free among us!
This winter and Lent take some time to free the true and the real, to see the simple, to see Muhheakantuck – The River the flows both ways, to free the mystery with in you that is God with us!
Blessings, Peace and Gratitude,
Fr. Paul