A Glorious Goose
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of God’s glory.”
- The Seraphim’s Song from Isaiah
Last weekend, I was delighted, honored, and over-joyed to volunteer and co-create at the Wild Goose festival in Hot Springs, NC (https://wildgoosefestival.org/). This was my 3rd time attending but first time volunteering and co-creating. I’m writing this post as an open love letter and expression of gratitude for all of the wonderful things I witnessed and partook in. Reflecting on it now, I’m reminded of a prayer that came up through the ground of my being while on a hike a few weeks before. I was walking around Doe Run Lake in Kentucky and the prayer welled up within me “show me your glory.” (Glory is a churchy word for substance, weight, or is-ness. God’s glory could be thought of as God’s essence or God’s God-ness). This post is a testimony to some of the ways this prayer was answered.
While there, I helped hold space for healing artists to share their gifts, led a prayer and meditation session, caught up with old friends whom I hadn’t seen in over a year, made new friends, and rediscovered what it is like to sing and dance with other people. We shared hugs, joys, tears, pain, and grief. We missed those who couldn’t be there and remembered them. The experience was embodied, full-hearted, and stimulating.
This encounter with God’s glory began as we prepared the space for healing work. I was struck by a profound sense of the holy and gratitude for how the other volunteers bear the holy. I saw the holy in the way they showed up for Love and one another. The way they gave of themselves and their gifts. They shared lavishly and selflessly. Some of my friends share in ways that aren’t safe to make public with in their home communities but they risk it anyway. Additionally, many were making some sacrifice to be there like taking time off work to volunteer or sacrificing sleep and comfort. They were there to be authentically present to Love and to one another. It was glorious.
As I talked with people and listened to others around me we all began to tune into how difficult and isolating the past 16 months or so have been. Many hadn’t experienced safe and loving touch in a while. Many have been waiting to exhale as we watch tragic and scary events unfold in an endless drone. Many have been on edge or withdrawn. We were all carrying some type of pain. What was profound to me though was the courage I witnessed in people as they carried their pain. It had not broken us. We had the strength to stand in it, to look at it, and move towards healing. This was glorious to behold. I saw presenters speaking in public about painful stories of deep betrayal, sadness, and loss. In each of these stories I also bore witness to what Paul Tillich called the “courage to be in the face of non-being.” This insistence on being and loving anyway showed God’s glory to me over and over. I saw God’s glory in Reiki healers, Buddhist monks, Witches, Sufi’s, and Christian ministers. It was an ecumenical and interfaith symphony of the glory found in the one known by many names and by no name fully known. They had the courage to share their pain and respond to it with love for themselves and the world. It was a group of people not afraid to “Love Wastefully ” as one Buddhist monk encouraged me after a big hug.
I also saw this pain and courage over and over again in personal encounters both close and passing. I watched the elderly dance, drum, and rattle to connect with the holy and the goodness of their bodies. I saw non-binary and non-gender conforming young people dance in holy worship as divine and loving energy flowed in and around them. I watched as people of all walks of life began to uncover their hidden pain as it was maybe the first time it was safe to do so and begin to disclose it so they might begin to heal. I saw people who had been closed off for a while begin to open to the goodness of life and a myriad of other types of healing. I saw this in others and experienced this myself in many ways, holy and glorious.
My prayer for us all is that as we remember that courage and take it with us. We have to adjust to different contexts and we’re all learning how to be in places that can be scary. Remember though your strength and courage. Remember that there are many committed to loving you in your difference and uniqueness so that we can all be drawn together into a better tomorrow. Heaven and Earth are full of God’s Glory.
Glory and Amen.
