"T" is for Teachers
Learning from Rock Owls in
Bryce Canyon, southern Utah
By Nita Gilger
There it was. An owl rock. While hiking in Bryce Canyon in southern Utah, I saw this masterpiece. After a rather steep climb, we came upon a rock statue that very much looked like an owl. It even seemed to have features like a beak and eyes that were nature-made, not carved. I stopped and marveled. I was looking all around for bald eagles. I did not see any, but I did see a raven. Then, this owl appeared. Perhaps there are owls in Bryce Canyon. Maybe snowy owls for winter, but I did not see any real ones. We also saw several elk. The elk in the national parks are phenomenal and majestic.
How long has it taken the weather and time to carve this rock owl? I have no idea. The Native Americans thought there were parts of Bryce Canyon that one should not go to and that if you did, you would be turned to stone, thus the fascinating rock formations were thought to be people gone astray.
The photos above show an area of Bryce Canyon called The Hoodoos. There are many stories from Native American folklore about this area.
Maybe my owl rock was an errant owl. I don't know. Maybe these statuesque rocks are ancient peoples who took a wrong turn. I just know that the turns I took on that cool, sunny day in the Canyon were mesmerizing. I thought of the old hymn, Rock of Ages Cleft for Me, Let me Hide Myself in Thee. When I read all the lyrics of that old hymn, it seemed archaic and ill-advised in my more modern, progressive theology. The hymn has a lot to say about the bankruptcy of humans and sin and the blood of the cross. I am not on board with some those lyrics, but I do like the powerful image of the certainty of God standing with us, for us and in us for all time.
I could not even begin to push over the gigantic owl rock, nor would I want to. It has stood the test of time and nature. All the pressures of time, myth, natural shifts in geology, and weather have formed this owl rock to be what it is in a beautiful way.
Life forms us. There are some things more certain than others but, in all things, God is our Rock of Ages. As life happens, our lives become a giant tapestry of creation. We are co-creators with God. My quest is to pay attention to the nuances, gifts and lessons life gives to me. What if I had been so concerned about hiking that I did not stop long enough to see the rock owl? The owl calls out to me among the daily routines that life is pure gift. Life is full of possibilities. Life is uncertain, but God is not.
Prayer: God of the Rock Owls, the elk and me, help me to remain strong in the certainty that you are in my living moment by moment and step by step. Amen
How long has it taken the weather and time to carve this rock owl? I have no idea. The Native Americans thought there were parts of Bryce Canyon that one should not go to and that if you did, you would be turned to stone, thus the fascinating rock formations were thought to be people gone astray.
The photos above show an area of Bryce Canyon called The Hoodoos. There are many stories from Native American folklore about this area.
Maybe my owl rock was an errant owl. I don't know. Maybe these statuesque rocks are ancient peoples who took a wrong turn. I just know that the turns I took on that cool, sunny day in the Canyon were mesmerizing. I thought of the old hymn, Rock of Ages Cleft for Me, Let me Hide Myself in Thee. When I read all the lyrics of that old hymn, it seemed archaic and ill-advised in my more modern, progressive theology. The hymn has a lot to say about the bankruptcy of humans and sin and the blood of the cross. I am not on board with some those lyrics, but I do like the powerful image of the certainty of God standing with us, for us and in us for all time.
I could not even begin to push over the gigantic owl rock, nor would I want to. It has stood the test of time and nature. All the pressures of time, myth, natural shifts in geology, and weather have formed this owl rock to be what it is in a beautiful way.
Life forms us. There are some things more certain than others but, in all things, God is our Rock of Ages. As life happens, our lives become a giant tapestry of creation. We are co-creators with God. My quest is to pay attention to the nuances, gifts and lessons life gives to me. What if I had been so concerned about hiking that I did not stop long enough to see the rock owl? The owl calls out to me among the daily routines that life is pure gift. Life is full of possibilities. Life is uncertain, but God is not.
Prayer: God of the Rock Owls, the elk and me, help me to remain strong in the certainty that you are in my living moment by moment and step by step. Amen
The Spiritual Alphabet
spirituality and practice
Commentary
In the spiritual alphabet, "T" is for Teachers. It almost seems a little out of place. All the other elements of the alphabet point to moods or emotions or activities, and then a word appears which seems to refer, at first glance, to people. I think of my third-grade teacher, my mother and father, a Zen master whom I tutored in English, and the theologian John Cobb. They are among my teachers.
But on second thought, I remember that teachers can be more-than-human, too. See my own Finding God in Rivers and Dogs. Certainly Nita Gilger in a similar situation, See her Learning from Rock Owls above. What we learn will depend on who we are and what we bring to our teacher. Nita discovers a new way to hear the old familiar hymn Rock of Ages. As NIta makes clear, we must pay attention. "A" is for attention, after all. And we must bring with us a sense of reverence for the more than human world. "R" is for Reverence. And we must bring our imaginations as well, so that we can see the owls carved of stone. "I" is for imagination. And we can likewise bring with us the faith that has carried our lives. "F" is for faith. And old, familiar hymns whose meanings are deepened and transformed by our more-than-human teachers, Rock owls as Rocks of Ages. "T" is for Transformation. Transformation from thinking of God as solid and self-contained to thinking of God as solidly faithful, and thus as perpetually present to life in its need for vitality and harmony, love and beauty, inclusive and embracing. "H" is for hospitality. Come to think of it, there's not much in the spiritual alphabet that's not in Nita's heartfelt remembrance of a hike in Bryce Canyon. |
By Nita Gilger:
Loving in the Shadow of Alzheimer's Learning from Rock Owls in Bryce Canyon A Call to Deeper Places: The Owl as My Teacher |