Glorious sunshine

Mine eyes have seen the glory 

of the coming of the Lord:

He is trampling out the vintage 

where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning 

of His terrible swift sword:

His truth is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

 - Julia Ward Howe (The Battle Hymn of the Republic)

The recent summer heat here in Oregon was nothing compared to the blistering unbearable heat and humidity that had caused dozens of deaths on the East coast.  But, it was still hot.  As I headed down the interstate to Eugene to pick up my daughter from a summer archaeological dig off in the desert somewhere, I was acutely aware that it was the kind of heat wave that was going to make the two hour trip a bit uncomfortable.  


About half way there, I noticed the sun seemed to be dancing, spinning actually, to the west and seemed brighter than usual.  Since I'm no stranger to this long drive, I have often watched the sun slip behind heavy rain clouds in the Willamette Valley or rise up over the Cascades, playfully engaging me in a kind of peek and boo game. Watching the weather change over the vast and beautiful valley always made the drive a spiritual experience of full immersion in Mother Nature's moody display.

But, on this particular late afternoon drive, there was something very different about the sun.  He seemed to want to tell me something.  I know that must sound strange, but that was what I felt.  There was a power to the sun's overly bright and spinning nature that day.  I recalled that I read somewhere there was a storm on the sun which was expected to last through 2013 and that until then the solar flares would be increasing.  


That must be it, then, I thought.  But, there was something else I sensed, a kind of message inherent in the solar dancing I witnessed.  I wanted to discuss this with someone, but how do you say to someone, "Did you notice the sun's recent dancing lately?  Didn't it seem brighter and more passionate than usual?"  Right!  So, I kept my thoughts to myself but wondered about them anyway.

Then, yesterday, I woke with a sense that I needed to pay attention to something.  There was almost a sense of dread in my heart.  I stumbled around in the kitchen making coffee and wondering about that sense of foreboding I was feeling. I attempted to knock it off, and then I heard in my head .... "The lord is my shepherd ... "  

"OK, where is this going - or, rather, where is this coming from?" I wondered and then I stopped and asked?  
"Is that you, Lord?"

"Yes," came the quick response.  "I am that I am, of Moses. I am the good shepherd and my people - all people of the Earth - are my flock.."  

"Didn't Jesus say that he was the good shepherd?" I wondered aloud inwardly.

"Yes, you're right, he did" was the reply.

"So, in Psalm 23, who is the great shepherd?" 

"It is I," He said, softly, kindly and quickly.

Then, I realized Jesus had been completely transformed by God's Self via the Holy Spirit, and in that total transformation, Jesus had become the Christ, and had consequently merged with to become that great I, also.  
"So, You were speaking through Jesus?"

"Yes.  Try to recall the rest of the Psalm because this is very important for you - and everyone - right now.  It's imperative that all of you recall it.  It was written by David for his own struggles with a cruel king, who was downright insane, and those in his camp who questioned his spontaneity - were even jealous - of his freedom from cruel oppressive power. They hated him for his joy as they - all those who are enslaved - will hate all of you, any of you, who are free and living in joy, who are living in the awareness and power of the Light, whether or not you can actually see it, but are led, inspired and compelled by it."

The Lord is my shepherd

I shall not want. 

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures

He leadeth me beside the still waters. 

He restoreth my soul:

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 

I will fear no evil: 

for thou art with me

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies

Thou anointest my head with oil

my cup runneth over. 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Slowly the words to this beautiful old Psalm began to emerge out of my childhood memory, like old tree branches rising out of a muddy pond.  They came in a random order - as maybe memories can. First came - probably the most famous line, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death " ... I thought about the beautiful Willamette Valley and the brilliant fireball in the sky that was so hot I could barely breathe. Were we, are we, in that shadow of death these days? I wondered. The failing economy, the wars, the overpopulation - not pretty thoughts, for sure, but are we?  I wondered to myself.

"Yes, but....thou are with me.... with us,"  I thought, as I slipped into sneakers to head out for a walk to reflect on these verses as they came to me, one by one, and then slowly reassemble the entire psalm.  As I did this, the conversation ensued and then I felt comforted.  As I walked, I slipped into the comfort of a spiritual encounter, a Spirit-filled-led reflection that took me down the new path, I'd discovered recently.  That path then wound up Sexton Mountain.  I found myself releasing the heavy thoughts I'd woken up with and gradually basking in that sense of comfort the Psalm had given me, along with the presence that spoke and interpreted it in my head.

Then, oddly, as I continued on the way up that mountain, the lyrics to the old civil war Battle Hymn of the Republic began to percolate up out of the memory swamp.


"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."  


I listened to the words and the song as it entertained my mind.  I wondered why I was hearing this, again, as I did with the Psalm.  I hadn't yet made any connections, just yet.  I was just listening ...  


"He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored"  


It was easy to understand - outside the politcal rhetoric around the Civil war, anti-slavery theology of that day - which clearly is what David must have faced as he wrote the Shepherd Psalm, but it was more - there was more that I sensed I was waiting for ..... but again, and again, the words were continuing ..."mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord"  ...

"The glory, the glory, what do you mean by the glory?"

No response.  The song just kept on playing in my head, louder and louder, crescendoing up to, "glory, glory hallelujah."

I had been walking almost mechanically drenched in thought.  As I rounded a bend on the walk, I made a quick decision to turn back rather than continue up and as I reeled around,  I gasped. Unaware, I'd climbed to the top of the mountain and saw the lovely town scattered across a few low rolling hills spread out below me.  It was beautiful, I thought, as the words .... glory, glory, hallelujah .... continued to ring boldly in my head as a kind of background track to what I saw before me.

"Again, I wondered about the words ... the glory.." and then I heard softly, underneath the raucous of music in my head ... "Didn't I call you up to the mountain the other day?"

I reflected on the Tiger Lilies post I'd written a few days ago.

"Yes."

"And, while you were in the valley, you saw my glory?"

Oh, My God, you are right.  I did.  I knew it wasn't really just the sun.  Was that You?

"Yes.  It was I. And, I am with you always, no matter what happens.  Now, go tell in the light what you hear in the dark.  Tell your people - all people - that I am with them and to seek me, not live in fear and control of those mere humans who abuse and seduce them, bleeding them, disempowering them.  Tell them to find the joy that no money or security can give them.  Only me, only my love.  I am their great Shepherd and I love them, more dearly than they could ever love each other. 

"Now, tell them.  Go, tell them that there is music in their hearts, in their minds and to listen very carefully to their own inner voice because I am there and I will speak to all of them.  Feel the joy, the love, the freedom.   In that hearing, they will find a love unlike any they could ever know, a love that will knit them together with each other and they will feel love in that cohesion.