12/11/2014

Good morning. Living in south Cumbria, I’m surrounded by wonderful scenery. Each day from my window I see the shifting sands of Morecambe Bay. In September I watched the two Lancaster bombers as they headed out above the bay, flying past the nearby war memorial bearing the name of my father, a Lancaster pilot killed in action.

If I’m up early I can watch the sun gloriously rising above the Yorkshire and Lancashire hills; whilst, from another angle, to the north, I glimpse the fells, the delight of our Lake District skyline. Years ago, on an evening walk with my small daughter, we watched the sun going down with stunning radiance behind the silhouette of a western fell. “Is that what heaven’s like” she asked? Well, what I do know from long knowledge of these parts is you can experience precious moments of divine disclosure that, aided by the surroundings, give a glimpse of the presence of God.

Sometimes, when night descends on South Lakeland, I look up at the starlit sky and almost believe I could stretch out my hand and touch the Milky Way.

Often as I gaze at that breath taking glory far above, Haydn’s magnificent music from The Creation, based on Psalm 19, comes to mind: “The heavens are telling the glory of God” – its words a potent reminder not to be beguiled by such stunning displays into worshipping nature itself, but instead to look through Nature to Nature’s Creator.

“O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hand hath made, then sings my soul, my Saviour God to thee: How great thou art.” Amen.