Seeing the connection

Little moments can reveal big mysteries

One morning as I sat on the front porch to start the day, I noticed a blue jay bedeviling a squirrel. Mind you, the harassment of squirrels doesn’t bother me. They’re cute, but they won’t stay out of my squirrel-proof bird feeder.

Over and over the bird assailed the squirrel, returned to a particular bush, then emerged again for another attack. So I decided to investigate further.

As I pulled back the branches, I spied the blue jay 18 inches away sitting on eggs in her nest. Her small, fierce eye held my gaze. Surely she was terrified of my intrusion, but she wouldn’t abandon her eggs. We stared at one another for a minute. Then I gently settled the bush back in place.

I felt transfixed by that tiny eye, wondering how much I miss in my own front yard because I move too fast. Or perhaps there is something fundamentally flawed in the way I view the world, like through a toodirty lens.

Moses encountered a bush in the wilderness. The bush was on fire, but not consumed. Then God gave a curious command to Moses: take off your shoes, because you are standing on holy ground. (Exodus 3:5)

Sheltering-in-place has reminded me to look more closely to what’s happening in the world. Through the fierce love of a mothering blue jay, the coming and going of neighbors, working puzzles with my wife, or a butterfly feasting on fallen loquat fruit, I have been reminded of the potency of life’s little moments.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning said, “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God,

But only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”

Plucking blackberries is the opposite of taking off shoes. The world does not exist only for our needs, but instead offers itself to our imaginations and invites us to participate in the flow. We must stay a while and feel the dirt between our toes to experience the transcendent.

All the great religious traditions teach the necessity of “opening blind eyes.” Reality doesn’t change; we just begin to see it differently. Awakening arrives unexpectedly or can be cultivated through sitting, listening, and praying. Perhaps one of the hidden blessings of the pandemic, as tough as it has been, is that, unbidden, we’ve had our eyes opened. We see the needs of our neighbors more. We realize how connected all life is. We remember how important it is to love one another and every little scampering and flying creature.

Fyodor Dostoevsky said, “If you love each thing, you will perceive the mystery of God in things. Once you have perceived it, you will begin tirelessly to perceive more and more of it every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an entire, universal love.” (From The Brothers Karamazov)

So slow down and take off your shoes and see. You might encounter love staring back at you.

BRENT MCDOUGAL is the senior pastor of Cliff Temple Baptist Church. The Worship section is underwritten by Advocate Publishing and the neighborhood businesses and churches listed here. For information about helping support the Worship section, call 214.560.4202.

Worship

BAPTIST

CLIFF TEMPLE BAPTIST CHURCH / 125 Sunset Ave. / 214.942.8601

Serving Oak Cliff since 1898 / CliffTemple.org / English and Spanish

9 am Contemporary Worship / 10 am Sunday School / 11 am Traditional

GRACE TEMPLE BAPTIST Come to a Place of Grace!

Sunday Worship: English Service 9:30am / Spanish Service 11:00am 831 W. Tenth St. / 214.948.7587 / gracetempledallas.org

CATHOLIC

ST. CECILIA CATHOLIC PARISH / StCeciliaDallas.org/ 1809 W Davis St. / Join us for our Live Stream Mass on Saturdays at 4pm for English Mass and Sundays at 9am for Spanish Mass on Facebook Live

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST

EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 629 N. Peak Street / 214.824.8185

Sunday School 9:30 am / Worship 8:30 am - Chapel

10:50 am - Sanctuary / Rev. Deborah Morgan-Stokes / edcc.org

Episcopal

CHRIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH / ChristChurchDallas.org

Sunday School: 11:15am /Mass: 9am & 10am English, 12:30pm Español

Wednesday Mass: 6pm English, 8pm Español / 534 W. Tenth Street

Methodist

KESSLER PARK UMC / 1215 Turner Ave./ 214.942.0098 I kpumc.org

10:30am Sunday School/11:00 Worship /All welcome regardless of reed, cr eed, color, culture, gender or sexual identity.

NON-DENOMINATIONAL

KESSLER COMMUNITY CHURCH / 2100 Leander Dr. at Hampton Rd. “Your Hometown Church Near the Heart of the City.”

10:30 am Contemporary Service / kesslercommunitychurch.com

TRINITY CHURCH OAK CLIFF / Love God. Love Others. Make Disciples. Sundays 10:00 am / Worship & children’s Sunday School 1139 Turner Ave. / trinitychurchoakcliff.org

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