Walking in the Woods

Friday morning I took a short walk in Riley Woods. I walked across the footbridge in the morning sun and then walked to the far end of the pond there. The summer is a time for the beach the autumn is for the woods. It was quiet, peaceful and surprisingly stimulating.

I didn't think of much just walked and gazed around me with a lot of appreciation for the natural beauty that was all around me.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about John the Baptizer. Only in Luke's Gospel do we learn about his parentage and his family relation to Jesus. Funny how in Luke's Gospel, John does not baptize Jesus. The earlier Gospels of Mark and Matthew make it clear that John did indeed baptize Jesus which would make Jesus a disciple of John's or at best a co-worker with him.

In today's Gospel lesson we hear Jesus asking the temple priests "Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?" Even at the end of his ministry Jesus mentions John the Baptizer. I can only think that John's ministry was much more important than what the Christian Church indicates it to be. John could not have been just a simple fore runner to Jesus. His ministry was alive, active and deeply influential.

It is later in the First Century as the Jesus movement became Christianity that John takes the proverbial backseat to Jesus. I get the impression that during Jesus' ministry John was in the forefront.

The emphasis of John's ministry could very well be a part of the conflict between the Jerusalem followers of Jesus and the Gentile Christians. There were more points of disagreement than that, but how John was viewed in Acts is an indicator that Saul/Paul put the greater emphasis on Jesus while James in Jerusalem seemed to hold on to the ascetic views proclaimed by John.

There is something about sunlight reflecting on the water that seems so magical. This summer I was able to swim and splash in Lake Michigan with Evan and Nathan when the sunlight was reflecting as a large stream of light on the Lake. I took the time to float on my back and let the sunlight hit me as the water.

I had Nathan and Evan stand in the sunlight and they looked like little angles peaceful, full of happiness. We would have splash fights and the water would shine in the sun sparkle like a thousand diamonds.

The last day at the beach I took a few seconds to lie back and float in the Lake and just enjoy the peacefulness of feeling the refreshing water all around me and the warm sun beating down on me.

Water sustains life, it refreshes, gives enjoyment, creates wonders, it invigorates, fascinates, relaxes and amazes. It is the most spiritual element I have encountered.