The Second Book

John Wesley, the father of Methodism, spoke of himself as being a man of one book.  Thus, he spoke of the supreme importance of the Holy Scripture in his life.  As one ordained to preach within the Methodist Church, I, too, have often thought of myself as a man of one book.  This is not to say I have not read other books, or that other books have not had any influence on my life, but simply to say that of all books this one is the most important in that it holds within it the inspired Word of God.  Recently, I have begun to think of myself as a man with another book.     

I started reading this second book without realizing I was reading it as I wandered around on the farm midst an expansive Creation.  Things started stirring within me that I was slow to grasp.  Then I read something within the Celtic spiritual tradition from a ninth century Celtic theologian named Scotus Eriugena.  In his book, Sacred Earth Sacred Soul,"  John Philip Newell wrote, "Eriugena teaches that there are two books through which God is speaking.  The first is the small book; physically little, this is the book of Holy Scripture.  The second is the big book, the living text of universe...We need to read both books."     

As I read the teaching of Eriugena, I began to realize I had been reading from the second book which is another way of saying that God had been speaking and revealing His presence through the creation which is all around me.  As surely as reading the written Word can be life changing, so can paying attention to the creation which is all around us.  What I have learned is that there are things not seen by the eyes and not heard by the ears which can be seen and heard as we learn to pay attention to reality of holy presence surrounding us in the visible handiwork of the Creator.