I’ll be honest; I don’t know what to say. I
sometimes come to this task with a clear idea of where I want the Pastor’s Word to go. Today
is not that day. Which got to me thinking of the creative process, and because I have to write something
on this page, I decided to look at what parallels can be drawn between the creative process and our relationship with God.
So now I have something to say!
The Greeks
thought muses were the goddesses who brought the creative juices for art and literature and I confess that there
have been times when I felt “possessed” by some inspirational wellspring that was not of my own making.
There was a profundity that seemed to exceed my innate ability and what came forth was something beyond me.
Mind you, it doesn’t happen often, but that it happens at all is still a mystery to me.
Yet there is another
ancient mystery that might speak to another, all too familiar, condition of finding the creative well to be dry.
The Romans, and originally the Greeks, called these the “dog days” of summer. Here’s
how Wikipedia puts flesh on the bones of our understanding:
The phrase Dog Days, Latin: diēs caniculārēs, refers to the
hottest, most sultry days of summer. In the northern hemisphere, they usually fall between early July and early September. In the Southern hemisphere they are usually between January and early March. The
actual dates vary greatly from region to region, depending on latitude
and climate. Dog Days can also define a time period or event that is very hot or stagnant, or marked by dull lack
of progress. The name comes from the ancient belief
that Sirius, also called the Dog Star, was somehow responsible for the hot weather. (Emphasis added)
I mention the “dog days” because, for me, they seem to outnumber the
days of creative inspiration. Therefore, they, too, are part of my lived experience.
Now I am making the assumption that all of this “resonates” with you,
that you find a touchstone to your own lived experience between the gift of the muse and the dog days of daily existance.
And this seems to me to have been my experience with God. In moments of flashing clarity, God seemed
undeniably present in my life — usually when I mused about God’s presence in the lives of others, of the faith
and courage they have shown. Then there are those times when God was largely irrelavant to what I was pursuing.
It’s not that God had left me but that I had left God — the dog days. In such moments
I didn’t really feel the need for God and thus never “mused” about God’s presence. But
then moments like this come along when I have to say something and have nothing to give and find that I have suddenly written
more than the space on the page requires. So let me close with this thought. I don’t
know if musses exits but I do know that in my musing about God, inspiration comes. The Spirit of God does
not want the dog days to consume us and for us to be turned from God’s delight. So muse about that
for a while and see if the jucies don’t flow.
Faithfully,
Pastor Jeff
