In my reading this morning for a class I begin next week, I read the following, which brought me up short because I had forgotten it, even though I read the book mentioned many years ago (and saw the movie):
In [Alice Walker’s novel] The Color Purple, the heroine, Celie, had never been introduced to any image of God other than the old white man with a beard, legalistic and authoritarian. Her friend Shug is much more awakened. Celie is astonished: she says to Shug, “You telling me God love you, and you ain’t never done anything for him? I mean, not go to church, sing in the choir, feed the preacher and all like that?” But Shug’s God is a lover who is “always wanting to share a good thing,” who is “pissed off if we walk by the color purple in a field and don’t notice it.” (from The Art of Spiritual Guidance, Carolyn Gratton)
Oh yeah. Now I remember…powerful reminder.
I don’t have much to add to these thoughts because they are so spot on. I just got back from church, and there I experienced God because I sought and found him in the readings, in the music, in the great sacrament of the Eucharist and in the body of believers gathered around me. But I also know that the God I love and worship is bigger than that room and smart enough to know that all will not seek him there. God can never be confined to a building or to a set of beliefs. He cannot be bound even by sacred scripture and the most intimate experiences of sacrament and prayer, however real and powerful I believe those to be. He is there in those sacred moments in church, surely, but he is not limited by that experience. How could the creator of the universe be? And why would he want to be?
But neither is God hard to find, nor is he only for the initiated, favored or chosen. God is present to all of us, whether we recognize it or not, whether we choose to thank him or not. He is present in the incessant chirping of the cicadas outside my door, in the flow of water down a mountain stream and in the rising and setting of the sun. God cannot and will not be separated from these sure signs of his creation. God is in the sacredness of our ordinary lives and in the mundane tasks we carry out everyday. God is as readily found, if we look, as the noses on our face or the color purple. Just look.
For more on this topic, you can read an earlier post, “Standing Still and Learning to Be Astonished.
10 comments On On the presence of God and the color purple
Beautiful Photos, Beautiful Thoughts –
The reason some of us were sent to street corners, cafes, hospitals, prison, grave sites . . to meet them where they are – and worship
Hey!
I Love You,
-g-
And in the colors green, blue, red, yellow……Your thoughts are very similar to what I heard in my church this morning, which tells me that God is a spirit that can penetrate the walls of buildings and the minds of men and women when we are open to feeling, hearing, tasting, touching, thinking, seeing what that spirit has to say.
Steve, your blog reminds me of my dear departed stepmother-in-law. She had a beautiful garden in her backyard and said she felt closer to God there than in any church. I appreciate your blog and shared it on my fb page.
Judi…red’s my favorite, personally…
Regina thanks for your note and for sharing my post with others.
Many, many times, if not for the wonders of His created world and His creatures that surround me, I would be in deep depression. These past few weeks have brought the tiger swallowtail and black swallowtail to feast on my purple butterfly plant, and the monarch caterpillar to feast on my fennel. They make my day. Thanks for putting your thoughts online for us to contemplate.
I am wanting to order a couple of things for my mother-in-law. I saw your response to someone else’s comment that we could send you a check and you would autograph the book. Is that offer still valid?
After looking at the list of items, I’m thinking “With Grateful Heart” and the “Embraced by God, Chemo….”
The shipping would be to Bethalto, IL, near St. Louis.
Have read and loved your submissions in Living Faith. Thank you for your work and best wishes and prayers in your road to recovery.
Thank you, Jody
Jody:
I am happy to do this, of course, and honored that you would ask. However, I only have copies of “Embraced by God.” I would be happy to send it your way. I will write you an email with the details.
Steve
Thank you! Love the blog and have bookmarked your site. Best wishes! Jody
Lovely thoughts, and we can thank God for the colour purple.
Steve I also have read your and others reflections in Living Faith for a long time now and saw your .com address there. I am just starting to read my way through this web site. But having just read your above reflection on the color purple I wanted to shout out loud, almost as much as when I first heard Shugs say it in the theater! I am a nature artist making highly detailed life size “carvings” of God`s small world of weeds, leaves, berries, bugs and butterflies and small birds…the endlessly overlooked and expendable we so easily bulldoze and pave out of the way. Much of what I have here read so far shows an understanding of God`s “Beingness” in all things and I believe He has an infinite affection for the smallest and humblest…..ie “the color purple”. No, He cannot and must not be limited by our human ideas. Does a tree falling in the forest make a noise if no one is there? Of course it does…because Someone is always there. God is there and God is the tree, God is the forest and God is the the noise and the Wind that carries the sound. You hear the sound that the wind makes, but you do not know where the wind comes from and you cannot tell where it goes. So are all those born of the Spirit!