An ancient Christian hymn of the first century speaks of the senses as strings on which the Spirit of God plays, just as the wind glides through the harp. This is a wonderful reminder that it is in and through our bodies that God has chosen to draw near to us. God made the human being a unity of body and spirit. Likewise, the Divine Word visited us in the flesh so that we might more readily comprehend the source and meaning of our salvation. In Christ, God availed himself to us. He reaffirmed the goodness of the entire material creation, which in the beginning he had declared to be good and beautiful.
Orthodox Christian worship brings the whole of creation before the Lord and employs all of the senses. We hear God’s word and participate in the angelic chorus, taste of the Lord in bread and wine, breathe in the sweet fragrance of Christ through the burning incense, see his saints in holy icons, and with our lips touch his holy Cross.
Through our senses, God draws near to us and we to him. This movement is not limited to the church sanctuary. I am a gardener, and I believe that every garden hints of Paradise; in every garden it is possible to hear God, taste of God, and walk with God as Adam and Eve did before their expulsion from Eden. Scripture reminds us that the New Jerusalem is itself a walled garden in which the Tree of Life grows. Even on days like this, when the temperature has risen to nearly one hundred degrees, I know that God is in the garden. Just one refreshing rain and the garden is transformed. The colors return, the roses bloom as a cool breeze spreads their sweet fragrance everywhere. The cucumber turned bitter yesterday is sweet again, and the songbirds take to voice once more.
We have been created in God’s own image and likeness, with the special capacity to resonate with the pulse of his Divine Life. Though sin has damaged this capacity, it is not destroyed. Our senses may be “out of tune”, but we need not despair. God has filled his Creation with signs of his existence, and despite the harm we have done to ourselves, God helps us to remember and reclaim our eternal inheritance. He has shown us how through penance, prayer, discipline and attentiveness that we can retune our human instrument and enjoy His presence. Christ has opened the gates of Paradise to us. The Father has called back from his post the cherubim with the fiery sword. The Spirit has been sent to awaken us again to the myriad life that reveals God’s glory.
