When Gerald and I led Pilgrimages to Holy Sites in Europe, we would often hold worship outside: In the ancient ruins of Riasc, a sixth-century monastic community on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland, overlooking the ocean. In the ruins of Rievaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire with swallows darting in and out of the windows as we sang hymns. On the beach of Iona with gulls hovering in the wind. Singing psalms standing in the ocean waves of the North Sea off Holy Isle, as St. Cuthbert used to do.
Always on the pilgrimage evaluations, peoples’ favourite thing was worshipping outside! Why, I wondered, don’t we do that more often? People in Kootenay recall fondly worshipping outside during COVID. St. Mary’s East Kelowna worshipped in a parishioner’s orchard, and the smell of blossoms pervaded like incense, the bees hummed joyfully. One of the cherished memories of Camp OAC, was worship in the outdoor chapel, which miraculously escaped the fire and is awaiting campers worshipping anew this summer.
Bishop Sydney Black, a Blackfoot Elder of the Siksika Nation in Southern Alberta, and his wife Melva, came with us on a pilgrimage in Northern England. He had never been in a Gothic Cathedral. When we stood inside the entrance to Durham Cathedral, with its massive pillars and arches, as we let our eyes adjust to the light, he leaned over and said to me: “I see why the missionaries thought we had no places of worship on the prairies. But this, (he motioned to the high ceiling towering above us) — this is just trying to imitate what we already have —Sky!”
Many people connect immediately with the Holiness of Nature, with our Creator, and find it easy to pray when surrounded by natural beauty. I realize it takes more effort in some ways to gather a community to worship outside: travel, set-up, seating, making sure people can hear. I remember having to hold the bread onto the plate in the wind during one outdoor worship. I think, however, that the minor inconveniences are outweighed by the benefits, the freshness of insight into God’s presence. My experience is that people are more alive to God and to each other. They are good humoured about disturbances. There was laughter when my stole blew away at one service on the beach, or when the canopy over the altar lifted off in the wind and had to be held down at the Park on Kootenay Pass, or when the passing motorbike drowned out my sermon. The Holy Spirit is refreshing, enlivening wind. Other creatures worship with us in bird song or trees swaying.
We bring flowers into our indoor worship spaces for beauty. How might we occasionally take ourselves out into beauty when we gather to pray together?
In Kootenay, there have been meaningful and memorable worship gatherings on ski hills, on lakesides, in church grounds. As we live into our Diocesan value of “Whole-hearted Worship,” I encourage you to worship out in God’s good creation!
