On the third day of Christmas, I recall a recent conversation with a priest colleague about the way rivers connect high places with low. She exclaimed, "That's Christological! They mediate between heaven and earth."
In my reflections, the divinity imputed to rivers keeps emerging. My daughter in London gave me a Peter Ackroyd book titled Thames: Sacred River. The volume I have been reading about the differing roots of cultural growth between the New and Old Worlds makes much of the sacredness of the Ganges of India. Author Peter Watson noted some believe it to be a daughter of the king of the mountains.
What about a river gives rise to thoughts of the divine? Rivers, for the most part, outlive us. They flow before we are born and keep flowing after we die. They transcend our lifespans and the lifespans of every generation of identifiable humanity. Although not as eternal seeming as the seas, they have lives of such unimaginable antiquity that they might as well be immortal.
The Vermont State Park's website on Quechee Gorge Geology (http://www.vtstateparks.com/pdfs/quecheegeo.pdf) shows a tantalizing sketch of the path of the pre-glacial parent of our Ottauquechee, flowing not far from the current stream, going strong 130,000 years ago.
You cannot step in to the same river twice, and yet the same river can flow for nearly forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment