Our Spiritual Connection with Nature

Scott Shumway recently hiked in the Costa Rican rainforest seven hours per day over four weeks. Part of this time he was joined by six UUCSW members and friends. This experience and others will be used to take the congregation on a spiritual journey into Nature. Scott is a biology professor and scientist by training, but turns to the words of poets like Wendell Barry, Anna Akhmatova, and Mary Oliver to describe what it is like to experience a spiritual connection with Nature. What does it mean to “come into the peace of wild things” or have “the secret of secrets inside of me again”? And have you ever been in the forest and “vanished at least a dozen times into something better”? How can you prepare yourself to receive the mysteries of Nature into that part of you which cannot be described?

Following the service at 2:00, Scott will lead a journey into Nature on a local hiking trail (TBD) and just maybe you will discover “the secret of secrets”.