Everything is Holy Now
Seeing God in all things
A Year with the Contemplative Pilgrim
I continue to prepare spiritually for my upcoming pilgrimage to Spain with a renewed emphasis on seeing the world through new eyes. It is easy for me to fall into the trap of believing that I already know everything, or that life will meet my expectations. Joy comes from embracing new experiences, the unusual, and this is nowhere more needed than in my spiritual life.
I have been a Christian for over sixty years, and am still amazed by how God continually reveals himself to me in new and unexpected ways. Things that I used to view as being sacred are no longer and others that I would not have considered as being sacred suddenly are.
Listen to this song by Peter Mayer as he describes his own journey of discovery.
Holy Now--Lyrics
By Peter Mayer
VERSE 1
When I was a boy each week, On Sunday we would go to church,
Pay attention to the priest. And he would read the holy word,
And consecrate the holy bread And ev'ryone would kneel and bow.
Today the only dif'rence is
Ev'rything is holy now. Ev’rything, ev’rything, ev'rything is holy now.
VERSE 2
When I was in Sunday school, We would learn about the time
Moses split the sea in two, And Jesus made the water wine.
And I remember feeling sad, Miracles don't happen still,
And now I can't keep track Cause ev'rything's a miracle.
Ev’rything, ev’rything, ev'rything's a miracle.
BRIDGE 1
Wine from water is not so small,
But an even better magic trick Is that anything is here at all.
So the challenging thing becomes Not to look for miracles,
But finding where there isn't one.
VERSE 3
When holy water was rare at best It barely wet my fingertips.
Now I have to hold my breath Like I'm swimmin' in a sea of it.
It used to be a world half there, Heaven's second rate hand me down.
Now I walk it with a reverent air, 'Cause ev'rything is holy now.
CHORUS Ev'rything is holy now. (8x)
BRIDGE 2
Read a questioning child's face And say it's not a testament.
That'd be very hard to say.
See another new morning come And say it's not a sacrament
I tell you that it can't be done.
VERSE 4
This mornin' outside I stood. I saw a little red wing bird
Shining like a burning bush, And singing like a scripture verse.
It made me want to bow my head. I remember when church let out.
How things have changed since then.
Ev'rything is holy now.
VERSE 3 (second half)
It used to be a world half there, Heaven's second rate hand me downs,
Now I'm walking with a reverent air, 'Cause ev'rything is holy now.
CHORUS
I find myself in awe as I approach life with “sacred eyes”. Everywhere I look, everyone I see has a different quality when viewed in this way. How might your life expand through being willing to experience all as holy, sacred?
I am excited about this prospect as I make my pilgrimage along the Camino, but it is even more exciting to think that I don’t need to wait until I am in Spain to see the sacred in all things. I can begin today, this moment!
“Now I’m walking with a reverent air, ‘Cause everything is holy now”.
Until next time,
Yes, yes, yes.