Sensing the Sacred: Smell and Taste

In my proposal to the Lilly Endowment National Clergy Renewal Grant (that has made it possible for this renewal/sabbatical to unfold in the wonderful ways that it has), I said that I would try to experience my time in Algonquin Park through my senses of smell and taste.

And so the question is this:  Can you smell the sacred - can you taste it?  Can you experience the sacred through your sense of small only in church when you catch a whiff of incense or the odor of candles as they are extinguished?  Can you taste the sacred only when you have communion and partake of the bread and wine (or grape juice)?  Can you smell and taste the sacred at other times and in other places?

Here are some of the smells and tastes that help me to realize the sacred here at our cottage in Algonquin Park.

SMELLS
1.  Pine Needles - Someone long ago dubbed this cottage and its land as "Needle Point."  Pine needles and pine cones, pine pitch and ageless pine trees - tall with thick trunks - are in abundance here.  And what is not pine is most likely hemlock and fir.  We have very few hardwoods.  That delightful pine fragrance reminds me of the astounding creative power of God - and makes me just stop everyonce in a while and breathe it all in.  The sheer massiveness of some of the trees reminds me of the solid and unchanging nature of God's presence.  The wind whistling through the branches reminds me of the breath of God - the pneuma - the Holy Spirit - that continually envelopes and protects us.

2.  The Lake - Lakes smell different than the ocean does.  Instead of the salty odor of the sea is the smell of reeds growing along the shoreline and if you are here at the right time in the summer and if you can lean far over the side of the canoe without tipping it, you can catch the very subtle whiff of a water lily blossom.  For me, lakes have an odor of purity - reminding me of the depth and breadth and essential goodness of God and all that God has created.  How blessed we are to be a part of it!

3.  Fires in the Woodstove - The smell of wood burning down to coals - warming the cabin after a morning dip, perfect now for making breakfast toast - is somehing I look forward to every morning.  It reminds me of the warmth not only of my family but also of God's love.

TASTES
Meals always taste better at Algonquin.  Pizza, pasta, burgers - the ones you make at home seem to pale in comparison.  The ingredients might be identical, but the ahnds of everyone helping in the preparation really does make a tangible difference.  Meals in Algonquin remind me that we are all connected, that we are all on this earth to live together, work together, build community together, break bread together.

Then there the foods that we only get in Canada.  Their tastes will always bring me home to our cottage in the Park - to experience once again the sacredness of this place.

1.  Chelsea Buns - These are the most delicious, sinfully sweet morning buns that are best lightly toasted over the coals of the fire that warmed you after your morning dip.

2.  Butter Tarts - This is a wonderfully tasty English Canadian dessert treat - kind of like a miniature pecan pie with the emphasis on the filling and not on the nuts.

3.  Bisquick - Yes, you can buy Bisquick anywhere, but the recipe used in the Canadian product is slightly different - with the results a whole lot better.

4.  Pots of English breakfast Tea - These are seemingly endless pots enjoyed at breakfast of roaming, far-reaching conversations.

We sing a grace before each meal when the family is here together at the cottage.  It is the first verse of the Johnny Appleseed grace with a second verse added on.  The new verse goes like this:

When I come to Algonquin Park
I sing a song to Thee
To praise you for the glorious shore, Mr Snips*** and the flroest floor
The Lord is good to me.

***Mr. Snips was surely the BIGGEST snapping turtle ever who happened to live at our dock for a few days one summer when the children weree quite young.  Naming him took some (but by no means all) of the fear of having a large snapping turtle in the vicinity of the water you swam in.  Mr. Snips moved on when the activity level at the dock wsa ramped up:  Gone but NEVER forgotten!

Photos of Our Cottage

This is the main cottage where we have our kitchen, living area, woodstove - and all those decks of cards and games.

Here are Millie and Chloe enjoying the sun on the dock in the afternoon. They particularly liked lying on Joe's towel!

Here I am on one of our day hikes. I think that tree growing right over those boulders is really awesome.

This was another view from one of our day hikes.

One name for our cottage is "Needlepoint", so named for all the great white pines that are in the Park and at our cottage.

Here's our little cove. Sometimes you can see a heron or ducks hanging out here.

This is the Lower Cabin - one of three sleeping cabins at the cottage.

Here's one of those sunsets we sometimes get to see in the evening.

Here's another one. Every sunset is different, but beautiful in its own way.

Musings from the Dock

Here it is August 31st.  I am sitting on the dock at our family cottage on Cache Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario.  Joe is doing some business travel for a couple of days, so it is just me and the two dogs.  It was supposed to be brilliantly sunny today, but instead it is completely cloudy - but warm all the same.  The lake is perfectly calm.

There are five other cottages in sight - at least as much in sight as any cottage in the Park is.  Only one of them is occupied this late in the season.  So - it is particularly quiet - and very peaceful.  As heron might fly by into our small cove to do some fishing later on.  And a couple of loons might cruise the bay, calling to one another if I am lucky.  That solitary duck may return to the reeds by the shoreline of the cove that she or she seems to have adopted as a temporary feeding pace.

The water has warmed up since we arrived a week ago.  It has gone from "bracing" to merely "brisk" on my personal scale of Cache Lake water temperature.  However, it is likely to always be warm enough this year for a morning dip each day before breakfast.

Of course, I do make sure that there is a good fire going in the woodstove in the main cabin first.  For me, the woodstove serves two important purposes.  The first is to stand in front of for a few minutes after that morning swim.  The second is to make toast using coat hangers that have been bent into the perfect shapre for making toast over the coals without burning you hand - an invention of my grandfather's decades ago.

The dogs love it here.  They can wander freely without worry.  There are no roads or cars to speak of as every cottage on Cache Lake is accessible only by boat - and every boat is either a canoe, cayak, or has a motor of less than 10 hp.  The dogs love to lie on the dock and take a swim when it gets too hot.  Millie merely steps into the shallows off the end of the dock and gently lowers herself only enought to wet her legs and belly.  She's not much of a water dog.

Chloe loves to swim and reminds me of an otter.  Unfortunately, she overdid it the first day and strained her tail.  It was three more doays before she could sit down and before it did not hang limply behind her.  She too seems content to splash in the shallows.

Daisy was our dog who loved to swim.  She would go great distances for a stick or a frisbee.  Last year she had to wear a doggie life preserver as she had lost so much muscle in her hindquarters.  Unfortunately she died earlier this suimmer.  One evening before we leave, Joe and I will toss some of her ashes over the water she so loved.  There they will join those of her "cousins" Emma and Gracie - also expert golden lab swimmers.

Our cottage is really four separate buildings - and an outhouse.  We have a propane refrigerator that is old enough to be quite tempermental at times (sometimes freezing everything and other times freezing nothing), a propane stove, and propane lights in the main cabin - which is really a kitchen, small dining/living area, and a woodstove.  There is also a chest of drawers filled with decks of cards and numerous games that you would never play at home - except maybe at Christmas.  Bananagrams has been a favorite the past two years.  There have also been years of Scrabble, various forms of rummy, hearts, and back alley bridge.  There are also bookshelves filled with summer reading books brought up, read, and left for others to enjoy.


We have three sleeping cabins named for their location - Upper, Lower, and Back.  Attached to the back cabin is a shower - used daily and gratefully by some members of the extended family - and scoffed at by others.

We have a swimming dock, a boat dock, three canoes and two kayaks brought up and left by various family members, and the motor boat.  We spend most of our dock time on the swimming dock where we get the afternoon sun and are treated many evenings to a magnificent sunset.

For me, our cottage is a sacred place.  It has something to do with the peace that emanates from it - even when the winds blow and the storms come - the lake itself, the trees, the sameness year after year, the generations that have enjoyed it, the memories, the sense of a family place.

The Labyrinth: Sacred Space Created?

I'm reading a book entitled "Sacred Places" by Philiip Carr-Gromm.  In his introduction, he writes:  "Sacred Places are like doorways into another world, reminding us that life is more mysterious and wonderful than we ever imagine.  They evoke awe and reverance in us."

So - what actually makes a place sacred?  It seems that often times these places are ancient - like Stonehenge and the Pyramids in Egypt - mysterious in their origins and purpose.  Sometimes they are natural places - caves or streams or the Apurimac River in Peru.  Sometimes they are made by human hands - Chartres Cathedral or Choquechirao, for example. 

But always the seem to touch us at a deeply spiritual place.  Through them we experience Kairos time, and the veil between the worlds in for a moment lifted.  We experience a thin place.

Can we create such places - or is there something inherent in the space itself that we simply uncover and nurture?

My labyrinth is in some ways a grand experiment to see what role I might play in creating a sacred space.  Does the mere existence of the labyrinth and the knowledge that labyrinths touch a deeply spiritual place for many people somehow confer sacredness on this particular labyrinth in this partciular location?  Does the sacredness lie in the stoenwork and winding pathways - or does the sacredness lie beneath and around the granite and mulch?

If all of life is sacred and we are somehow connected to the earth as well as to one another in a deep and profound way, do I have it within me to unleash the sacred that may lie dormant in the world aroudn me?  Is that at least part of what it means to be made in God's image, to have a divine spark within, to be a child of the light?  If so, imagine the world that could be transformed - though our own efforts!

Creating Sacred Space One Stone at A Time

In my proposal to the Lilly Endowment for a National Clergy Renewal Grant, I indicated that I would reflect upon the Labyrinth Project using my sense of touch.  So - the question that must be answered is this:  how does my sense of touch inform the significance of building a labyrinth? 

Here are a couple of things I thought of:

1.  Reconnecting with the earth in a hands on way - Each stone I dug up or picked up or moved to the site was a reminder of the the world that God created.  The same can be said for the roots I pulled from the ground, and the sand I spread in order to level the site.  We often get so pressured to stay close to our computers and cell phones that we often never find ourselves out in the woods, experiencing nature.  Thoreau railed about this disconnect between work and nature in his essay entitled "Nature."  Much more recently, Richard Louv also wrote about it with regard to children and their relationship (or lack thereof) to nature in his book entitled "Last Child in the Woods."  In building the labyrinth, I found the my spirituality, my connection to God, is enhanced when I am outdoors.  Working on the labyrinth (most often alone) gave me that quiet place of reconnection.

2.    The Physical Nature of the Projects and Events I Chose For This Sabbatical/Renewal Time - I always knew that my time in Peru would be a physical challenge, and our trek to Choquechirao certainly bore out that fact.  However, it did not occur to me that the other ways I have chosen to spend my renewal time also have a challenging physical component as well. 

I'm starting to realize that walking 10+ miles a day in the hills of Scotland won't be a picnic, especially if Joe and I run into any typically Scottish weather, i.e rain! 

However, I never gave the building of the labyrinth much thought in the pysical sense.  However, that project ended up with a signficant physical component as well - not only carrying stone to build the labyrinth either.  I am now remembering clearing the site - and the hours of raking I did, looping down small trees, and hauling branches away. 

I am also remembering the MANY wheel barrow loads of sand that I hauled a good distance to the site.  Then there were all the wheel barrow loads of mulch carried to the site and then raked on the pathways as well as  working with Joe to set up the solid granite bench in the center.  I never thought that I was putting such a physical spin on the grant proposal, but I guess physical challenges are important to me - and something that I actually enjoy.

3.  Sensing the Power of the Site - I feel that there is a certain power that is emerging at the site of the labyrinth.  For me, there is a deep sense of sacredness there, and I feel connected to something profoundly spiritual.  There is a sense of kairos rather than chronos time - a feeling of connecting with something ancient. 

Photos of the Completed Labyrinth

I bought a stone bench to put by the tree in the center of the labyrinth. The bench faces west and looks out over part of our woodlot.

Here's the labyrinth with the bench and the pathways all mulched!

Photos from the Labyrinth Construction Day

This maple tree will be at the center of the labyrinth.

David is laying out the guide stones.

We are beginning to fill in the spaces between the guide stones.

This is David, our designer.

Nancy and Susan are helping david measure the width of the pathways.

Lori is beginning to shovel the mulch.

The labyrinth is taking shape!

A bird's eye view of the project.

We're putting in the mulch.

Paddy is raking the mulch into the pathways.

The stonework is done, but there is still mulching left to do.