The True Ground of The World

Under our feet, a new earth has come. The white and cold and crunchy ground is melting. The warmth has revealed the new ground. For we now see that the white ground of winter is just a veil covering the true ground of the world.

Within each human heart there is also a true ground, an inner ground, the foundation of true life.

But like the snow-covered earth, this true ground in our hearts is so often veiled, covered up, even from ourselves. For beneath the frigid blanket of worry for our earthly security that so often covers our souls, human hearts have at our core a deep trust in the divine for all that we have; for all that will come. Beneath the cold loneliness that so often shrouds our everyday lives, the human heart is designed to walk in communion with ‘the beloved’ with every step that we take. Beneath the desperate anxiety of our discontent, always longing for something more, something that will make our lives finally acceptable, our hearts are actually made to stand on perpetual gratitude for what is, for what we actually have, for the ever-present closeness of Christ regardless of what comes.

Dear friends, a ‘Christian’ is not someone who follows the rules, not someone who is ‘good’ and so to receive the reward of heaven at the end. A ‘Christian’ is not someone who believes something that cannot be proven. A Christian is someone who practices again and again breaking through to the true ground of the world – one who learns to ‘stand’ on deep trust, real gratitude, in communion with Him.

And the Act of Consecration, our sacred ritual, is a way to practice this new kind of ‘standing’. For as we come into the presence of the alive altar, as we feel the peace of communion descend, when gratitude and joy envelop our hearts, then we know that the warmth and light of His sun begins to melt the frozen layers of our hearts. The new earth, the true ground breaks through.

This contemplation by Rev. Evans is inspired by John 6 and the melting snow.