August 22, 2025

Spiritual Topography

I have lived in many different places in North America, each one with its distinctive land and water formations and scenery. I have also, over six and a half decades, traveled in cars, vans, buses, and trains across Canada and the United States viewing much of that landscape as it passed by. You might think there would be very few surprises when you return to a familiar place. But that is not my experience. I often experience the distinctive topography of a place after having been away for a time with new eyes. Such was the case when I looked at the western horizon out the window of a northbound bus from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport to Rockford, Illinois. I was stunned by just how flat it was. I was seeing, as if for the first time, how far into the distance one could see without obstruction. And I have traveled this highway literally hundreds of times in my life and know well how flat it is. Very familiar, yet still surprising.

In my prayers I reflected on this in light of the various spiritual landscapes we in our church are currently traversing from smooth, flat, and productive, to rocky, rough, and exhausting. Some of us are in the midst of mountaintop experiences like success, birth, promotion, or accomplishment. Others of us are experiencing the rugged terrain of illness, unstable employment, lack of confidence, strained relationships, or disappointment with one’s place in life. Some are even in deserts, where life seems empty and barren and God seems distant if not absent, while others are enduring life’s storms and floods, wondering if or when relief will come, and what the damage will be when it is over.

For some of us, these are new experiences, and we are learning for the first time how to manage and cope with these circumstances. For others of us, whose life journeys have been either longer, more varied, or both; we have been here before, yet it still seems new. Like seeing a familiar plain after having been surrounded by mountains, we forget that life exposes us to numerous topographies across our lifetime. These are life topographies that vary from endurance and challenge, topographies of encouragement and affirmation, as well as topographies of emotions from joy to fear, and topographies of the spirit from despair to hope.

I invite you all to reflect with me on where you are in your life right now. What do the life circumstances surrounding you look like, feel like, even pray like? Have you been in such a place before? If so, what have you learned from that experience? And most importantly, where are you finding God in this particular moment of your life’s journey?

May we always remember that even in our highest highs and lowest lows, God is with us. Likewise, may we as God’s people journey with each other sharing the experiences of our past journeys with those who may need our insight and understanding.

God is with us always, even in the dangerous, dark, valleys of death.

May we fear no evil, for God is with us.

I look forward to seeing you all soon as Susan and I conclude our vacation’s journey.

With faith, hope, and love,

~ Pastor Todd