Psalm 19

"The heavens declare the glory of God"

Psalm 19 might be Ground Zero for understanding what we mean by a "sacramental ontology." 

As I describe in Hunting Magic Eels, especially my chapter on Celtic Christianity, by "sacramental" we mean a visible sign of an invisible reality. By "ontology," a word I use way too much on this blog, we mean existence. Put together, a "sacramental ontology" is how existence itself points toward God, how creation is a visible sign of the Invisible God. 

As Psalm 19 says, "the heavens declare the glory of God." As the poem continues, the natural world is described as loud, vocal, and talkative: "Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge." The rain is talking to you. The sunsets are chatty. The wind is whispering. The flowers are shouting. 

But then, on the other hand, there is not sound at all: "There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard." 

Depending upon your posture toward the world, creation either speaks or is mute. You either hear its voice, or nothing at all. In the language of Hunting Magic Eels, your experience of the world is either enchanted or disenchanted, sacramental or material. You either see the signs--or in this case hear the voices--or you don't. 

One of the best descriptions of this contrast, between a sacramental versus material relation to the world, is from the sociologist Hartmut Rosa's work on what he calls "resonance." I use Rosa's work in one of the new chapters in the upcoming paperback edition of Hunting Magic Eels (due out Jan. 2). According to Rosa, modernity is losing its ability to "hear" the natural world. As the cosmos is increasingly conceived of as inert, material "stuff" it falls silent and mute. No voices are heard. The rain, the flowers, the wind and the trees, it's all silent to the modern, disenchanted materialist. 

But for those whose relation to the world is resonant, full, enchanted and sacramental, well, the natural world is alive and communicative. Day after day the world pours forth speech, as the heavens declare the glory of God. 

The flowers and the rain are speaking to you. 

For those who have ears, let them hear.