Eagles

I was out at the petroforms the other day. For those who don’t know in the Whiteshell provincial park there is this beautiful bare rock on which there are centuries old figures and shapes made from rocks. It is a sacred place for the native folks around here. My parents were visiting and my Dad was quite interested in these since he has seen similar things in the hills by where he grew up.

There is this one petroform in the shape of an eagle. It is tucked down below one of the central areas. It has been one of my favorites. As I stood there, with my parents and my wife, we suddenly heard this squawking and the sound of feathers. Behind us flew three bald eagles. One mature one and two immature eagles. Upon seeing us they flew apart. The mature one found a tree while the two younger ones flew around us. At times their were only twenty feet away. Then they would fly behind some trees and disappear and then reappear. Each one taking its turn. Then they began to soar. First a younger one began to circle higher and higher. Then after a while the older one began as well. We watched it for almost twenty minuets, until it was just a speck and until even that speck became to small to see. When I looked back down, something in my heart was healed.

Here I was. A searching Lutheran Pastor. A tourist (or perhaps a guest) in someone else’s sacred site. With an eagle of rocks at my feat and one of feathers and spirit soaring above my head, a part of me was healed.

I have also now heard from two Buddhist Monks. One in the midst of his meetings with the Dalai lama and with Popes took the time to search for my number and phoned me up to see how I was doing and invited me to come visit. Another in the midst of his own searching took the time to hunt down my address so he could write me a letter and send me cookies as a tangible sign of people's prayers for comfort, clarity and peace.

Is God present amongst other faiths. Here is a good question “what do you see?”