Your religion is not the church you belong to,

but the cosmos you live inside of.

(GK Chesterton, 1874-1936)

I am turning this idea over in my mind.

The more I do, the more expansive my worldview becomes.

What if it ALL belongs? What if the entire universe is our cathedral, our place of worship?

What if every meeting, every mundane errand, every meal, conversation or act of kindness is a form of praise?

What if every single thing we see or touch or talk to - human, animal, leaf, stone - is on fire with the Divine?

What if walking in our neighborhood or on a mountain path, greeting a stranger at Kwik Star or hugging a long-lost friend, is a way of going to church?

Yes, the power of gathering with other like-minded worshippers is good, but if that is it for us, how small our world becomes, how narrow our vision, how cramped our sense of what or who is holy, how limited our understanding of where God resides.

"The whole earth is full of God's glory" declare the winged creatures in the prophet Isaiah's vision.

Do we believe this is true? The whole earth, the cosmos, is full of the weightiness, the density, the depth, the brightness of the One who created it all?

If we believe this, Chesterton's profound statement makes perfect sense.

Going to church is not obligatory in order to worship, to be religious. All we have to do is step outside.