We approach the longest night of the year. In my church, we call these weeks before Christmas the season of Advent. The book of Genesis begins in darkness, but soon there is light and God declares creation very good. Jews and Christians and people of many faiths find God revealed in that creation.
West Thumb Geyser Basin and Lake Yellowstone
A millennium later, Paul wrote to the Christian community in Rome that understanding God begins by experiencing that creation.
Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park
Twelve hundred years later Eckhart von Hochheim was born in what is now Germany. He became a professor of theology and philosophy in Paris and Cologne, but his mystic practices and contemplation informed his teachings. Like David and Paul, he found God in that which surrounded him.
Young Bighorn sheep, National Elk Refuge, Jackson, Wyoming