For instance, we don’t have stained glass windows. But we do have filtered sunbeams through arching boughs and branches.

We don’t have a church organist. But we do have the wind in the pines.

We don’t have a choir. But we have the morning bird-chorus. And soloist Sparky the Cardinal.

We don’t have pews. But we have stumps.

We don’t have a parking lot for vehicles. But members and visitors seem to find a way to get here under their own power.

We don’t have doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, and coffee. But we do have sunflower seeds and peanuts.

We don’t have Holy Water. But we have a bird bath. (And a river!)

We don’t have a preacher. Although I have sometimes been likened to a humble parson/janitor/caretaker. And I like that.

So we do OK, in our own backwoods way. But then there are things we just don’t have at all, and no replacements. You can look all around, and you can listen closely, and you just won’t find them. For instance, we don’t have dogma. And we don’t have rigid doctrines. We don’t have religious texts or sacred books–except for the universe itself. (And the parson is fond of an obscure Zen text: “Green trees, fragrant grasses; a place not sacred–where?”)

We don’t have higher authorities or patriarchs. We don’t have arguments. (Well, sometimes one member might eat another, but this is done without malice.) We don’t have an altar, except for the good earth itself. We don’t have codes of morality–except that members just seem to generally know how to be a good blue jay. Or deer. Or chickadee. Or gray squirrel. Or woodchuck. And then to behave that way.

We don’t have insiders and outsiders. We don’t have excommunications. Or condemnations. We don’t have apostates. Or heretics. We don’t have blasphemy. We don’t have a dress code. We don’t have sinners. We don’t have Nazis and we don’t have fascists, masquerading as good ‘believers.’ Or not masquerading at all. We don’t have the righteous and we don’t have the unrighteous. We don’t have a looming apocalypse. Or a rapture. We don’t have eschatology. We don’t have proselytizing. We don’t have rituals or sacraments–except for the rising and setting of the sun and moon, the blowing of the wind, the falling of the snow and rain, the turning of the seasons. Come to think of it, maybe we do have rituals and sacraments.

But there is surely a lot of stuff we don’t have. As you can see. We don’t seem to miss it much. What we do have is… well, we have each other. And we have the shared journey of life. In a place that seems as beautiful and sacred as any other–and more than some. We are glad that you share it here with us, all of you virtual members-in-good-standing, through these bulletins from the Church O’ The Pines. And we wish you Good Sabbath!

(This is also my latest Substack post. You can follow/subsribe to me there at Notes From The Campfire@douglaswoodauthor. https://substack.com/@douglaswoodauthor)