When someone calls a place "God's Country", they tend to mean peaceful places that are away from the city. Areas of untouched beauty which create a greater sense of connection. Celtic lore speaks of "thin places". Places where the distance between Heaven and Earth is less, and it is easy to encounter the sacred. The mountains and forests of New England are such places. And as a ruralist there is a rightness to the idea that living close to nature centers the divine. But I am not at all sure that it is true.
One hazard is the tendency to conflate closeness to nature with closeness to God. The specialness of a place can help you become more aware of Him. I know that is did with me. But it is not a substitute for a personal relationship with God. Imagine walking through the home of a person you have not spoken to. You might be able to intuit a lot about them from what you see. What they find to be beautiful or useful, or some traces of their behavior. You would not say that you knew them afterward.
One reason I am thinking about this is a conversation I had this week. In which someone offered the notion that the Bible says we should spread out and not live in cities. As though escape to the country were enough to assure salvation. While the good book takes a dim view of some particular cities, it does not exactly say we should not live in them either. Ben Bravo even pointed out that the Psalms speak of everyone living in Jerusalem in the end. And Saint Augustine wrote about the City of God, and the City of Man, but not the countryside of either. Still there are undeniable differences between urban and rural faith experiences.
Conventional wisdom holds that rural areas are more religious than urban ones. But that difference has narrowed over time. Reflecting the broader trend toward secularization. What they are is much more Christian. Holding traditions and rituals, like weekly church attendance, which outwardly signal a religious inner life. But in many small towns like mine, the church is a defacto social institution. So even regular attendance may not mean that a person has a strong religious commitment. Whereas in cities there are a lot of social opportunities, so attendance is more likely out of spiritual needs than social ones.
Community is the focus of the church. Every church. Being in an urban area means the chance to be part of a larger community of believers than being in a rural one. Any faith tradition or denomination your family has belonged to is likely found there. Any given small town church is very likely to be protestant evangelical. Though in my area they are almost all congregational or Catholic. Holy sites around the world have become population centers over time. The most beautiful church, temples, and religious artworks are found in cities.
Still I did not find God in these places. I desired wholeness, connection, and meaning as much as anyone. But I was not raised in a church, and I had never been a religious person. It said "atheist" on my dog tags. I went through the obligatory phase of being obnoxious about that. Soon though, content with science and philosophy, I did not feel a need to attack the beliefs of others. Or even to defend my own. Then I walked out on a comfortable upper class life at 40. And three years later I moved 1,200 miles to a place where I did not know anyone.
You see, mine is not a story of redemption after hitting rock bottom. But of falling short of being the man I knew that I could be. Of countless rationalizations. Turning to all the wrong things when times got tough. I found myself living a quiet life in the country, which afforded me ample time for consideration. Living here I began to feel a growing sense of connection to something beyond myself. Like a person in the next room, or around the bend of a trail. God was calling to me.
Not being one for woo woo I examined these feelings with my rational mind. I read about the life of Jesus and what he actually taught. I read Aquinas' five arguments, and about Pascal's wager and Gödel's ontological proof. I would be lying if I said I understood them all that well. Still I concluded that faith is a reasoned position. So I became a Christian. But I would be lying if I said I was all that good at it yet. Try as I might, I still sin every day. But now I am sorry for it.
So if you ask me if I believe in God's country...I do. But I cannot believe that He is only found there. Most Americans live in cities, as more than half of the world's population does. So if you were my friend, and I loved you, there is nothing better I could wish for you. Than for God to meet you where you are.
This is really a beautiful reflection, Casey, and I think very true. And thanks for the shout out
" I found myself living a quiet life in the country, which afforded me ample time for consideration."
Similar, but haven't moved all the way into the country yet (just a smaler town), and what called me has been similar in depth, but more prosaic then mythic.