Pastor's Life - Beauty

Beyond Perfection - Discovering God's Vision of Beauty by Rev. Ivan Herman "God is beguiled by beauty into the work of creation by the beauty of the world. Imagining this beauty, our divine Beloved sings it into existence. At the same time, the beauty of the Good draws humanity and all creation back to its divine source." - Wendy Farley, Beguiled by Beauty On a Wednesday in June, I set off to hunt for beauty through the lens of a camera around Pinnacles National Park. In the cool of the morning, I was the first hiker to reach Bear Gulch Reservoir. The sun was still low enough in the sky that the light wasn’t too harsh. A pair of American coots paddled through the still water that reflected the deep blue of the sky and the bare rock skyline. I took hundreds of photos, each more beautiful than the last. As I continued across the high peaks in search of California condors, I wove through the shadows of the towering pinnacles for which the park is named and ducked into the dark, chilly Balconies Cave, snapping beautiful pictures all the while. When I exited the cave, something changed. It seemed that beauty began to retreat as poison oak stretched across the dusty trail and the afternoon sun washed all the colors from the landscape.

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Rev. Ivan Herman has served as the associate pastor at Carmichael Presbyterian Church since 2009 and is active in the Presbytery of North Central California. He grew up in Ecuador and Colombia, and has previously served as pastor or ruling elder in Presbyterian congregations in Memphis, TN, Washington, DC, and San Antonio, TX. He holds an annual pass to U.S. National Parks as well as degrees from American University, Wesley Theological Seminary, and Wake Forest University. Ivan lives in Sacramento with his spouse, Susan. They keep a well-stocked fridge for their two itinerant young adult sons., but the ice cream never even makes it to the freezer.

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