Have been ruminating on something for a week (or five years?) or so. The discovery that hit me like a wrecking ball? "Pantheism from the Pew".
Because all our members live in the forest, they share an assumption: "Our proximity to nature makes us closer to God - EVEN affords us an enhanced status with the creator...meaning we don't have as far to travel for revelation or enlightenment."
Blew me away when I finally realized that this is actually what I've been seeing all along, yet with much less clarity.
This little step-stool or "leg-up" toward righteousness and "spiritual insight" actually serves as a ceiling or wall of sorts, that blocks the view to the truth, the revelation of the mystery that is the true Gospel.
We aren't special folks, let's all get over ourselves. If we were automatically closer to God, MORE OF US in this community, WOULD BE IN CHURCH.
This also goes far in explaining why for many Christians here, environmentalism is sacrament. Even in our Lutheran pews.
We address it as it emerges.