EarthWords - connecting Scripture
and Creation
"Creation flavored" thoughts on the lectionary texts
Date: November 5
(Kind of a conglomeration of texts - some for 22nd Sunday, some for All Saints!)
Text: Ps 24 The Earth is the Lord's
Thoughts
The "boon" or "sanction" for faith-based environmentalism!
Who shall ascend, stand, enter, remain in God's holy place? Those who have clean hands and a pure heart.
Who do the right thing for the right reason? We don't worship the creation, but we do worship God and therefore cherish
the creation God made. The point is not to just let the earth develop as it will, but to nurture it towards the dream
God has for it. (I think?) Could that put "Christian environmentalists" at odds with "non-Christian environmentalists?
How do we avoid the arrogance that uses up or hoards the water "meant for other species"? How do we find the appropriate
use and/or care of a resource (water!) that is plentiful here but "life-threateningly scarce" elsewhere?
Where is God's holy place? In the creation or somewhere else?
With all the "Warrior King" imagery in 7-10, we note that military activity, particularly wars, tend to be environmental
disasters. One more reason to "try diplomacy".
Text: Ruth 1.1-18 When the crops failed,
Elimelech and Naomi go elsewhere
Thoughts
The World Wildlife Fund notes that while earth's population more than doubled between 1961 and 2003, our ecological footprint
more than tripled. Humans are using up the planet's resources faster than the earth can renew them, and they (WWF) project
that at this rate, by mid-century, we will need two planets worth of natural resources to support us "in the style to which
we are accustomed"! When the food was gone, Elimelech and Naomi left Bethlehem/Judah and went to Moab. Where are
you planning to go?
"Slash and burn" agriculture not only creates intense atmosphere (ie, smog) but also uses up soil nutrients and causes
folks to move elsewhere. But there's not much "elsewhere" left.
How willing are we to share our resources with those "from elsewhere" who are hungry, thirsty, nature deprived?
Text: Isaiah 25.6-9 A feast on
the mountain!
Thoughts
Some kind of culmination, conclusion, fulfillment is going to happen on the mountain, assuming that we haven't
bulldozed the top into the valley in order to get at the coal!
Wines and meats will be featured prominently! Not so good for a tea-totaling, vegetarian United
Methodist!
God will swallow up death. And yet God's creation cannot continue/exist without "Sister Death"!
What does it mean for the "power of death to be destroyed" - that it won't happen any more, or that people will come to understand/accept
it as a natural part of life and not be afraid, or that people will come to see the life of the creation as "more significant"
than any individual? I'm not sure about all that.
Text: Mark 12.28-34 The Great Commandment
Thoughts
Or "The Foundational Word for Life". To love God with all you are would mean loving "all of God that there is",
and that must include a concern for God's creation, either because God's presence permeates the creation, or because God once
became incarnate in the creation.
To love with "heart, soul, mind, strength" means to love as one interconnected, integral whole. We can't separate
off a part of ourselves to love with any more than we can separate ourselves off from the rest of creation. We are not
just in the creation, we are of the creation.
Text: Rev 21.1-6 A new heaven, a new earth
Thoughts
If Ps 34 is the "boon" of faith-based environmentalism, this (along with Gen 1.26) is one of the "banes"! Why take
care of this earth if at the end, God is simply going to make a new one?
Could the "new earth" be the "old earth renewed"? Would earth populated by humans with new vision qualify as "a
new earth"?
Prayer
Eternal God,
you were there when the world began
and when the world is complete, you will still be there.
Give us the wisdom to live our time well,
trusting and learning from those who have gone before,
preparing and laying foundation for those who are yet to come.
And when we all gather together on your mountain,
may the world around us still be singing your praise. Yes.
One thing to do -
As you review the saints, remember also those environmentalists/ecologists who have guided you. Some of mine are
Henry David Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, Sigrid Olson, Donella Meadows, Loren Eisley, Thomas Berry. Who are yours?
