"Creation flavored" thoughts on the lectionary texts
Date: August 24, 2008
(Yes, I'm still here - just 4-5 days behind! Summer has a way of doing that to me. How about you?)
Text: Psalm 124 The Lord was on our
side
Thoughts
Is God really on any side except for the side of life, justice, kindness, beauty, need? Doesn't the issue of whether
God is on our side have more to do with how we are acting/behaving/living than who we are? (Yes, I am aware that there
are themes and stories in the Bible that would not agree with this.) But isn't the Lord on the side of a healthy, thriving,
luxuriant, diverse, changing, sustaining Creation? One of Thomas Berry's 6 conditions for an Ecozoic Age is that we
learn an appropriate anthropocentrism that also allows for "squirrelcentrism" and "tulipcentrism" and "oceancentrism" and
so on.
The floods would have swept us away. Now we build our homes and towns thinking we can keep the floods back.
Usually we can, but now and then....! We mostly keep the floods back, but we do let them wash our various agricultural
and lawn care chemicals away. We do let them wash our parking lots and highways clean. Some of us still flush
away un-needed pharmaceuticals and personal care products. (All of us "flush away" some of the medicines we take, but our
bodies don't completely consume!) Leading to "Dead Zones that are growing -
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93619388
We have escaped like a bird flying free. Nice image. Only ultimately there is no safe place for us to fly
to!
Note the floods are really an image here for anger and violence. War is perhaps even worse than floods - even environmentally!
Our help is not in technology or government agencies or even in non-profits or NGO's. Our help is in the Maker.
By paying attention to the Maker's dream for the Creation, we can find help and hope for the future. (Did you hear the
news story about how Juno's population cut their electricity use by 30% - mostly through behavior modification,
not technology!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93619395) (Interesting that those two stories were back to back on this morning's Morning Edition!)
Text: Exodus 1.8-2.10 Moses!
Thoughts
The population growth of the Hebrews threatened the well being of the oppressing king. Our population growth today
threatens the well being of the planet and its life systems.
"Moses in the reeds at the edge of the river" - that line between the water and the land is always fascinating, intriguing,
full of surprises and treasures. (Jon Magnuson teaches us that such a space is called an "ecotone" - a boundary between
to ecosystems. Nice word! Note that the scriptures lessons for this week [Aug 17] show us people reaching
over, beyond, through such cultural, religious boundaries to establish relationships between people on the other side.
Joseph even reaches across the boundary and discovers that those on the other side are really his brothers! Nice image
to play with.)
Text: Matthew 16.13-20 Caesarea
Philippi
Thoughts
Interesting that we tend to identify this story by its location - Caesarea Philippi. Are there stories
in your life that you tend to identify with certain places?
"Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven." How much do we learn about
life by looking at the Creation (ie., "Flesh and Blood") and how much in some other manner? How do revelation and observation
work with each other?
Prayer
Creating, Sustaining God,
you are always on the side of your Creation
and its beauty and loveliness and life.
We live in one particular location after another,
and that location is changed - for better or worse - by our being there.
And those who live "down-stream" - in space or time -
are also affected - for better or worse - by our being here.
Help us learn wisdom and grace
from you and your Creation,
that our presence might be a blessing for all living and non-living things. Amen.
One Thing to Do This Week
Take note of where and how the water runs off your lawn, driveway, (church) parking lot. Are there strips of lawn
or other vegetation where pollutants and chemicals and oil can settle out, or does it all go right down the drain? Pray
for rain(!) - and observe. Or if the sky stays stubbornly clear, enjoy the full moon. (A nice unifying image in
itself - it is full for all of us, wherever we are.)
