"Creation flavored" thoughts on the lectionary texts
Date: Sept 18, 2011
(note corresponding EarthWords from 3 years ago archived on the website)
Text: Psalm 105.1-6,37-45
Thoughts
"the wonderful works" - what would you say those are? The mountains (strength"!)? The oceans? Animals/humans? Or
shaping it all into a balanced system? I think I am more and more leaning towards the latter.
Seek God's presence - where do you do that? In Church? In the meadows or woods? By a stream?
With other believers?
"A cloud for covering" - we've had a number of clear days with only a few clouds for cover! Nice, but it's getting
kind of dry. Now the weather website advises that we are getting some smoke from a fire in Minnesota! I haven't
seen it so far. We've had a couple of small fires locally - like I say, it's dry.
Fire by night - I know it's not what the writer had in mind, but I think about sitting around the campfire! I've been
cutting wood the last few days.
"quail, bread, water from the rock" - would that be "hydro-fracturing"? More about each of these below and next
week.
Text: Exodus 16.2-15
Thoughts
Are we in an exodus of our own - from the land/time of cheap and easy fossil fuels to the land/time of energy descent?
Bill McKibben speaks of a possible "graceful decline". But there is undoubtedly going to be a lot to murmur about, especially
if we have not used these months to prepare. Are there things we can learn from The Exodus that might help us with our
own exodus?
The manna - it was enough, but could not be stored up, put up. Cheap and easy oil has allowed us to have a lifestyle
where we didn't have to simply get up and start looking for something to eat, like most of the rest of Creation does.
But as we start the energy descent, getting ourselves fed will certainly take a good deal more work than we're doing now.
(Do I hear some of us starting to murmur?) And how will we put up, store up, food when/if electricity gets scarcer?
Flesh in the evening, bread in the morning. It seems like the bread was a daily thing, and the flesh more of a
one time event. Interesting that even today bread based meals seem enough for "everyday", but festive events seem to
call for meat. Probably couldn't get away with PB&J for Thanksgiving! (Although I read the other day
that Bill Clinton is now a vegan - and enjoying it. Apparently he made the switch, took the steps, after some heart
difficulties.) I picked up some "field roast chipotle brats" (ie, veggie brats) the other day. Wow! They
were really hot. Broke one up and used it for black bean soup - it was still pretty hot.
Text: Matthew 20.1-16
Thoughts
the laborers in the vineyard - again, getting ourselves fed is going to take a lot more work than we've been used to.
When we were in Virginia we reflected on how the labor of so many enslaved people went into feeding just a few plantation
owners. Or watching a program on Shakespeare last night they talked about how 600 people worked all day long just to
feed the royal court. (I need to finish this up so I can make a quick run to the grocery store. We need orange
juice and oatmeal!)
But what if it were a community vineyard/garden/kitchen where each family shared equally in the harvest/production?
Would there be folks who were still standing around at the 11th hour "because no one had hired them"? Or would
they all have gone out earlier in the day, not for hire but to do their part in the community effort? The story kind
of turns our economic system on it's head. Are there other systems - barter, work exchange, community efforts - that
might serve us better than pure capitalism - after, or even before, an energy descent? One of our Reading Group books
is
The Bridge at the Edge of the World (Speth).
http://www.thebridgeattheedgeoftheworld.com/ Or watch the intro on youtube -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyQ33QF8Vvw I think he talks about that, but I haven't read it yet. One person suggested that if civilization started
to come apart, people might still keep on going to work, that we work for other reasons than just the money. What other
reasons are there for working? Could they be a basis for a new community civilization in the land/time
we are headed for?
Prayer
Worker of Wonders God,
your Creation is so nicely balanced,
always changing and growing,
but always also feeding and renewing itself.
We confess that we have gotten ourselves into a situation
where we take more from Creation than we give.
Reassure us that you will accompany us in our exodus
even as you accompanied the Israelites on theirs.
Strengthen us for the work
as we begin to provide more of our food ourselves.
One Thing to Do This Week
Look around for one "wild" thing you could gather/harvest to eat this week! (I assume you've already noticed how
full the moon has been these past few nights! I even put the solar oven out in the middle of the night, just to see.
It didn't work!)
