"Creation flavored" thoughts on the lectionary texts
Date: Sept 25, 2011
(note corresponding EarthWords from 3 years ago archived on the website)
And then a couple of follow-ups from last week's EarthWords -
First, about the line "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" - here's the word straight from someone who
knows: "To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and
potatoes of life. The money is the gravy." -Bette Davis. Ok, going to work for Bette Davis was probably
a little different from going to work for the rest of us, but still....
And then
second, some of you scoffed about my putting out the solar oven in the middle of the full moon
night "just to see". (No, don't look away, don't scuff your feet, I saw you. You were rolling your eyes, you were
snickering behind your hand, you were scoffing.) Well - you might want to check out this web page
www.solarcooking.org/plans/funnel.htm by Steven E Jones, Professor of Physics at Brigham Young University. It's kind of long, but if you scroll
down towards the bottom you come to "How to Use the Solar Funnel as a Refrigerator/Cooler" So, is it so far fetched
that if he can lower the temperatures 15-20 degrees on a dark night, I could maybe raise them 5-10 by pointing a solar oven
at the full moon! Granted his is probably more efficient than mine, but maybe I just needed an indoor outdoor recording
thermometer!
Well, moving on....
Text: Psalm 78.1-4,12-16
Thoughts
We will tell the coming generations -
1) have we learned from previous generations? From native, indigenous people who have lived in this place for thousands
of years, way longer than the 200-500 years we have been here (Europeans in North America, I'm thinking) or the 60-70 years
I have lived in Michigan? Or have we figured life is so different now that indigenous people or family farmers have
nothing to teach us? What about when the cheap and easy energy (oil, gas) that we have built our civilization here upon
grows more scarce and expensive? Will there still be elders around? Will their wisdom be important then?
2) what are we going to tell the future generations about what we have done to their world? This is a big one -
we should either do something or start working on our excuses even now!
Waters standing like a heap - we made the waters stand like a heap behind the dams in Washington (and elsewhere).
Until they silted up and we began to notice that the salmon were dying out partly because they couldn't get past the dam and
upstream to spawn !
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/15/140513390/workers-start-to-dismantle-dams-in-olympic-peninsula When God let the waters flow back, it destroyed the pharaoh's army. When we dismantle the dam and let the water
flow back, we have to be careful or it could destroy fish stocks, change riverbeds or water quality, spread toxic pollutants,
all kinds of things that have been settling in behind those dams over the years.
God led them with a cloud in the daytime - God's been teasing us with clouds in the daytime. The sky clouds
over, but not much rain!
And then water from the rock. As we wondered last week - the first instance of "hydraulic fracking"? I did
notice that Gasland won an Emmy
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/09/josh-fox-emmy.php Interesting that the "AD" listing when you Google "Gasland" is for anga - the America's Natural Gas Alliance.
I guess I don't know where the whole truth lies - I don't think it's smart to pump chemicals deep into the ground water, I
don't think it's smart to have just one well after another. I found those pictures more disturbing than the ones lighting
the tap water.
Waters flowing down like rivers - talk to the people in Vermont about waters flowing down like rivers! And reflect
on the reality that these kinds of extreme weather events are likely to become more and more common as the atmosphere warms
and thus can hold more water.
Text: Exodus 17.1-7
Thoughts
There was no water for the people to drink - a preview of many parts of the world where glaciers are disappearing, streams
are drying up, sea water is coming farther and farther ashore, spoiling drinking water and reducing crop yields? What
about you? Where does your fresh water come from? What happens to it after it leaves your tap, sink, bathtub,
shower, toilet, hose?
I'm always looking for any opportunity to remember Loren Eisley - "If there is magic on this planet, it is contained
in water."
And St Francis - "Be praised, Good Lord, for Sister Water, who is very useful and humble and precious and chaste."
That's just a really nice line.
Interesting that in this story water brings life, in the earlier passage, water brought death (to Pharaoh's army).
It's a matter of balance and stability. Climate scientists note that the climate has been fairly stable over the past
several thousand years. The key words there are "has been"!
Text: Philippians 2.1-13 (This is a bit beside the point, but as
I turn past Ephesians to Philippians and remember a Lutheran colleague remembering the order of the letters by "God's Electric
Power Company" [ie, GEPC, Galatians, Ephesians,....], they are coming to hook up the solar panels on our roof tomorrow.
We're kind of excited.)
Thoughts
"any encouragement..., any incentive..." We have found that it is essential to be with and talk with others
as we face the coming times and challenges. You can be convinced that life is going to change and we need to begin
to prepare for that now, but then you walk down the street and everything seems so normal. It's important to be in conversation
with others who are planting backyard gardens, or in other ways preparing to live on "a tough new planet" (eaarth,
Bill McKibben).
"In humility count others better than yourselves." Well, I'm afraid we have done more thinking of ourselves and
not really worrying about others. In this new world we are going to have to cooperate and care about others more,
and everyone is going to have to scale down their lifestyles together.
"Have this mind among yourselves..." In other words, here's what it means to be human - not to fill your life
with all kinds of stuff, but rather to empty your life in order to be available to others, available to Creation.
That's a far cry from how we have lived here. Is it too big a jump for us to make?
Prayer
Eternal God,
in your wonderful Creation water flows through glaciers
and ocean currents
and rivers
and dams
and faucets
and garden hoses
and aquifers deep underground
and drains
and coffee makers
and polar ice caps
and fruit trees
and tomatoes
and us.
And sometimes even rocks.
We praise you for the gift of water flowing through our lives.
Help us cherish the gift by using it wisely and well,
and by sending it on a clean and clear and "chaste" as we can.
One Thing to Do This Week
