"Creation flavored" thoughts on the lectionary texts
Date: October 16, 2011
(note corresponding EarthWords from 3 years ago archived on the website)
And a quick follow up on the "price of gold angle to the whole golden calf story" from last week - check the cover of
the Oct 10 issue of The New Yorker!
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/toc/2011/10/10/toc_20111003 (I can't really seem to just click on the picture and open it, but you can "right click" and get "save picture as" and
then maybe you can open it and enlarge it enough to see it more clearly!)
Text: Psalm 99
Thoughts
"Equity and justice" - for "us"? for "humans"? or perhaps for "all creatures". What would that look
like? Should congress pass legislation granting rights and legal standing to plants, animals, soil, forests, ground
water? (Yeah, that's gonna happen!) I am recalling from our year of surveying The Earth Charter (
http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/) that there are some Central or South American countries that have written such things into their constitutions.
"Forgiving, but avenging wrongdoings" - nature is pretty "un-forgiving" in the sense that mistakes can sometimes even
be fatal, but I have the feeling that we suffer or incur consequences more than that we are "avenged upon."
Worship at God's mountain - where would that be in your neighborhood? A backyard? A park? A stream?
Text: Exodus 33.12-23
Thoughts
And we should keep in mind that this all comes under the heading of "Depart" (33.1) The people are leaving familiar
places for unknown ones, which while they are unknown might still be blessed. Familiar life is leaving us behind, with
climate change and peak oil and financial difficulties, but the future, even if it is difficult and limited, might still be
good.
"Show me thy ways" - ie, how does this Creation work? How much oil can we use without tipping the balance of Creation?
How do we make good soil and keep it from washing away? How can we live so as to be a blessing and not a blight?
How shall it be known that we are favored by Creation? If the land around us flourishes?
"Show me thy glory" - what would the glory of Creation look like to you?
The cleft in the rock - when I was a kid there was a rock outcropping across the street with several "clefts" we could
shrink/snuggle back into. Just a pleasant childhood memory, but it could bring back to mind the
Last Child in the
Woods (Louv
http://richardlouv.com/books/last-child/) and the importance for children of having "forts" or "secret places" in nature.
Text: Matthew 22.15-22
Thoughts
Ok - let's get our wallets out. Whose picture is on the money? Note that Jesus says "give to Caesar" and
"give to God". He doesn't say anything about buying all the cheap junk you can, about keep on buying until you need
to rent a storage unit. And he doesn't say anything about what to do with all the stuff no one else wants - plastic
bags, broken toys or tools, waste products. Could we work towards finding processes that didn't have so much waste,
where the output from one process becomes the input of another? (That seems to be the way Creation works. Probably
a good idea!)
Prayer
Loving and Dependable God,
for so many generations the glory of Creation as it grew and flourished around us
was a sign to us that we were loved and blessed.
More recently Creation seems to be suffering and struggling
and often because of us.
Show us how to live appropriately in and of Creation
that we might once more find paths of blessing
and places of comfort and security in the rock
and see your glory coming back toward us.
One Thing to Do This Week
