"Creation flavored" thoughts on the lectionary texts
Date: Oct 30, 2011 (Yes, I realize that's just 3 days away.
It's been a busy week as we are turning the backyard into a - hopefully - food producing garden. We hauled half the
leaves in the neighborhood and dumped them in the back yard, we covered that with a layer of composted alpaca manure, and
that with a layer of "stump grinded sawdust/earth" and that with a layer of alfalfa meal. It still needs some more leaves,
perhaps some wood chips, and then a layer of cardboard to kill the weeds. We transplanted two trees to make way for
the dwarf fruit orchard. And I spent half a day cutting firewood. So - the other way of looking
at this is that we're lucky it's only Thursday!)
(note corresponding EarthWords from 3 years ago archived on the website)
Text: Psalm 107.1-7,33-37
Thoughts
"Some wandered in desert wastes" - a climate change result of global warming? How many of us will be wandering
in desert wastes in another 10-15 years?
They were hungry and God led them to a city. Good. Only not too much of our food is grown in cities!
If the transportation system broke down, how long would the food in your city last? (With our fantastic backyard garden,
next year we are hoping it would last a little bit longer!)
"Rivers into a desert, springs into thirsty ground." What does that sound like? "A fruitful land into a salty
waste" - because the sea level is rising and pushing salt water farther inland or because they have over-irrigated and as
the water evaporated it left minerals behind?
"A desert into pools of water, parched land into springs of water" - well that sounds better, although can the desert
really support a lifestyle of subdivisions where each house has a lawn and a "pool" in the backyard? And note the irrigation
caution above!
They sow fields (and backyards!) and plant vineyards (and dwarf fruit trees!) and get a fruitful yield. That's
what we're counting on! I'll let you know.
Text: Joshua 3.7-17
Thoughts
The priests go wading in the Jordan! I have this image of all of them rolling up their pants legs and stepping
into the water. "Yikes - it's cold!" And all of them standing there ankle deep letting their feet get used to
the cold. Actually I don't know if the Jordan is cold or not; I suspect not. I'm probably picturing folks standing
in Lake Superior - which is cold - and trying to get up the nerve to jump in!
Driving all these folks out of the land. I'm sorry, I know it's meant to be encouraging, affirming, empowering
- but it's still pretty problematic. Think Israel/Palestinians; think USA/Native Americans. You can't just drive
people out of the land. We have to learn to live (together) on the land, and do it appropriately, sustainably.
As a matter of fact, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to listen to the people who have managed to live here for thousands
of years before we "drive them out" - think Indian Removal, Trail of Tears, the Long Walk of the Navajo
http://reta.nmsu.edu/modules/longwalk/default.htm, and all the rest!
Text: Matthew 23.1-12
Thoughts
Somehow the film "Inside Job" about the financial melt-down of 2008 comes to mind. (
http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob/site/ And I love the line about how "it's the movie that cost $20,000,000,000,000 to make"!) Maybe it's because I just
saw it last night; maybe it's because the rich keep getting richer and the rest don't! (I tried to put a "I Support
the Occupy Movement" banner on the website, but it conflicted with the "Home" button. But I do support them. I'm ready
to support the Coffee Party USA. I'm sorry, but it seems like big money corporations are running the government and
that is not good for the health of Creation! Things need to change. There you are.
"The heavy burdens" - I think the coming world will require a lot more physical labor, once our faithful servant (oil!)
goes away. After cutting a year's worth of firewood, I'm not sure we're ready for that! I am a lot more comfortable
walking 3-4 miles than I used to be!
"The greatest shall be the servant." - I'm not sure if "the 1%" get that!
"Whoever exalts themselves will be humbled." I'm betting we are all going to be humbled, and I worry that
some of us might not make it through. If you are thinking about such things - The Automatic Earth has a good post up
right now about how one person (Nicole Foss) has tried to prepare her family for peak oil and financial disruption.
http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/ One of the books our group is reading this winter is
Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth, by
Mark Hertsgaard. He did the investigation for the book because he has a new daughter and he was wanting to be able to
advise her on where she might want to live as global warming and climate change take hold! The fact is, we have lived
exalted for a century or so. Now some people would say we are going to live humbled for perhaps that long.
Prayer
Creating God,
you made springs of water in desert places
and fertile fields in parched ground
(and meadows and forests and streams in canyons)
and led us to them.
Unfortunately we put in lawns and swimming pools and oil wells and dams.
Now your Creation doesn't look nearly as healthy or comfortable or fruitful as it did.
Help us take care of what's left;
Help us cherish each other - human and other;
Help us live together as gracefully as we can in the years to come.
One Thing to Do This Week
If the Farmer's Market is still going on where you live, make a special point to get there and buy something - just for
moral support if nothing else! (This was the last week of the "regular season" CSA we belong to. We signed up
for four extra weeks, so we'll have local vegetables through Thanksgiving!)
