"Creation flavored" thoughts on the lectionary texts
Date: November 30, 2008
Text: Psalm 80.1-7,17-19 Restore us,..Let
thy face shine
Thoughts
"Let thy face shine" - better God's face shining upon us than an un-ozone-layer-filtered sun! On the other hand,
without the sun shining upon us (and our world) we soon cease to be! It's a matter of degree, and our Earth is
so wonderfully balanced. I'm starting a wonderful book by Ellen Bernstein - The Splendor of Creation (reflections
on Gen 1). She suggests that "our souls are like vessels for God, designed to receive God's light and shine it forth.
Through the light of our souls we are bound to God, to each other, and to the soul of the world...Still, the soul's light
is subtle; it requires care. We need to tend the fire to keep it burning. Following our hearts and feelings enhances
the flame. Submitting to the 'shoulds' of our heads diminishes it...A 'lost soul' is one whose soul no longer even resides
within; it roams the ethers, tethered to the body by only a thread." What helps you "tend the fire"?
Bread and drink of tears - I assume those would be food raised, grown in "unhealthy" conditions - animals confined and
crowded, soils depleted and laced with chemicals - and water tainted with a variety of algae and chemicals. (The media
player just started Riders in the Sky singing "Cool Water"!). Food and drink of smiles (joy? peace? contented sighs?)
would be free-range eggs, bread from organic flour, clean, protected lakes and streams.
"scorn of neighbors and enemies" - the thing is that now we are all neighbors to each other, and if one people abuses
the Creation, it harms us all. As one people blesses Creation, it blesses us all. Toxic chemicals blow around
the world, topsoil washed away is washed away from us all, melting ice shelves lead to rising sea levels a world away, ballast
water carries organisms from one side of the sea to the other.
Text: Isaiah 64.1-9 O that thou would rend the heavens
and come down.
Thoughts
How do you experience God - in gentle sunshine or in violent firestorms and earthquakes? How is God
connected to (what are for us anyway) natural disasters?
"We have all become like one who is unclean..." We have sullied Creation and thus are sullied ourselves.
I would say digging in good, rich topsoil would leave you dirty but not sullied. Digging in dirt contaminated by industrial
chemicals or consumer waste, or in depleted soil, would leave you sullied, even if not dirty!
Text: Mark 13.24-31 From the fig tree learn
its lesson....
Thoughts
Sun, moon, stars falling, giving no light - sounds like heading (back?) into a black hole!
"From the fig tree learn its lesson... " What kind of lessons can we learn from the Creation? Again
from The Splendor of Creation, "Adam and Eve ate the apple from the tree of knowledge. They let themselves
be seduced into thinking that the knowledge tree would bring them superior powers; that knowing more would mean being more...Yet,
just as we have the power to spoil the creation, we also have the power to make it whole. We have the power to mend
the earth and to mend ourselves, to sew the pieces back together again." But that demands that we work together with
the Creation, learning its lessons. Thomas Berry notes that we cannot have healthy humans in an unhealthy world.
So again, what lessons do we learn from Creation?
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
you made all that is,
and all that is bears witness to your will and way,
and the light of your face gives life and peace.
Help us learn the lessons Creation would teach us;
help us live together with neighbors (and even enemies?)
sharing bread of joy and drink of life,
till the stars fall from heaven and the sun no longer shines.
Then help us simply trust in the lovepower and grace of your Creation.
One Thing to Do This Week
"Light the Advent candle, one" - or, change one incandescent bulb for a compact florescent!
