"Creation flavored" thoughts on the lectionary texts
Date: December 11, 2011
(note corresponding EarthWords from 3 years ago archived on the website)
Text: Psalm 126
Thoughts
"We were like those who dream." From Bridge at the Edge of the World, James Speth comments "one still
hears with regularity that it is a mistake to stress these gloomy and doomy realities if one wants to motivate people.
(They) remind us that Martin Luther King, Jr., did not proclaim, 'I have a nightmare.' My reply to them was that he
did not need to say it - his people were living a nightmare. They needed a dream. But we, I fear, are living a
dream. We need to be reminded of the nightmare ahead. Here is the truth as I see it: we will never do the things
that are needed unless we know the full extent of our predicament." And judging from the talks in Durbin, we aren't
going to do them even if we do!
The Lord has done great things - for us. (For all Creation?) What are these "great things" in your mind?
Oceans? Mountains? Prairies? Elephants? Whales? Or could "great things" also be small things that mean much
to us - chickadees? bunnies?
Water in the desert - as I'm writing this there is a piece on the radio about rivers as the "fourth r" of transportation
(with roadways, runways, railways). The point of the piece is that we are not doing maintenance on locks and bridges.
Of course, one person notes that it's basically a few big companies that are using the rivers. They are more like "driveways"
than "roads"!
http://www.npr.org/2011/12/06/143224362/barge-industry-wants-its-share-of-federal-backing
All kinds of water issues - how much do we have? How much do we use? (I could mention the "flushing with
drinking water" issue, but I wont this time! I will note that we started using a Loveable Loo Humanure "sawdust bucket"
toilet at camp and have had no problems at all!
http://humanurehandbook.com/store/LOVEABLE-LOO-Eco-Toilet.html )
Irrigation issues - Can over irrigating turn fertile fields into deserts by evaporating and leaving mineral/salt deposits
behind?
How much water does "fracking" to get natural gas use? How much does it potentially pollute?
Isn't water a basic human right? Is access to water something that should be privatized?
And finally one more "gloomy and doomy" thought - if the electricity goes out because there's no coal or gas or whatever
your utility used to produce it - how might that effect the water supply? In other words, how does the water get from
wherever it is now to your kitchen faucet and how secure is that chain?
OK - lets move on to "sowing and reaping and shouts of joy!" (With a quick note that some people think the "sowing
with weeping" is because the farmer has basically run out of food and is now sowing/casting away the seeds saved
from last years crop instead of feeding them to his/her family. We saved the seeds from some pumpkins we bought and
will try planting them next year. It also raises the issue of saving seeds rather than buying hybrids, perhaps genetically
modified, each year.) What's the last food item you planted/reaped? We planted fruit trees this year - hope to
reap apples, pears, plums, cherries before too long.
Text: Isaiah 61.1-4,8-11
Thoughts
Garlands are wonderful - although it depends a bit on where they come from. As I understand it the floral industry
has a pretty big footprint - socially and environmentally.
Oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. What's involved in being a planting of the Lord? If God
had seen how we would grow in Creation, would God have planted (us) differently? Maybe off on some island where we could
be kept isolated from the rest of Creation? Are we an invasive species?
Repairing the devastations of many generations. Well, it doesn't sound like the climate change talks in Durban
are making much of a start. In Bridge Speth suggests that the first steps are to bring about a new consciousness.
Hey - I can work with that. Apparently there was an Anishinabe (Objibwe) leader who once said "Their way of living is
our way of dying." Paraphrasing that a bit - "Our way of living - Earth's way of dying".
Again the garlands - signs of happiness and hope. What kind of "living gifts" could you give this Christmas?
I'm afraid its a little bit late to be digging stuff up around here. The ground is freezing.
Text: John 1.6-8,19-28
Thoughts
He (John, forerunner) came to bear witness - who brought the witness of environmental conscience and climate change to
you? Certainly Aldo Leopold, Thomas Berry, Joanna Macy, Wendell Berry, Rachel Carlson were early voices in my
experience. And then what do our lives witness about our relationship to Creation? to the world of the future?
Crying in the wilderness - if you were going to express your concern for Creation, where would you do it? In a
National Park? In an "Occupy" camp? In a corporate shareholder meeting? In a neighborhood group? In
a church congregation? In a congressional hearing? In a letter to the editor? On Facebook or Twitter?
(Have to confess I don't do either of those last two. Don't do too many of the first 7 either!) On a tee-shirt.
(Ok, I can do that!)
Baptizing - I guess we're holding off on the baptism issues (clean water for, downstream folks dealing with runoff) until
Jan 8 when Jesus gets baptized.
Prayer
Doer of Great Things,
God of Creation,
help us listen to the ones who bear witness,
find a new consciousness,
and adjust our lives accordingly.
One Thing to Do This Week
Enjoy the water around you, in whatever form it currently is. We have snow on the ground, but still liquid water
in the lake. And drinking water from the faucet. Yes, the Lord has done great things and we have been blessed.
