"Creation flavored" thoughts on the lectionary texts
Date: Jan 22, 2012
(note corresponding EarthWords from 3 years ago archived on the website)
We're back - after Christmas and a week in Florida (wanted to get a look at it before the sea level rose and covered
it over?) we are back on the shore of Lake Superior and settling in for winter, although it is 36 degrees here today.
Text: Psalm 62.5-12
Thoughts
"For God alone my soul waits..." - my most recent read is/was Walk Out Walk On by Wheatley and Frieze.
They take us to seven communities around the world where people have "walked out" of situations, jobs, relationships, and
beliefs that restrict and confine them and "walk on" to ideas, people, practices that allow them to explore and discover new
gifts and possibilities. One of the themes is "No one is coming to help", by which they mean no expert, no authority,
figure,. no agency or organization (gov or non-gov). Their understanding is that the resources they need are already
there within the community. "You already have all you need." Is that essentially the same as "For God alone my
soul waits..."? Is God in/of the community relationship? Or how is it different?
"My soul waits in silence..." We spent this week in Florida - 3 nights in a hotel with no WiFi in the room and
then 4 nights in a state park cabin with no internet, radio, telephone, or tv. Talk about silence. Enough to hear
the waves, the birds, and other creatures.
Silence - it is well past time to "wait in silence" for someone to address the issues of peak oil, climate change, and
financial disruption.
Rock, refuge, fortress, salvation, deliverance, honor - interesting collection of "salvation images". Some of them
physical and individual, others more social, spiritual, communal. Which ones resonate with your understanding of salvation?
Humans - of high estate and low - are lighter than a breath. Until it comes to our carbon footprint and our impact
on Creation. As other creatures watch their habitat paved over and developed, what are they thinking about humans?
Who remembers Watership Down?
Extortion, robbery, riches - seems like there ought to be an ad for the Occupy folks in there somewhere. How much
would it help if we included all the external costs in our use of the environment - ie, trees clean air and hold soil, beef
cattle add to global warming, wetlands filter water, ore once mined is never there again (and runs pollution risks).
Well, it would help some but not enough according to Bridge at the Edge of the World by Speth.
"For thou dost requite a man according to his work" - hmm. Doesn't sound like gospel, and when you look at what
our "work" has meant to Creation, sounds a bit ominous.
Text: Jonah 3.1-5,10
Thoughts
Sorry - no whale in this passage!
Nineveh, the great city. What makes a city "great"? A thriving financial sector? Arts and culture?
Care for the poor and homeless? Strong community relationships? Low carbon footprint? Mark Hertsgaard (Hot:
Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth) suggests one component is to plan for the next 100 or 200 years with your
eyes open to climate change issues.
"Yet forty days..." Nineveh had forty days to repent/change in order to (possibly) avoid destruction. It
is apparently too late for humanity to repent/change in order to avoid all the difficulties of climate change.
The question is how much we will mitigate, how much will we be able to adapt.
Text: 1 Corinthians 7.29-31
Thoughts
"The time has grown short" - all three lessons address the time until salvation (or the opposite!) arrives. Paul
suggests its too late even to get married! (Probably not Paul's best advice!) Nevertheless, the time has grown
short to cut carbon (and other greenhouse gas) emissions, the time has grown short to address climate changes that are coming,
the time has grown short to become more self-reliant (or local community reliant) for things like food, heating/cooling, clothing,
medical, etc.
"The form of the world is passing away" - Bill McKibben says we are now living on a different planet - Eaarth.
Who remembers "As the World Turns"?! (I don't except for the title. Interesting note - The Edge of Night apparently
previewed on the same day - April 2, 1956, the first two soap operas to run 30 minutes per episode.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_the_World_Turns)
Prayer
God of busy, noisy city,
God of quiet, calm state park,
we have waited and waited in vain
for our government and culture to find an appropriate way to be in Creation.
Give us the courage to walk out of restrictive policies and harmful practices
and walk on into new possibilities for ourselves
as we strive to become a blessing for all Creation.
One Thing to Do This Week
During these dark months (here in the Northern Hemisphere) set a goal of having the fewest light bulbs on. We have
some fixtures with 3 bulbs. What would happen if we unscrewed 1 or 2? Would we get used to it? Would it
look funny? Who remembers James Thurber's aunt afraid of electricity leaking out of sockets where the bulbs are loose?
