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Opening Words

We gather as those who love this planet-

Especially the earth, the water, the sky , the habitats we call home-

but we know- it’s all our home.

We have heard the alarm.

Our house is on fire.

The polar icecap is melting.

Some glaciers are already gone.

The sea levels are rising.

The storms become fiercer and more frequent.

While some lands are hotter and drier and the droughts are more devastating.

Marine life is under stress,

As is all life.

The farmers know it.

The fishing people know it.

The poor of the world know it, all too well- they get the worst of it,

The creatures of land and sea know it, to their peril.

The scientists know it and have been telling us for decades.

This knowledge weighs on the hearts and minds of our young people-

And they ask:

Have you not…

Preamble[if you have time !] This second of a series is particularly inspired by Catherine Keller’s Political Theology of the Earth [2018] which I think might turn out to be the most important book I’ve read this calendar year, and which led me into two other books of hers, one referenced last week, one which you’ll hear more about later. I hope some of my readers are moved to order her books, of which I can give only the faintest , most tantalizing glimpse in my little reflections. Of course I have Naomi Klein in mind, and I have the current Canadian federal election in mind, and Greta Thunberg who got a worldwide movement of young people started, and the climate strike I attended Sept. 27, and more. Sunday Reflection-writing has much in common with making stew or soup of whatever comes to hand.

More preamble [if you still…

Introduction: This is the first of a series on Creation, with Climate Crisis especially in mind. They are particularly inspired not only by current events, but three excellent, complex, profound, poetic books by the process/feminist/ecological theologian Catherine Keller. This first of the series especially draws on her Face of the Deep: a Theology of Becoming [2003]. I can’t do justice to it, of course , in a Sunday segment– and I’m not sure I put across just why this reading of the first creation story mattered so much from an eco-justice perspective. It is probably better read than heard. I’ll preface my next piece with the little segue I wrote- to help offset any [quite understandable] lack of comprehension. I thought about fixing this piece before publishing it, but life is short and so I leave it as it was. The readings for the day were two translations of…

 Gathering words

Now is the time.  Now is the place.

And so we gather in this time and place

Forming a sacred circle filled with Holy Light.

Here is the centre-

From here, the circle radiates outward,

spiralling its light in all directions

Inviting us inward to the centre and out again

Trusting ourselves to the path, the way, the journey.

May Love embrace our circle, may Love light our way,

Celebrating the gift of this Labyrinth

This labyrinth has been created as a labour of love,

in this beautiful natural setting,

this thin space,

on water’s edge,

on continent’s edge,

high on a hill so that we – like the eagle-

can look over broad vistas and wide horizons .

And now the labour of love is offered to the world.

 We are ready to invite those of all ages and stages.

Those living…

I didn’t write a regular reflection last Sunday because it was not a regular spiritual gathering. It was the third annual summer gathering of our Cooperative Ministry, on an Oak Hill member’s century farm.

Happily , we were able to be outdoors on the front lawn, as the morning rain had stopped and the fog lifted. The late summer crickets kept us company as we sang creation-centred and church camp favourites, heard some beautiful Mary Oliver poems, and shared some spiritual practices. We had one word prayers, comments on what grows in our gardens, what nature teaches us, what we’ve observed from waterways we know . {We live in an area of many rivers, and near the world’s highest tides on the Bay of Fundy, and there are many rivers and shores and landscapes in our collective memory]. Four young children were there with parents and/or grandparents and enjoyed running…

Luke 12:22-34 . A companion piece to August 4 blog.

Do not worry? Do not be anxious.

Does anyone here not worry? We all worry. Of course!  

I sometimes wonder if Jesus inhabits the same kind of world as we do. He doesn’t seem to have young family or older family to look after. He doesn’t have rent or mortgage or car payments. He and his friends don’t have to worry what they will eat- someone always seems to feed them.  He’s not concerned about providing for his old age- he seems to know he’s not going to have one.  And in his time, no one worries about climate change. 

And yet Jesus knows stuff can happen at any moment. Life is precarious. His world is one of small farmers one harvest failure, one rent payment away from losing their land- fisher folk one storm or shipwreck away from…

[Text: Luke 12:13-21 ]. This and August 11 somehow go together- there’s a little repetition , partly because not everyone gets to church every week or remembers perfectly, and partly because I think this is really important for North Americans like us.

You can guess- it’s not going to end well for that rich farmer. In Luke’s gospel rich people are headed for trouble, from the get-go. Mary’s Song promises “ the rich will be sent empty away”. In Luke’s blessings and woes- blessing number 1 is for the poor- not just the poor in spirit, no, the poor- theirs is the realm of God. Woe no. 1 is for the rich: “ you have received your consolation . “

And Jesus as told by Luke is not the first to attack the rich. Prophet after prophet in the Hebrew Bible, the First Testament , do the same.

And yet…