We are continuing our Lent journey of praying for the World, Church, Nation, Social Order, Natural Order, and Family as inspired by prayers at the end of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (BCP). I’m also borrowing from the Episcopal Church’s 2021 Lent curriculum: Life Transformed: The Way of Love in Lent, which is exploring the seven disciplines of the Way of Love.
This week we consider our response to and prayers for
Nature. If they had experienced the dramatic weather, fires, floods, and other
natural occurrences recently, the ancients would have said that Mother Nature,
God, or the gods are angry. With our scientific understanding, incomplete as it
is, we know that the wild weather has more to do with climate change and shifts
in global wind and wave patterns. Our human actions including over-farming,
deforestation, and damming rivers have caused some of the changes we are
experiencing and experts around the globe are sounding warnings.
What can we do as one person or one group? Perhaps the
easiest answer is use and waste less. That’s difficult in a system that comes
wrapped in plastic and is highly disposable. We have to make hard choices about
where and how we buy things. And that can be uncomfortable or even costly. Being
good stewards may force us to make difficult choices.
Recently Matthew Fox called attention to the fact that in
the rebuilding of Notre Dame, some ancient French oaks may be felled as
reported in this article: French
oaks from once-royal forest felled to rebuild Notre Dame spire | Notre Dame |
The Guardian Fox says “Surely, with ingenuity and advanced technical
know-how, we can find alternative ways to rebuild this cathedral, architects
with a conscience, who respect the holiness of trees amidst the fragile
circumstances old trees face today.” (Eco
Justice and Notre Dame Cathedral: An Urgent Call to Resist - Daily Meditations
with Matthew Fox) He is calling on the planners to make some hard choices
for the good of current and future generations.
The Lent curriculum notes that the Anglican Church of Canada
has added a new line to the Baptismal covenant: “Will you strive to
safeguard the integrity of God’s creation and respect, sustain, and renew the
life of the Earth?” The writers note that “Similar language has been
proposed at Episcopal General Conventions [to] remind us that we are tied to
this creation by our baptism – we have been united with Christ, who entered
into the world out of great love for creation…we as Christians can
conceptualize sabbath in an eco-stewardship mindset would be to think of giving
sabbath REST to the earth through conservation. In the Bible, even creation
gets a sabbath break every jubilee year, when the people do not work the soil. As
sabbath people, we are seeking to conserve the energy and resources we use.”
In this week’s Lent curriculum we are reminded that we all
need Rest. The land and even (esp.?) we humans. However, “We do not live in a
culture that encourages REST. All too often, we are forced to work harder and
longer hours, and it shows in our health. Yet, from the beginning, God – who
rested on the seventh day of creation – set rest into the pattern of all life. Truly
practicing the Way of Love means spending time with God in sabbath rest…we
can help each other find ways internally to pause and receive the gift of
sabbath. The act of rest and restoration is a part of the cycle of rebirth that
is God’s hope for us and gift to us…Sabbath rest provides the opportunity
for God to refresh us, to breathe new life into us…The gospels record
numerous times when Jesus retreated to a place of sabbath to reconnect with God
and to receive the strength he needed to continue his ministry {Luke 5 for
one].”
It can be tempting to think that our actions of Sabbath rest,
for ourselves or the land, will not make much difference in climate change or in
the world at large. This image from Facebook is a reminder to me that we are
part of the entire larger picture and it all boils down to the fact that one
person turning to God and walking in love CAN make a difference.
Giving ourselves and nature Rest isn’t easy., but it can make a difference. We do have to be
intentional about it. In the first weeks of lock-downs around the world, it was
noted that the air cleared up with less cars on the road. Now, as people return
to getting out more, the air is getting polluted again. To me this is a
dramatic example of human impact that we don’t realize.
Can we pay attention to where our food comes from and how
much energy is used to get what we ‘need’ to our homes? Since so many of us are
relying on delivery services during this pandemic, we may need to be extra
intentional about our ordering habits. I, for instance, have started using the
Amazon ‘delivery day’ option which is supposed to group your purchases into one
box and one delivery date instead of getting items piecemeal over several days.
Over this week, you might ponder these questions:
How can you as an individual ‘tread more lightly’ on the earth?
Can you think of ways to use less or recycle more?
We close with this prayer from the curriculum and one from Prayers
and Thanksgivings at the end of the Book of Common Prayer (BCP).
O God, in the course of this busy life, give us times of
refreshment and peace; and grant that we may so use our leisure to rebuild our bodies
and renew our minds, that our spirits may be opened to the goodness of your
creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, p. 825)
Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth,
you made us fellow workers in your creation: Give us wisdom and reverence so to
use the resources of nature, that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and
that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP p. 827)
Next week we will consider how Worship can impact our
prayers, and action, for social order.
