I remember the first of observance of Earth Day. I remember my passion and commitment to this endeavor to protect and preserve the beauty and resources of this planet on which we all spin. It was,in some ways, a time filled with a naïveté that now seems sweet to me. At the time when we read poems, sang songs, rallied and signed petitions to live in communion with the Earth, we did so believing that our actions and our commitment would make a difference. And I believe in many ways those early steps have created an influence that stopped many things from happening and caused others to be dreamed and created, that has helped create change and stop damage of this fragile world.
What most of us at the time did not realize was how long this endeavor would take. In the early days of what has come to be called the ‘environmental movement,there seemed to be a sense that if we just paid the right attention to the right acts, if we just shifted how we used our valuable resources, if we just loved the Earth enough, it would all work out fine. And in some ways it has while in other ways we have fallen so short of the mark.
As someone who has spent the majority of their life in the church, this need to speak for Creation as always been a perplexing thing for me. By that I mean that, at least to me, the need to preserve, care for and live in relationship with the Earth is the lens through which I read the scriptures,articulate my faith, understand the Holy. I know others see these same scriptures in much different ways than I do and, if in the same room, we might find ourselves at odds. The dance that the church and therefore faith has done with the environment is a curious one with layers that have, again in my opinion, not always served either well. What to make of all this?
On this particular Earth Day 2013, I am looking out my window at skies that are clouding up in a way whose language I understand all too well. The sky is speaking “snow”. Given that it is April 22nd, even in Minnesota this is an oddity. Looking at the gathering grayness, I am reminded of one of the wise women I know who once talked with me about climate change, back when we called it global warming. She said that, though people think the change that will take place will just be a gradual experience of rising temperatures, climate change is much more than that. Instead, she said, the experience will be one where climates will be erratic, unpredictable, full of storms that come out of no where and create damage that we had not thought possible. Certainly, the last couple of years have behaved in just this way and this particular winter in Minnesota is proving to be one that defies some odds.
A part of Earth Day for me has always been about remembering what this precious Earth has to teach us. Since this faith story in which I have found myself begins with a creation story of this universe of which I am only a speck, today seems as a good a day as any to reflect on the wisdom of this earth, air, water, plants, and animals. As I read the story, we humans are given an immense and challenging responsibility to honor all the connections in the web of life of which we are all a part. Most of the time we are pretty myopic in this endeavor, making it all about us. But the invitation of the Creator is to live in communion with the whole so the world may be as was intended. It’s a big invitation.
On this Earth Day, when we recognize that there is still so much to do to live compassionately and responsibly on this blue, green earth home, I offer these words of M.J. Slim Hooey as found in the book Earth Prayers from Around the World:
” I have come to terms with the future.
From this day onward I will walk
easy on the earth. Plant trees. Kill
no living things. Live in harmony with
all creatures. I will restore the earth
where I am. Use no more of its resources
than I need. And listen, listen to what
it is telling me.”
In this long, protracted winter, what is the earth telling us if we but only listen?
