"The message of Genesis is not domination but appreciation. We, who the text says are made in God's image, ought to reflect God's attitude toward nature: appreciation." Sallie McFague
In case no one has said this to you today: "Happy Earth Day!" I have now been offered this greeting by a couple of people accompanied by huge smiles. I also received the same greeting by email with the still breathtaking image of the Earth from space. I never seem to tire of seeing it. Perhaps it is the memory of that first time I saw it and the realization that I was seeing the fullness of my home as it floated in the greater universe. There was the feeling of both total awe and the recognition of the tiny speck that I am in comparison. Though I have seen it countless times since, I find my reaction is still tinged with that original wonder.
It seems impossible to me that we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. I recall the first one in 1970 and the excitement I felt that so many people were uniting to speak on behalf of our troubled environment. As a high school aged kid, it seeded some hope in me for the ways people, working in solidarity, can make a difference in the world. And over the years, though there have been set backs and challenges, there have also been increased care for our world that has saved species, cleaned up lakes and rivers, called a halt to those things that pollute our air and generally changed the ways we are aware of our human impact on our environment. There is still much to do to stop the effects of global climate change and yet we now know more than we ever have about what needs to change, what needs our attention, what ways we must continue to stand in solidarity.
For me, Earth Day has always been an extension of how I have understood my life in faith. For reasons unclear to me, my central experience of the Holy has always been grounded in the goodness of Creation. While I am sure these were not the messages spoken from the pulpit of my childhood, messages most often filled with a violent, angry, punitive image of God, I somehow walked into adolescence and adulthood with an image of a Creator God. This Creator moved through all of Creation, not just the human ones, but all…..trees, water, air, animals, birds, insects,all, and continues to bring birth in ways that seem unimaginable. It has brought a reverence for life to my way of walking in the world for which I am grateful.
While I was in seminary I read one of Sallie McFague's books called The Body Of God. McFague whose words are quoted above, used the image of the Earth as not a mere metaphor for God but as an example of how we experience the Holy. The Earth, she pointed out, was how we truly experience how God works in the world and to harm the Earth is to harm God. I remember finding it a challenging and yet inspiring book which jogged my understanding of God's Presence. It also gave new meaning for me as to what it meant to be an environmentalist.
Earth Day 2010 has seemed to extend even further into more than just one day. People have been celebrating all week. We will have a special Earth Day worship service this Sunday and I know other churches had one this past Sunday. In our service we will read the sacred texts that speak of Creator and Creation and our amazing interdependence. We will be reminded that in the scriptures Earth Day was not just one day but every day. We hear it in Genesis, the Psalms, in Ezekiel and Job and the other prophets, and in the many stories Jesus tells to instruct the people of what it means to reside in the 'kingdom' of God. His stories of fishermen and farmers, bakers and healers, all tell of those who are deeply grounded in what it means to be people of the Earth.
On this blessed Earth Day, may we find ourselves at day's end filled with appreciation, deep appreciation for the gifts of this spinning planet we call home……sweet……home.And may we carry that appreciation forward into the next day and the next and the next.
