Week 7 (Tuesday) Earth is a Wounded Parent - Peter Bean
Planet earth is where we live. We all know that each one of us treats it differently but each one of us also depends on earth and what it produces for life.
And yet earth is wounded. Our final theme in our environmental focus is Earth is a Wounded Parent. I don't know about you but for me it's confusing when so many of us treat the Earth with disdain when it supplies us with life. How many of you grow your own vegetables? Not too many, I imagine. Yet what a miracle it is when we consider that the carrot or tomato or lettuce or broccholi you will eat tonight began life as a little seed and then developed when placed in earth, drawing nutrients from the soil, to the stage where we can eat it.
Perhaps the way we treat the earth reflects our understanding of God. If we think God is just up there “pie in the sky”, no connection to us at all, why would we respect earth or each other? But God is present in each one of you. Hopefully you have heard that message. And if God created the Earth and is visible through nature would that not change the way we look at things?
Planet earth is where we live. We all know that each one of us treats it differently but each one of us also depends on earth and what it produces for life.
And yet earth is wounded. Our final theme in our environmental focus is Earth is a Wounded Parent. I don't know about you but for me it's confusing when so many of us treat the Earth with disdain when it supplies us with life. How many of you grow your own vegetables? Not too many, I imagine. Yet what a miracle it is when we consider that the carrot or tomato or lettuce or broccholi you will eat tonight began life as a little seed and then developed when placed in earth, drawing nutrients from the soil, to the stage where we can eat it.
Perhaps the way we treat the earth reflects our understanding of God. If we think God is just up there “pie in the sky”, no connection to us at all, why would we respect earth or each other? But God is present in each one of you. Hopefully you have heard that message. And if God created the Earth and is visible through nature would that not change the way we look at things?
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How is Earth a wounded parent? One example:
The Great Barrier Reef: the world’s largest reef system. greater in size than Tasmania and Victoria combined. More than 1,500 fish species live on the reef. 215 species of birds visit the reef or nest or roost on the islands. |
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Threats
Warmer ocean temperatures put stress on coral and lead to coral bleaching. Sediment, nutrient and agriculture pesticide pollution from river catchment run-off is also affecting the health of the Great Barrier Reef. |
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Yet we continue to build huge harbours and developments and allow mining, all of which are known to contribute to harming this natural wonder. We could mention many other wounds to the earth: bushfires, earthquakes, and so on. The fact is: earth being a wounded parent then affects us: the air we breathe, the water we drink, cancers, increased respiratory diseases and so on.
Yet despite all that we do to the earth, the earth brings healing – consider how trees reshoot; forests revegetate when we allow them; native animals return (mention corridors). The earth may be a wounded parent, but it is also one that heals itself, and brings healing to us. |
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Is God a wounded parent? There is no doubt the answer is yes but just like the wounded earth brings healing, so does God. And he does it through his son Jesus as second Corinthians tells us:
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19.
These words as well as Romans 8, make it clear that while the healing of people is important, so also is the healing of the world. “Our God not only suffered for us humans, however, but also suffers with us, with our mother, Earth, and with all creation. This suffering involves a deep divine compassion that helps us facilitate healing and restoration”. Habel. And as I mentioned to you yesterday in Colossians 1 all things means all things.
The words in second Corinthians let us know we too are involved in this healing; we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. So we are called and challenged to heal each other's wounds through forgiveness, love and practising justice, but also the wounds of the earth. We do this by showing and practicing compassion. In doing that we are allowing Christ to live in and through us.
So let's finish with a couple of reflections. The first is a quote from an author called Gary Boelhower. The 2nd is an Iroquois prayer called “Returning thanks”. I shall use that as our closing prayer and blessing.
“Sensitivity to the voice of the planet in our decision making confronts us with that ultimate question: who are we now and who do we want to become? Perhaps every one of us is being called to speak for the earth. If we befriend one small piece of the earth, one tree we greet daily outside our window, a stretch of river we hike along once a year, a few acres in the country we walk through occasionally, we would learn to listen to its voice.
We will develop a close relationship with one small part of the body of the beloved earth, observe its rhythms, feast at its table, listen to its songs, and learn to speak for earth.
We must listen to the earth itself groaning under the heavy burden of our misuse. We are part of the interconnected web of life. What we do to the earth, its soil, water, and atmosphere, we ultimately do to ourselves.”
Returning Thanks - Iroquois prayer
We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs,
which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars,
which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to the sun,
that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.
Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in Whom is embodied all goodness,
and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.
Go in peace and have compassion on the earth
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19.
These words as well as Romans 8, make it clear that while the healing of people is important, so also is the healing of the world. “Our God not only suffered for us humans, however, but also suffers with us, with our mother, Earth, and with all creation. This suffering involves a deep divine compassion that helps us facilitate healing and restoration”. Habel. And as I mentioned to you yesterday in Colossians 1 all things means all things.
The words in second Corinthians let us know we too are involved in this healing; we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. So we are called and challenged to heal each other's wounds through forgiveness, love and practising justice, but also the wounds of the earth. We do this by showing and practicing compassion. In doing that we are allowing Christ to live in and through us.
So let's finish with a couple of reflections. The first is a quote from an author called Gary Boelhower. The 2nd is an Iroquois prayer called “Returning thanks”. I shall use that as our closing prayer and blessing.
“Sensitivity to the voice of the planet in our decision making confronts us with that ultimate question: who are we now and who do we want to become? Perhaps every one of us is being called to speak for the earth. If we befriend one small piece of the earth, one tree we greet daily outside our window, a stretch of river we hike along once a year, a few acres in the country we walk through occasionally, we would learn to listen to its voice.
We will develop a close relationship with one small part of the body of the beloved earth, observe its rhythms, feast at its table, listen to its songs, and learn to speak for earth.
We must listen to the earth itself groaning under the heavy burden of our misuse. We are part of the interconnected web of life. What we do to the earth, its soil, water, and atmosphere, we ultimately do to ourselves.”
Returning Thanks - Iroquois prayer
We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water.
We return thanks to all herbs,
which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.
We return thanks to the moon and stars,
which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.
We return thanks to the sun,
that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.
Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in Whom is embodied all goodness,
and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.
Go in peace and have compassion on the earth
