 By Rev. Heather J. Blais, Rector
This Sunday we begin the Season of Creation, and in particular, we celebrate the Feast of Creation. During this season, which runs from September 1 - October 4, we will join with Christians around the world to celebrate in prayer and action our Gospel calling to protect the Earth that God has entrusted into our care. The theme this year is To Hope and Act with Creation. At the 80th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, we recognized that climate change is: “...an all-encompassing social crisis and moral emergency that impacts and interconnects every aspect of pastoral concern including health, poverty, employment, racism, social justice, and family life and that can only be addressed by a Great Work involving every sector of society, including the Church.”* Our church has recognized that the work of addressing climate change is not one of many things we are called to be doing, it is the work of the Church. In order to help us live into this reality, we need to continue growing in our theological understanding of God’s relationship with creation, in our communal worship and in private prayer. As we engage in this ongoing work of growing in faith and caring for creation, I want to share a new way of praying with the scriptures that I recently came across.** Dr Hilary Marlow, of the University of Cambridge, has encouraged folks to sit with the scriptures by considering an ecological trinity. The ecological trinity consists of God, non-human creation, and humanity. As we sit with a passage, she invites us to reflect on three questions:
Song of Solomon is often considered one of the most beautiful books within the holy scriptures.*** It is a story that boldly celebrates the passionate love between two people, employing stunning poetry to communicate their desire and longing for one another. Interestingly, God is never explicitly mentioned. Yet the abiding love that is in every single verse, is telling us a whole lot about the nature of God’s abiding love. The handful of verses we have today are a bit like watching a character in a play offer a soliloquy, speaking their thoughts aloud. They see their beloved in the distance and they are completely enamored. So as we sit with this text, the first question is: what understanding does it present of non-human creation? The speaker is drawing on every gorgeous inch of creation to convey just how much they are into their beloved - in body, mind, and spirit. This speaker describes their beloved as ‘leaping upon mountains, bounding over hills’, much like ‘a gazelle or young stag.’ The speaker goes on to celebrate the gift of springtime. From the gift of warmth and sunshine, in the absence of winter and rain; to the budding and fragrant flowers, the sound of bird calls, and the new life springing forth upon the fig tree. This speaker draws upon some of the very best sights, sounds, and smells of non-human creation to convey their love and desire for their partner. In doing so, the speaker is lifting up non-human creation as sacred, as one of the highest possible forms of good. The created world herself is recognized as an ultimate holy of holies. Shifting into our second question of the ecological trinity - what are the assumptions of the author about God’s relationship to the created world? While there is no explicit mention of God, there is an unspoken assumption from our author that God’s abiding love is the source of the created world. Not only the origin, but the ongoing, never ending source of abiding love. This intimate relationship between God and the created world lifts up God’s gift of creation as sacred, as the precious holy of holies. A gift the created world is meant to share and gently draw upon with intention, care, reverence, and love. Drawn upon in such a way that when we take from the created world, we barely leave any trace whatsoever, allowing the compound interest of love and the beauty of creation to continue to grow and grow. The final question in the ecological trinity is what effects do human actions have upon non-human creation in this text, and vice versa? In today’s text, humans have a deep reverence for non-human creation. They understand themselves as companions and students who revere creation, while also drawing upon creation’s wisdom and lived experience to convey their abiding love for one another. They consider humanity a very small piece of the created world, with no sense whatsoever that the created world is humanity’s to control or ours to consume. Rather humanity has the privilege of bearing witness to non-human creation and supporting the created world as a form of God’s incarnate holy of holies. Sitting with today’s text from Song of Solomon, through the lens of the ecological trinity, has prompted me to think a bit differently about Creation and Christ. With this lens, humanity understands the created world with such deep reverence, respect, and an enduring trust in creation’s capacity to hold God’s wisdom, truth, and abiding love. It recognizes that the created world, containing non-human creation and humanity, were birthed from God’s delight, joy, and ceaseless love. Affirming that the created world is the embodiment of God’s abiding love, and that the nature of God is love. Yet this understanding of God, has startling parallels to how we understand the incarnation, when God took on human flesh in the form of Christ. We regularly recognize that Christ was incarnate, that God took on human form to help humanity understand that the nature of God is love. Sometimes this act has even been talked about as though God hadn’t really tried to communicate this very effectively at first, and it was God’s chance at a do-over. I’ll admit, this never quite made sense to me. Why would God need a do-over? Instead, what if the Church were to fully embrace other teachings that have also floated around throughout the Church’s history. What if when God poured themself into the created world, bringing forth non-human creation and humanity, God marked the first of many, many, many, countless and never ending ways that God proclaimed their nature was, is, and always will be love. Meaning just as Christ is the incarnation, the embodiment of God’s love; the Created World is also incarnate, and the embodiment of God’s love. And God’s embodiment is an abiding, unstoppable, unconditional love that we have the great gift and pleasure of spending the rest of our lives trying to begin to grasp. As Christians, we largely are pretty faithful at revering Christ, at understanding his teachings and seeking to apply those teachings in our thoughts, words, and deeds. We know it’s not easy, but by choosing to walk in faith, we understand it’s a journey we will be on for the rest of our lives. That it’s not about perfection, it’s about presence. Yet I am not so sure we always have the same reverence for Creation, which if we believe Creation is God incarnate - why not? Sure, in theory we understand and appreciate God created the world out of love. But I wonder, do we embody that belief in the way we speak and think about God? Or in our actions and behaviors? Do we embrace the incarnational nature of God in Christ and Creation in the core values that shape and guide our lives? Wherever we may be on that journey, God is with us - quite literally - in every inch of the created world, non-human creation and humanity alike. We do not have to get everything right. Perfectionism is a lost cause - I encourage all of us (myself included) to let go of that ideal or any pressure we may receive from the outside world to do things perfectly. Instead, what if we focused on being present to God incarnate, both in Christ and in the Created World? As we prepare to head back into the world today, I invite us to do some wondering:
Readings - Proper 17, Year B RCL Song of Solomon 2:8-13 | Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10 | James 1:17-27 | Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Sources * https://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_resolution.pl?resolution=2022-A088 ** https://www.salalandcedar.com/wildlectionary ***Information from this paragraph is taken from the Rt. Revd. Olivia Graham commentary at https://preachingforgodsworld.org/season-of-creation-week-one-2/
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