If God can move mountains, God can handle rocks

Lately you'll find me downtown on Tuesday mornings, hanging out with pastor Quinn from Inner City Pastoral Ministry, handing out toiletries, snacks, water and other necessities to the homeless folks who live in tents and under tarps near the Bissell Centre. 

This morning I was swamped with folks looking for all of the above even before Quinn managed to set our "storefront table" on the sidewalk. It's another heat-warning day, and people were already thirsty, and hungry for granola bars, fruit snacks, and conversation. Stuff disappears in a hurry, and in no time we're left with nothing but bottled water and the few people who stick around to chat.

There's always someone with a story or two to share. Today I finally had time to introduce myself to the guy who jokingly asks if I can lace his tea with vodka every Sunday morning. I've known for months that R. likes his tea with one cream and very little sugar, but only learned his name this morning because he doesn't attend Sunday service, where there's usually more time to chat. R. can be a bit gruff, but his heart seems to be in the right place. Today he was complaining that the Alberta government's recent "rebates for all Albertans" don't reach inner city folks at all. I had to agree.

Two women settled on the edge of the sidewalk, one sitting on her walker, telling stories about her past misdeeds, and the other sitting on the curb, applying her makeup, returning like for like. I was only half-listening to their chatter, talking with R., when the one with the walker told the other, "It's been pretty hard lately, like I'm carrying a load of rocks. But if God can move mountains, he can handle rocks."

Wisdom! I told her that those were some beautiful words, and that I would write them down when I got home. And now I have.

When life feels really rocky, it's hard to remember that the rocks aren't my sole property. That's when I need to be reminded that the Source of All Life is holding me and everything else in existence at this moment. Even at the times when life is hard and I want to question whether God even exists, it's impossible for me to imagine that this incredible world -- never mind this astounding universe -- came about by chance. There is a Holy and Creative Spirit that is the spark of life in the ladybug, lights up the stars, spills water into the rivers and seas, upholds the mountains, is in the first breath of the newborn and the last breath of the dying, gives substance to rocks, and keeps everything from flying apart. 

God's Spirit can move mountains, and all the rocks that weigh us down. It may take some time, and it won't be the way we expect, but it happens. And it all belongs to God.

Deep gratitude to the woman with the walker for today's reminder.

P.S. If you're interested in helping us to move a few rocks with our inner city folks, please consider visiting this link: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/id/5750. 

Thanks.

Wisdom and serenity for our present circumstances

The video below is full of hard truths about the cost of progress and our denial of the many problems we face as a human race... and offers some helpful suggestions for how to move beyond them. It's also quite liberating in the way it demonstrates that human short-sightedness is, quite simply, something that's centuries old, something we cannot blame on each other in our present day, something we have to forgive ourselves for, and about which we need to continue to be compassionate towards others. Had human civilizations understood, as many of our Indigenous communities do, that reciprocity with nature rather than its exploitation is the only way to sustainable living, we wouldn't be facing so many crises now.

There are always more questions than answers when it comes to the future, but the real trick is to move forward just doing our best -- and drawing the best out of each other. Grow a garden, grow community, grow kindness, do what we can to care for the planet (love-in-action) and leave the rest. Grieve, adapt, and change as best we can, and encourage others to do the same.

If you haven't heard of Michael Dowd, I recommend checking out his website, postdoom.com. There's a heckuva lot of wisdom there...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFGHdOyyx74

Laudato Si Sunday Reflection: Making wisdom our bottom line

Today's reflection is brought to you by 
1 Corinthians 3: 16-23.

We are your temple,
O God,
because your Spirit dwells in us.

But your Spirit also dwells
in all that you have made,
so all of creation
is your temple.

And how many of your temples
we have destroyed!

Our wisdom is foolishness
compared with yours.

But we pretend
that we know
all that's worth knowing
even as things fall apart around us.

Remind us
that we
and all that you have made
are sacred to you.

Help us to hold creation
and one another
as you do --
within your protective embrace.

Let us make your wisdom
our bottom line.

+Amen.

* * * * * * *

Chapter Five of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home is, in my humble opinion, the best part of Pope Francis' encyclical. He and his encyclical writing team spent the previous 4 chapters "pointing to the cracks in the planet that we inhabit as well as to the profoundly human causes of environmental degradation"... but "now we shall try to outline the major paths of dialogue which can help us escape the spiral of self-destruction which currently engulfs us" (paragraph 163).

Of course, it's going to take more than discussion to sort out the ecological and social messes we find ourselves in, but before I get ahead of myself and the Pope, we're looking at paragraphs 163-167 this week. You can read them for yourself if you click here and scroll down.

I like the first line of paragraph 164 -- "Beginning in the middle of the last century and overcoming many difficulties, there has been a growing conviction that our planet is a homeland and that humanity is one people living in a common home." Basically, this underlines the idea that we are interdependent -- "one world with a common plan." Unfortunately, we've been sold a bill of goods by consumer culture that insists we must all exist independently, apart from our neighbours, with our own homes, possessions and live-it-up-lifestyles that take us far from the idea of the common good. Similarly, our countries too often act independently of each other when what we really need is to pull together:

A global consensus is essential for confronting the deeper problems, which cannot be resolved by unilateral actions on the part of individual countries. Such a consensus could lead, for example, to planning a sustainable and diversified agriculture, developing renewable and less polluting forms of energy, encouraging a more efficient use of energy, promoting a better management of marine and forest resources, and ensuring universal access to drinking water (paragraph 164).

Imagine what that would look like! Canada growing grains for drought-ravaged Sudan, Sudan developing solar farms that can give energy to Europe, Europe and the Pacific Rim countries working together for better ocean management programs (Canada being one of that group) and everyone everywhere working together to protect our most precious resource, water, and ensure that all species on earth have enough of what we need to live.

Utopia? No, reality -- if we can set aside our differences, listen to our scientists, and follow through on some good management by working together.

Perhaps our biggest challenge is found in the first lines of paragraph 165: "We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels -- especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas -- needs to be progressively replaced without delay."

Jason Kenny, wake up! The environment is the bottom line -- we can't eat money or drink oil. Even your Pope tells you that climate change is a reality (there are rumours that you're Catholic). But Pope Francis is talking about politicians like you when he says,

"Politics and business have been slow to react in a way commensurate with the urgency of the challenges facing our world. Although the post-industrial period may well be remembered as one of the most irresponsible in history, nonetheless there is reason to hope that humanity at the dawn of the twenty-first century will be remembered for having generously shouldered its grave responsibilities."

Wake up, Jason Kenny! It's time to reduce greenhouse gases! You can do it! (If you're not sure who I'm talking about, Jason Kenny is Alberta's premier, who is pretending that the rest of the world is not shifting to alternate forms of energy and who is pushing for more climate change-increasing carbon emissions with his insistence on pipeline and tarsands mega projects even as the price of crude oil falls below the point where it will bring the province any kind of economic return).

Paragraphs 166 and 167 mention how "Worldwide, the ecological movement has made significant advances," (paragraph 166) and that World Summits have tried to be responsible for getting us on the right path to saving our planet, though in many cases, the lack of political will to implement the Summits' recommendations has caused too much delay. Pope Francis and friends note that that 1992 Earth Summit in Rio was "a real step forward, and prophetic for its time," but that "its accords have been poorly implemented, due to lack of suitable mechanisms for oversight, periodic review and penalties in cases of non-compliance" (paragraph 167).

The Earth Summit (ECO92) came up with 27 principles (that you can read by clicking here) that I somehow missed until I read Laudato Si the first time. Some of the encyclical's ideas sound like they come directly out of them. For example, here's principle 6:

The special situation and needs of developing countries, particularly the least developed and those most environmentally vulnerable, shall be given special priority. International actions in the field of environment and development should also address the interests and needs of all countries.

I can't help but wonder where we would be as a planetary people if we had inscribed these principles on our hearts and begun to live by them almost 30 years ago... but I think my church was too busy preventing one of its liberation theologians, Leonardo Boff, from speaking at the Earth Summit to really pay attention to what the Earth Summit was all about. I appreciate that Pope Francis is revisiting that territory now, but in the meantime, we've lost valuable time to dig ourselves out of all this trouble we're in.

The northern hemisphere is slowly moving into spring, the south into fall. The edge season we are in is a wonderful time to consider our earth as it begins to reawaken or settle into its dormant season. But no matter where we live, we are all called to wake up to the actions we can take to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel energy, to cut our emissions of CO2 as much as possible. When I was reflecting on this part of Laudato Si four years ago, we decided to take a big step, installing solar panels to provide most of our electricity. Though most of them are covered with snow, today they produced about 1800 watts of electricity, enough to light our home.

Here is an excellent list from Ontario of ten ways for anyone to reduce greenhouse gases:

Ten Ways to Reduce Greenhouse Gases

How many do you follow? And how many more can you try to implement? How else can we employ God's wisdom as our bottom line in the way we care for creation?

Sunday Reflection: Asking for the right things

Today's reflection is brought to you by James 3:16 - 4:3.

O God,
for what shall we ask?

Not for the things that cause envy,
that place us higher than others,
not for things that create disorder,
or lead to wickedness of any kind.

No,
we should ask for wisdom from you,
your wisdom in us --
peace and gentleness,
surrender and mercy,
the deepest goodness that invites and includes others.

If we sow peace,
we harvest goodness and peace.

But sometimes,
our desires get the best of us.

It's too easy
to forget all the good we already have
and to want glamour or fame,
brilliance or beauty,
or a wealth of things
that cannot satisfy.

Remind us,
in those moments,
that we should ask for wisdom from you.

Your wisdom in us --
peace and gentleness,
surrender and mercy,
the deepest goodness that invites and includes others.

Help us to ask just for the right things.

+Amen.

Guest Moodler: Sermon on Wisdom

Six years ago today, I posted a sermon on the Bread of Life, delivered by my best friend, Cathy, in her United Church. Today I have the pleasure of posting another of her sermons -- this time reflecting on the very same readings, but with a different theme. Being a little older and wiser, I have to say I really appreciate her sharing about wisdom today, and am grateful to her for allowing me the privilege of posting it here. Enjoy!

Older and Wiser??

August 19, 2018

             
            When I saw the reading for this week on Jesus as the bread of life something twigged that I’ve done a sermon for this reading before. And sure enough. August 19, 2012… the exact same reading and the exact same date! What a coincidence! I talked about food, it was 9 minutes long and we left church early that day. Some have suggested I just repeat the sermon but I decided to do something new because six years on, I’m older and wiser. Well maybe.

             In our first reading Solomon, a new and very young king of Israel asked God for Wisdom when God was handing out wishes. God was very pleased that Solomon had asked for something so, well, wise. He hadn’t asked for riches or power but something more valuable. “How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!” it says in Proverbs (16:16). 

             Wisdom does sound like a good thing to have. But what is wisdom and how do we get it? According to those who study such things, wisdom has three factors: Cognition, reflection and compassion. Cognition is what we know and how we think. Experience certainly teaches us a lot. We look back on our youth and say, if I only knew then what I know now. That’s experience. But wisdom is more than just knowing a lot. Being able to reflect on our experiences and gain insight into them and then use that understanding to help ourselves and others is what turns our experience into wisdom. 

             When I was working in nursing homes 20 years ago, I remember being surprised at the number of elderly people I met who did not seem wise. To be honest, there were many who were silly, exasperating and annoying. Don’t get me wrong. I loved them anyway. I learned then that people often carry entrenched patterns of behaviour and personality throughout their lives, and older and wiser doesn’t always apply. But one woman I cared for I remember particularly and thought of as wise. What was the difference? Florence had a multitude of physical ailments: crumbling bones, pain, a tremor, and a heart condition. But whenever I had to take her medication or provide care I would always sneak in some extra time with her. I felt good in her presence. I loved to chat with her. She radiated a quality of peacefulness despite her considerable challenges. She was gracious, grateful, had a good sense of humour, and a genuine interest in others. 

             What I read about wisdom from the definitions I found on the internet may explain the wisdom I found in Florence, the nursing home resident. Wisdom is maintaining positive well-being and kindness in the face of challenges. Florence certainly displayed those qualities. It’s not like she never complained or expressed pain but she did not allow the hardships to define her. But to get to that point we have to look within. As well as the hardships in the world around us we have to see and acknowledge what is negative within ourselves and own it. We have to accept our negative qualities, learn from them and forgive them, which leads us to have greater empathy for others. Wisdom is characterized by a reduction in self-centeredness. Wise people try to understand situations from multiple perspectives, not just their own. But it is understanding ourselves more fully that allows us to see things through others’ eyes. 

             Someone wrote to me the other day that we really need more sermons on when life doesn’t work out. And I’m aware that in the midst of heartache, broken dreams, devastating illness or loss, fears about the state of our world and its future, that this road map to become wise I’ve just outlined is small comfort. When you have an experience, reflect on it, turn that insight into compassion and you’ll be wise. Poof! No problem. Easy peasy. But while that’s an important formula, I think there is more to it than that.

             There is a wisdom in the world that is deeper than the psychological processing of our minds and behaviours. We see this in children who come up with surprising gems of wisdom. The same can be said for people we would describe as unsophisticated or “simple”. I spent years working with people with intellectual disabilities who taught me more about being real than I ever taught them. There is the wisdom of nature: the amazing world of animals, and how plants and insects and other species find a way to thrive and survive. And there is the deep wisdom of your own being. You know there have been times in your life when you acted on wisdom from within yourself that steered you in the right direction at the right time. I think of the two times in my life, twenty-five years apart, when I experienced an overwhelming urgency to come home while living or vacationing abroad, and cutting my plans short and getting home in time to be with my parents when they needed me most even though I had no idea beforehand. In the first case, my Mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer 10 days after I moved home, and in the second, this spring, I cut my vacation short to go to my Dad, who died 3 days after I arrived, much, much sooner than anyone could have predicted. 

             If there is this deep wisdom flowing through the universe and us, and I believe there is, then I think it is that wisdom that sustains us through the difficult times and ultimately changes us for the better. 

             How can we trust and cultivate that wisdom from God? How can we grow in the wisdom we need to make a difference in the world and in our own ability to cope with the challenges of life? I do think we have to work at it and the first step is to desire wisdom and to ask for it. 

             Solomon was not older and wiser when he became King. But he had the wisdom to know what to ask for to be the kind of ruler that was needed and that he wanted to be. He knew he needed more wisdom and God blessed him with that and more. We might be in position where we have a steep learning curve ahead. Or we recognize things aren’t working for us and life is full of dissatisfaction, and we might think there’s got to be a better way and cry for help. This is a cry for wisdom. Or we are visited by tragedy and the suffering leaves us unable to imagine going on, and shaking our fists at God in anger and asking why. That honest response can be a call for wisdom. And when we call for wisdom, wisdom answers. Hear from Proverbs, which are the Proverbs of Solomon: “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever else you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honour you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a fair garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.” (4:7-9)There is a line in one of our hymns that God is wiser than despair. We too can be wiser than despair. And what a gift to the world we can be when we are. 

             So there is working on ourselves to gain wisdom and there is asking for wisdom. But there is another beautiful way we become wise, and that is by being with wise people. Richard Rohr, a wise man and author, says, “Transformed people transform people.” What that means is by being in the presence of someone wise, holy or transformed, we are changed ourselves. The reverse also applies. If you do your own inner work and gain wisdom, others you are with will gain something from you that you don’t even realize you are giving. Think of the wise people in your life… grandparents or other relatives, teachers, people in this church. Remember how it felt, or feels to be around them. I think of one of my grandmothers. My memories with her are coloured by a sense of unconditional love, safety, wonder, and desire to learn and become my best self. When we hang out with wise people they hold up a mirror of positive acceptance which helps us discover our potential for wisdom within. I think of all my nursing mentors, including my own mother, who showed me the art of nursing with compassion and intuition. Not only does a mentor like this give us a model to emulate but they too give us the encouragement to believe in our own abilities. 

             I think of all the farmers I grew up with who seemed to be wise by absorbing the wisdom of the land and the cycles of nature and I think of my own farmer father who faced his death earlier this year with such grace and wisdom that I have rarely seen. 

             I think of the people of this church. When I sit up in the choir, I am surrounded by the wisdom of those other choir women. Their collective life experience, their joy (we laugh a lot) and their compassion inspire me constantly. I have so many examples of women I want to be when I grow up. We need wise elders as models for our own aging. And I think of the many members of this church whose lives I’ve been privileged to share in a deeper way in my role as Parish Nurse, hearing their amazing life stories and seeing their compassion and humility in the face of living through incredibly challenging times like a world war, or the loss of a child. I am humbled and inspired by the people of this church every day. 

             Finally, we as a church are inspired and changed by the wisdom of Jesus. We know the stories of Jesus and have a template for a moral, compassionate life. But there is something more here, something deeper than pretty stories. 

             In our reading from John, Jesus talks about being the bread of life, the living bread that came down from heaven. Then he tells his disciples that the bread is his flesh and they must eat it and drink his blood to have life. Talking about eating flesh and drinking blood is too gross for me. Too many horror movie images. But eating bread, I can think about that. I love bread. And bread as body works symbolically. That’s why I made the little bread bodies for the children. And of course there is the sacrament of communion, the ritual that Jesus gave us. When we eat bread or anything else we take it into ourselves. It becomes us. We chew on it and chewing on something is a metaphor for thinking things over, reflecting and processing, one of those steps of wisdom I mentioned at the beginning.        
           
             Jesus wants to pass on his wisdom which he received from his Father, our God. Eat me, Jesus says. I am the bread you want that satisfies, that gives life. Take me in, chew on me. How do we do this? By spending time with him. We do this when we come together in worship. We do this when we read the bible, not just reading the stories but chewing on them, taking them in through repetition and study. We spend time directly with the wisdom of Jesus in the mystery of silence and in prayer. And we do this indirectly as well, by spending time with those who have taken the wisdom of Jesus into their own cells. We have a library here in our church of good books, of spiritual wisdom just waiting to be feasted upon, wisdom from the path of Jesus and from parallel paths of other faiths. There are wise people in your own life to remember and give thanks for. There are wise people around us on every side whose wisdom will rub off on us. There is the created world to spend time in and absorb its wisdom. There are sources of wisdom all around us if we have an open heart and eyes to see and the desire to eat some good bread. 

             
Bon appetite! 

Let us pray. 
Jesus, we ask you for this bread of life, 
for wisdom, 
for life in all its fullness 
that we may be filled and give to others from that fullness. 

Amen.

Seeking Wisdom

O Wisdom,
we find you in all your goodness, beauty and truth
when we allow love to lead us.

O God of Wisdom
how quickly you show yourself
when we allow you
to work in us,
to do what is right and just.

You wait
patiently
for us to seek you --
even as you are constantly seeking us.

You appear on our path
and meet us in our minds
whenever we see you
and love you
in all that surrounds us.

When we act with compassion
Wisdom is in us
and we are in Wisdom;
you are in us
and we are in you.

Help us to remain in you always.

+Amen.

A prayer for an understanding mind (and heart)

God,
there is so much
that my small mind cannot fathom.

This world
with all its intricacies
and your created beings
with all our complexities
are more than I
will ever comprehend.

Some of the black and white judgments
I was taught to make in the past
have turned out
to be so many shades of grey
that I am just beginning to embrace.

So, like Solomon,
I ask for a wise and discerning mind --
not so that I may judge
things or people to be right or wrong
but so that I may hold the tensions
you want me to hold
and remain open,
leaving judgment to you alone.

I trust that
as I embrace life and love in all their many forms,
you will lead my heart
down paths of beauty and goodness,
truth and simplicity.

+Amen.

Laudato Si Sunday Reflection #24... Practical relativism as a "dog's breakfast"

Consider yourself warned -- in this week's paragraphs of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis and his encyclical writing team bring out a dog's breakfast (British slang meaning a confused mess or mixture) of issues that our world isn't handling particularly well due to the fact that many of us give priority to personal interest rather than the common good.

I'm focusing on paragraphs 120-123 of Laudato Si, which can be found by clicking here and scrolling down. Only four paragraphs today because a fifth would take us into a different topic which we'll cover next week.

As the seventh chorus of Laudato Si reminds us in paragraph 120, everything is interrelated and all of God's creation -- from the human embryo to his mother to the oilsands worker to the wildlife that lives near the tailings pond -- all are important and really, how can we assign them particular value, especially when we are not God and we can't see the Big Picture? But when human beings try to play God and make decisions about who should thrive and who should die; when practical relativism says, "it is inconvenient, therefore it must go"; when we devalue life in any form, we end up with a dog's breakfast "whereby different attitudes can feed on one another, leading to environmental degradation and social decay" (paragraph 122).

Let's backtrack a moment to practical relativism. Basically, it has to do with seeing everything in life in terms of how it serves my personal interest. It's interesting to me that practical relativism really took hold during the age of the 'me generation' which is comprised of people my age and older. We came of age in a time when there was peace and prosperity in the Western World, and many of us developed a sense that we had worked hard for our wealth and security, forgetting that there were others like us in poorer and more dangerous parts of the world who were working just as hard or even harder, but were unable to reach our standards of living because of many factors beyond their control (some of those factors created by our high standard of living). Some of us have lost sight of the fact that everything we have is blessing and gift from God, and now think that because we can afford it, we are entitled to a life of luxury and convenience and the world revolves around us and our desires.

But it doesn't, and it shouldn't. All God's creatures should be as fortunate as we are, and we shouldn't rest on our prosperity until they are.

In paragraph 123 we read that "The culture of relativism is the same disorder which drives one person to take advantage of another, to treat others as mere objects, imposing forced labour on them or enslaving them to pay their debts." And it leads to the dog's breakfast which we see in our newspapers almost daily (some of which is named by Pope Francis and friends in the continuation of paragraph 123):

abortion
sexual exploitation of children
abandonment of the elderly
human trafficking
organized crime
the drug trade
commerce in blood diamonds and endangered species
buying of organs of the poor for resale or experimentation
elimination of unwanted children
(and this list hardly begins to account for the hardships faced by other species... like loss of habitat, pollution of soil, water, and air, climate change, etc.)

And all of it, all of it, springs from our inability to really appreciate the value of life in its many forms. If I have a bone to pick with Pope Francis and friends, it is that is that they fail to acknowledge that we humans might need to employ some form of reliable birth control to limit our numbers for the sake of all earth's species, all God's creatures, but I completely agree when they note that

[relativism's] "use and throw away" logic generates so much waste, because of the disordered desire to consume more than what is really necessary. We should not think that political efforts of the force of law will be sufficient to prevent actions which affect the environment because, when the culture itself is corrupt and objective truth and universally valid principles are no longer upheld, then laws can only be seen as arbitrary impositions or obstacles to be avoided (paragraph 123).

After reading these paragraphs earlier in the week, I found myself moodling (musing and doodling) about our tendency to think that we know all the answers and our tendency to make judgements based on what works for us instead of what's best for everyone. Unfortunately, this extends into all corners of our lives. Example: the guy who tailgated me this morning -- I judged him for being a pushy driver and thought some nasty thoughts about what should happen to him, but for all I know, he was on his way to his mother's house because she was having a medical episode and needed his help.

We humans tend to pass judgment on many occurrences in our lives, but I suspect that God calls us to be open to possibilities that are far beyond us, and to trust God's wisdom more than our own egocentric applications of practical relativism. So this week's challenge is to be more aware of the internal critic that decides what is good and bad according to our own lived experience rather than God's commandments to love, and be open to seeing with God's eyes instead.

Then, perhaps, we can find God's merciful and loving ways to deal with the dog's breakfasts that plague our own lives, the lives of our brothers and sisters facing the kinds of human struggles in the list above, and the life of our beautiful Mother Earth.

*******

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace.

+AMEN.

(A prayer for our earth and all quotations from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

Next up: #25... Toward a work/life balance

Laudato Si: Sunday Reflection #20... WANTED: Wisdom

The Treasure Within
by Mary Southard csj
(more of her art can be found at
ministryofthearts.org)

The advancement of human beings is pretty incredible when you really think about it. It's just our wisdom hasn't kept up. In this week's 5 paragraphs of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis names some of the amazing technological advances of the past two centuries, and notes our need to rediscover wisdom for our planet's sake. See for yourself by clicking here and reading paragraphs 101-105.

We've completed the second chapter of Laudato Si, The Gospel of Creation, and now we are moving into Chapter three, The Human Roots of the Ecological Crisis, which will look at how "human life and activity have gone awry, to the serious detriment of the world around us." Our encyclical writers "focus on the dominant technocratic paradigm and the place of human beings and of human action in the world" (paragraph 101).

"We are the beneficiaries of two centuries of enormous waves of change" begins paragraph 102, and here's a long list of some of the changes mentioned:

steam engines
railways
the telegraph
electricity
automobiles
airplanes
chemical industries
modern medicine
information technology
digital devices
robotics
biotechnologies
nanotechnologies
domestic appliances
transportation systems
bridges, buildings and public spaces
nuclear energy
information technology
knowledge of our DNA (all in paragraphs 102-104)

And I'm sure there are many more that our writers didn't name. God-given human creativity has brought about all these wonders, many of which have vastly improved the survival and fulfillment of many human beings on earth. The problem is that these things have also given human beings "tremendous power" and dominance over one another and all God's other creatures.

The problem is that our technological advances keep occurring faster than our understanding of what they mean for all of creation in terms of "human responsibility, values and conscience" (paragraph 105). Our awareness of our limitations is clouded by human ego -- "look what we did! Isn't it incredible?!" -- preventing us from remembering that it's not just human beings who are affected by what we do with our discoveries. If we really think about it, there hasn't been a bridge built or a medical procedure invented that hasn't affected the lives of countless creatures, human and non-human, in one way or another. As has already been mentioned four times already, everything is interconnected. But we have the freedom to create, and unfortunately we don't always use wisdom to remember those connections, or use our creativity the way God intended.

The last three sentences of paragraph 105 sum it up pretty bluntly:

Our freedom fades when it is handed over to the blind forces of the unconscious, of immediate needs, of self-interest, and of violence. In this sense, we stand naked and exposed in the face of our ever-increasing power, lacking the wherewithal to control it. We have certain superficial mechanisms, but we cannot claim to have a sound ethics, a culture and spirituality genuinely capable of setting limits and teaching clear-minded self-restraint.

I'd like to underline two key words in this last bit: spirituality and self-restraint. It strikes me that, had human beings created that long list of wonders above while in spiritual, meditative relationship with God, one another, and all of creation, self-restraint would have come naturally, and wisdom would have played a much larger role in our creation of a world with fewer problems. But we humans are often in too much of a hurry to wait for Wisdom, she who calls to us so beautifully in Chapter 8 of the book of Proverbs (click here to read it).

We could all use a dose of wisdom in our lives, especially during this holy season of Advent. We succumb to such a pressured pace in December that it's no wonder we lose perspective. So this week, I would invite us all to slow down and spend some time meditating on Wisdom as she appears in Proverbs 8, and allow her love of truth and goodness to fill our hearts as we prepare for Christ's coming, and as we wait to see what will come out of the Paris Climate talks. Perhaps she can motivate us toward self-restraint when it comes to the consumerism linked to Christmas, and inspire us to find ways to walk more simply on the earth in this holy season.

*******

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace.

+AMEN.

(A prayer for our earth and all quotations from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

Up next: #21... "Realities are more important than ideas"

Simple Suggestion #226... Craft wisely

These little handmade cotton dishcloths are my favourite ones, better than any storebought ones I've found. They were crafted by my cousin, Dallas, as a little surprise that came in the mail one day. My girlfriend Cathy sent me some knitted ones, too, and I've been known to make my own on occasion.

I wouldn't call myself a particularly crafty person, but I admire people who are -- if what they craft is useful. The thing is, our world is already too full of useless stuff, so I'm afraid it's not easy for me to appreciate pom pom leprechauns or yarn wrapped antlers or other cute, crafty things -- unless they serve a purpose. Otherwise, it's all contributing to the state of "stuffocation" in my previous Simple Suggestion.

Of course, there are thousands of websites that suggest crafting possibilities, even "cool new items" you can make by reusing recycled items, but I always have to ask:

1. Is the item being made really practical and helpful in daily life?
2. If I'm making something for someone else, is it actually something I would use myself? or
3. Is it cute clutter that's likely to end up in a landfill when its owner gets tired of it?

Better to make a usable quilt, like my cousin Cyla.

Or something like my friend Nicola's cute clock (she of of Geekware.ca fame)
 that hangs over my hubby's desk.

 My sister made this gorgeous christening gown for my babies, and I consider it an heirloom -- 

I'll pass it on to somebody special for their baby someday...  

and if I walk around my house, I'm sure to find a few dozen other examples of useful things made by people I love.

Used to be that people crafted items all the time because that was the only way they could have what they needed. Knowing how to make things from scratch, in a sustainable manner, is a useful skill. It could be argued that old-fashioned activities like sewing, knitting, canning and woodwork have been essential to the survival of the human race, but these days we have the market economy to provide things we can't make ourselves. I'm thinking now, with markets failing all over the place, that it would be really good to start brushing up on basic skills to do with clothing, feeding and furnishing our own homes...

The twin baby daughters of a friend at work recently moved me into action. I've enjoyed the process of relearning to crochet, and the thought of the little ones falling asleep holding onto these super-soft, fleece-like, non-identical snuggle blankets makes me happy. But I'm not about to go wild with my projects. I'm meeting a need, and that's enough until somebody else has a baby, maybe.

There are other things to be done... like crocheting feet for my kitchen chairs, and making a cover for Lee's weights so they don't scratch the floor when he sets them down. And I have a sewing machine downstairs that should be repairing clothing items -- though I tend to think of that more as a chore than as a craft...

Creating/crafting can be fun, but it's always better when it serves a need rather than a want... Of course, needs and wants are best when they're one and the same.

What's your favourite wise and crafty creative thing to do?

P.S. Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Click here.

Epiphany Sunday

Today, in most Christian churches, is the Feast of the Epiphany, a day to remember the Magi, or wise ones, who followed a star in their attempt to find God. I just finished reading James Rollins' book, Map of Bones, an action thriller based on the idea that the Magi were ancient alchemists who learned secret wisdom and hid it for modern civilizations to find. It was a romp of a story, with lots of twists and turns, gunfire and explosions, hi-tech spyware and high-speed travel. I think I'll look for more of Rollins' writing.

The thing that caught my attention once again in thinking about the Magi was that they're rather vague characters. We have no idea how many there were, where they came from, their age, sex, or race. Yes, the Bible  (Matthew 2) says "wise men," but remember, the Bible scribes used the word "men" for everyone all the time, whether male or female (that's one of those things that drives me crazy about the Bible -- its non-inclusive language -- as a woman, I hate being generically lumped in with "all men", but that's another moodling for another day).

So there may have been a dozen magi (though we think there are three because three gifts are mentioned: gold, frankincense (not frankenstein, as the poor reader at church misread yesterday, giving us a case of "church giggles," where you soundlessly shake while laughing so hard you cry) and myrrh. They may have been from many different places. They could have been male or female. The Magi represent all those who seek wisdom, and I don't know about you, but I'd like to be wiser. And I'd like to share, once again, my story of modern-day Monica and the wisdom she finds when she meets the Magi... which you can access by clicking here. Maybe next year I'll remember to share this before Christmas!

#87 of 100 Simple Suggestions... Invite an elderly neighbour to dinner

Do you have any seniors living near you? We're blessed to live in a neighbourhood where a few of the residents are actually the original owners of the 50-something-year-old homes here. We've discovered, by having a few of those original neighbours come for dinner, a wealth of wisdom, and the history of our area. There was once a market garden just a short ways down our block. The park across the street was Bob's family's cow pasture. The park across 98th Avenue with the hills was once the local swimming hole. And there have been several interesting characters who lived on our street and complained when children played in the area park because they were afraid they might end up with a baseball through their picture windows (which never happened).

The more senior members of our communities have a lot of stories and wisdom to share. When my family first came to Edmonton many years ago, one of our older neighbours, Mr. Brown, offered me the use of his library of ancient literary classics. He insisted I read Homer's The Iliad and the Odyssey, which I did in the end, out of politeness, and which I was glad for when I reached university. Since then, I've gone out of my way to chat with older neighbours, and have been rewarded with some great recipes and a lot of good-to-know information. My children have built a few pretty special friendships with the older folks, kind of like having a few extra grandparents around.

So today's suggestion is simply to build relationships with the seniors who may live in your neighbourhood. Have a chat on a sidewalk, invite them for dinner, or even just for tea on a Sunday afternoon. They'll appreciate your hospitality, and you might just discover some hidden treasures in them and the stories they tell!

P.S. Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Try here.