St. Basil's Prayer for the Animals

Remaining connected to our surrounding environment, remains one of the things that excites us about moving aboard. For instance, today is a blowy rainy day. We hear the wind in the rigging, feel the boat move to the gusts, and hear the rain hit the deck. Living aboard invites us to pay attention to what is happening around us. We notice when the Harbor is having an algae bloom as the water turns a red. We notice when there has been lots of phosphorescence at night, as oars drip green and wakes glow. We are invited to notice. In the noticing the world around us invites us to join in songs of praise.

Noticing the environment, and indeed environmentalism is nothing new. In fact, I would hazard a guess that a blatant disregard for our environment is a rather recent development. So here is a quote from St. Basil the Great (c. 329-379 ce/ad) inviting us to pay attention, to mourn, the change our ways, and to celebrate with all of creation as the Kingdom of God becomes fulfilled in our midst.

O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, our brothers the animals to whom you gave the earth as their home in common with us. We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion … with ruthless cruelty so that the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to you in song, has been a groan of travail. May we realize that they live not for us alone but for themselves and for you, and that they love the sweetness of life.

~ St. Basil the Great, c. 329-379 CE

 

Apocalypse and Paradise

I have been hesitant to discuss this topic, but as we now have predictions of the end of the world occurring in October (sense it didn't happen over the weekend) I have decided to add my two bits to the discussion.

Before I start, I would like to say that this has serious ramifications for our society in general. Family members of friends of ours sold everything and gave the money to charity because they were no longer going to need it. It's a great gesture. I'm not sure what this means about their feelings of those running the charities. The concern is what do they do now? They've got nothing left. Do they dare trust another authority figure again? Will they trust the church?

Secondly, predictions about the world coming to an end and Christ's coming back are very old, as old as Christianity. So, in some regards, this phenomenon is nothing new.

Here's my perspective, view on things. Any of you are welcome to disagree, but this is how I see things at the present moment.
I have always read Apocalyptic literature (like the Revelation of John) as a way of giving hope to an oppressed group of people. In essence, Apocalyptic literature says, "It is going to be ok. God is ultimately in charge. It may not look like that now, but in the end, God's kingdom will prevail."

When we remove Paradise from this earth, we lose a sense of who we are as beloved children of God. In the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew's gospel, Jesus says, "Consider the lilies of the fields..." We consider them because we are connected to them. If the Divine cares for them, how much more are we cared for? Yet we are connected to them. What effects the lilies of the fields effects us in ways we have always suspected, but are only just now scientifically discovering how close the connection is.

When we insist that Paradise is someplace else (Heaven, accessible only in the afterlife, or after the end of the world), we remove ourselves from the world around us. Inadvertently, this separation allows exploitation of the lilies of the fields to which we are so connected. Which means our own exploitation, of course.

Keeping Paradise connected to the earth, knowing it is just around the corner, and is something we can participate in the here and now, connects us to another part - actually a stronger part - of the Christian tradition. I invite you to look, ponder and read Saving Paradise by Brock and Parker (I've mentioned this book in a previous post) for a fuller discussion of this tradition. Keeping Paradise, the Kingdom of God, the Great Economy a part of the earthly experience, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, provides a critique of our smaller economies, kingdoms and environs. As such, the critique gives us something to work towards. Paradise shapes our actions. I believe it also reminds us of who we are, beloved children of God.

I think you can see my own bias. It shapes my perspective in how I live and how I see the world. What underlying beliefs and biases shape how you see and interact in the world?

Questions of Equity

“You will never understand violence and nonviolence until you understand the violence to the spirit that happens from watching your children die of malnutrition.” ~ a Salvadoran peasant*

This is a rather sobering way to begin a discussion on equity, but an important reminder about the global nature of this topic. As children we are brought up striving for fairness, for equity. Most children understand this topic quite well, and are often the first to point out how unjust a situation is. In growing up, somewhere along the line, we start tampering with this inner guide. Perhaps it is as Matthew Fox has commented that there is no place for the Child or the Mystic or the Elderly in the machine of the modern industrial complex. Perhaps this is so, perhaps this is so.

Yet the prophets of the Judeo-Christian tradition constantly remind us to care for the poor, the widowed, the orphaned, and the sojourner. Jesus reminds us to seek first the Kingdom of God, where justice and compassion kiss (as the psalmist says). Where we live in right relationship with one another. The Wesleys, and others, remind us that it is not enough to seek out personal salvation, but that our very salvation depends upon the salvation of society. The Kingdom come on Earth as in Heaven. That works and faith go hand in hand. Liberation theologians remind us, God has a preferential treatment for the poor and the oppressed.

But what does equality look like? Cannot we just raise everyone’s standard of living to our own? How much a say do the “voiceless” of nature: the waterways, the sky, the land have a say? And what about those with voice, but not our own: the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and the creatures of the land? Do we really take seriously that the Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof?

These next few blogs of the next week or so will be looking at these very questions. At the same time, I want to point out that while my family and I are striving to move into a more sustainable lifestyle, we ourselves are nowhere near where we want to be. I do not submit the following and upcoming blogs from a perspective of expertise, but rather as a starter for conversation around these important issues.

To start, here are some ethical questions Jim Merkel and James Huskins posit, followed by a litany from the United Methodist Hymnal.

Jim Merkel presents some ethical questions for us to ponder:

• Could Earth support all the world’s population at my standard of living?
• Do other species or people suffer because of my lifestyle?
• Do good things come from each dollar I spend?
• Do other species have inherent value?
• Should my race, gender, strength, taxonomy, education, or birthplace allow me to consume more than others?
• Are wars being fought over resources that I use?
• Do I support corporations or industries that damage the environment or exploit workers in sweatshops?
• Is my lifestyle in alignment with my own values?**

James Huskins writes about the questions he ponders when picking out tools, whether they be a hammer or a computer:

For most of that time my guiding principle has been whether these tools are “appropriate.” Appropriateness means more than whether a tool is well made, well suited to the job at hand, not likely to break down in use, and has a long life expectancy, although all these factors are port of the equation.
Also involved are questions such as: Does the manufacture and/or use of this tool seriously degrade the environment? Does owning this tool make me more or less dependent on corporations whose scruples are as readily for sale as their products? Does the use of this tool enhance my ability to think well and my capacity to provide for basic needs? Is the tool obscenely expensive to purchase and/or use? Will the kingdom of God be any closer to existing on earth as it is in heaven if I have this tool?***

And from the United Methodist Hymnal’s collection of Affirmations of Faith (this can be read responsively, one group/person in the lighter text, the other in the italicized/bold faced text):

We believe in God, creator of the world and of all people;
and in Jesus Christ, incarnate among us,
   who died and rose again;
and in the Holy Spirit,
   present with us to guide, strengthen, and comfort.
We believe;
God, help our unbelief.
We rejoice in every sign of God’s kingdom:
   in the upholding of human dignity and community;
   in every expression of love, justice, and reconciliation;
   in each act of self-giving on behalf of others;
   in the abundance of God’s gifts entrusted to us that all may have enough;
   in all responsible use of the earth’s resources.
Glory be to God on high;
and on earth, peace.
We confess our sin, individual and collective,
   by silence or action:
      through the violation of human dignity
         based on race, class, sex, nation, or faith;
      through the exploitation of people
         because of greed and indifference;
      through the misuse of power
         in personal, communal, national and international life;
      through the search for security
         by those military and economic forces that threaten human existence;
      through the abuse of technology
         which endangers the earth and all life upon it.
Lord, have mercy;
Christ, have mercy;
Lord, have mercy.
We commit ourselves individually and as a community
   to the way of Christ:
   to take up the cross;
   to seek abundant life for all humanity;
   to struggle for peace with justice and freedom;
   to risk ourselves in faith, hope, and love,
      praying that God’s kingdom may come.
Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.****

______________

*World Bank. 2000 World Development Indicators CD-ROM. Washington DC: World Bank, 2000.
** Jim Merkel. Radical Simplicity: small footprints on a finite Earth. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2003. 53–4 .
*** James Huskins. “Mix and Match.” The Plain Reader: Essays on Making a Simple Life. Scott Savage, Ed. New York: Ballantine Publishing Group, 1998. 120–123. 120–1.
****The United Methodist Hymnal. Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 1989. 886.