Earth Day 2010 -Homily

Earth Center image credit: AlexGrey.com

Let all the earth cry out to God with Joy!

On this day, Earth Day we respond to our psalm. Let all the earth, cry out to God with Joy.
Yet how can the earth sing joyfully when there is so much destruction?

Forests are clear cut. Oceans are over fished. Deserts spread over fertile land. We extract coal, oil, and natural gas at alarming rates. We use devastating ways to mine elements from the earth's crust. The habitats of rare birds, mammals, insects, coral, fish, amphibians, and paramecia are completely wiped out. And with destroyed habitats, species faster become extinct! Ahmed Djoghlaf, head of the U.N. Convention on Bio-Diversity, has said "Every day, up to 150 species are lost. Every year, between 18,000 and 55,000 species become extinct." We also know that these rates will increase further with climate change.

As fossil fuels are used too much, the Global Climate is changed. Climate change disturbs ecosystems the world over. And we humans are not immune! Rising oceans, droughts, floods, hurricanes, heat waves, and tornadoes all become with Climate Change more extreme. Humans are already seriously affected. People struggle to find food, clothing, and shelter. Some island nations will soon sink off the map. Fresh water--oh so necessary for life--is a scarce resource in many parts of the world. Oh how can the earth sing joyfully?

Let all the earth, cry out to God with Joy!

So let us lament for things are just not right! I must note the source for this Lament understanding. This came from an article assigned, in Professor Barbara Bowe's class. Barbara had a deep respect for creation and loved reading and teaching the scriptures. After struggling with cancer for the past year Barbara died on March 14th surrounded by the prayers of concentric circles of family, friends, and community. Inspired by her life and witness let us serve well as ministers, teachers, and Christians, rooted in the Word of God.
So we continue our lament for things are just not right! We cry out to God, 'Lord hear us!' Oh, how the earth is being ruined! Oh how!
Hosea the prophet, noting injustice, cries out, "The earth mourns and all who dwell in it are languishing. The beasts of the field, the birds of the air, even the fish of the sea are perishing."
Because of human injustice the earth itself is mourning!
Our mother earth is sobbing. Can we not join in her tears because we too are suffering? So many people go hungry. So many people are abused. So many people have few options! Yet the powerful claim solutions in "free markets" and "growth economies." This has been the way of the West for over fifty years. Yet still people are suffering and so many have so little freedom.
Oh how the creatures of the earth are suffering, abused, dying!
Is there not a better way? Oh God, can you not show us the way, to peace on earth?

Let all the earth, cry out to God with Joy!

As we grieve, all that is not right in the world we lift up our prayers at this table, on this altar.
In John's gospel Jesus says, "The bread that I give is my flesh, for the life of the world." Jesus the Bread of Life comes not just for humanity, not just to transform our sins, but he comes for the life of the whole world!
Christ's faithfulness through even death, had an affect on the whole cosmos. The earth, plants, animals, the soil, water, air, and even humanity were brought together as one in Jesus Christ.
At this altar we bring our longings and fears, the fruit of the vine and work of human hands. Offered in simple bread and wine. But these came first, as gifts of the earth, wheat and grapes.
Just as all our desires and hopes are offered, so also the laments and sufferings of the whole world, of every creature and plant. The groaning and lament of all of creation come together in this Mass Upon the World.
For Jesus is the Savior of the World and he brings Easter Resurrection to the Entire Planet.

Let all the earth, cry out to God with Joy!

As we are the Body of Christ how can we live on this Earth, in a way that is peaceful and flourishing? I will offer a vision of continuous agriculture or permaculture. Goeff Lawton over ten years ago traveled to the desert of the Jordan valley to grow a Food Forest. It looked impossible to grow fruitful and productive plants in the salty, hyper-arid soils. But with local people, agricultural scientists, and ingenuity they found a way. They created swales in the soil, wide mounds and shallow furrows along the contour of the land. They covered the tops of the hills with a thick mulch of organic matter, leaves, twigs, and whatever they could find in the fields nearby. They created an efficient rain water catchment on the nearby roadway that was directed to a pond. With tubing beneath the mulch they laid drip irrigation along the swales. Then they planted desert trees, that are nitrogen fixing, along the hills. Lower in the troughs they planted fruit trees like date palms, figs, pomegranates, guavas, and mulberries.
In only six months they had fig trees a meter high and with fruit on them! Impossible! Soon they began planting barley and alfalfa for farm animals to eat. They also started growing vegetables, and the animal wastes served as fertilizers. In less than ten years they had come to a continuous organic system through a balanced combination of plants and animals. What many thought impossible for salty desert soils had become reality. Lawton and others created in the desert, a flourishing garden!
Hearing this good news of humans and earth living well together it becomes much easier to say.

Let all the earth cry out to God with Joy!

We can see so many problems so much injustice in our world today. The whole Earth is crying out for liberation and redemption. The cries of the poor, the suffering, and our cries for wholeness; They can all unite with the groaning, the labor pains of the whole world that longs for, a New Heavens and a New Earth.
We celebrate in our Eucharist, Jesus the Bread of Life given for the whole world.
We remember that our way of life need not deplete habitats and ecosystems. Lawton's Food Forest reminds us of God's abundance, in a flourishing, desert garden, that gives us a glimpse of hope for our planet!

Finally, We simply are not called to dominate and subdue the Earth. God entrusts us with care for Creation to respect, restore, and rejuvenate what has been destroyed on Earth.
Although there is so much destruction, we can live in a new way. We can learn to live sustainably, in harmony with Earth's rhythms. From death to life and life to death and back again. I believe this, is what God calls us to.

Let us come to live in such a regenerative, resurrected, peaceful, and loving way, that the earth and all creatures, can truly, cry out to God with joy!