Let's hear it for the earth!

Lord how thy wonders are displayed, where’er I turn my eye

If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky

(From Hymn 398 by Isaac Watts)

       

Today, April 22, is the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day. But, of course, people well before 1970 were already drawing our attention to the beauty and wonder of God’s creation and the urgency of being good stewards and protectors of “this fragile earth, our island home”.  

       

The two names that immediately come to mind for me are John Muir, who founded and became first president of the Sierra Club in 1892, and was known as the “Father” of the National Parks (remembered on our church calendar today). The other name is Rachel Carson , author of “Silent Spring” in 1962, which opened the way for her to become known as the “Mother” of the modern environmental movement.

     

I was blessed to grow up camping and hiking in many National Parks with my family and had a father who wrote poems about most of them. I loved watching the Ken Burns series on the National Parks, “America’s Best Idea.” But while Muir has fed and filled me for a lifetime through his many books, a quote from Rachel Carson seems especially relevant right now, reminding us that nature is as close as our back yard, a walk through the neighborhood, or just opening our eyes to greet each new day:

     

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature---the assurance that dawn comes after night and spring after winter.” 

    

Especially right now, people all over the earth are experiencing a kind of extended, stay indoors “winter”, while waiting for a vaccine and a more free, outdoor spring sometime in 2021. In the meantime, perhaps nature is teaching us some lessons we have forgotten or taken for granted; lessons about discipline, strength, endurance, patience, and a deeper understanding of all of nature’s cycles which lead to one glorious resurrection after another, “repeated refrains” as Carson wrote.

Repeated refrains? All things bright and beautiful.... indeed!

John

We can still smile

Dear Friends

After “attending” church at our Washington National Cathedral, watching our El Camino Real Diocesan Easter Service and then doing some “Youtube Church Hopping” throughout the day---I would just like to bring you Easter greetings in a different and light way, through the two cartoons above. The caption to the second one is "What I don't get is how one minute we're a symbol of new life and the next minutes we're a sandwich".

Today, Easter Monday, and the entire week through this coming Sunday (which was once called “Bright Sunday”), has many rich traditions.  For centuries, in Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant countries, the week was observed by the faithful as "days of joy and laughter", with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus' resurrection. Churchgoers and pastors played practical jokes on each other, drenched each other with water, told jokes, sang, and danced. The customs were rooted in the musings of early church theologians (like Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and John Chrysostom) who suggested that God played a practical joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead. "Risus paschalis - the Easter laugh," they called it. It reminds me of that phrase from the first verse of the hymn “Glorious things of thee are spoken”:“thou mayest smile at all thy foes”.

I am not suggesting that any of these traditions are appropriate this year, as we continue to live through a time of global anxiety and suffering. We have so many to pray for including those making the greatest sacrifices of all. We continue to shelter in place and wear masks when we do go out, for love of neighbor and those who have to go to work.

But even in the middle of this deadly pandemic, we need to find reasons to smile and bring some joy to others-----like the sun breaking through clouds.  

John

What has not changed

Dear Friends

English Priest William Law, who died on this day in 1761 said,

“If we are to follow Christ, it must be in our common way of spending every day. If we are to live unto God at any time or in any place, we are to live unto him in all times and in all places. If we are to use anything as the gift of God, we are to use everything as his gift.”

I share these words because it is so easy, in these present circumstances, to focus on things which have changed and forget what has not changed. We are still following Christ. We are still loving God and our neighbor as ourselves. We are still trying to live forward, day by day, for the one who is loving and guiding us through this wilderness to a new land. We are still God’s beloved, without condition, beyond measure; knowing that can put this extraordinary time in perspective.

So on this Maundy Thursday, when we are, among other things, re-imagining what Eucharist is and can be, I would just offer this prayer “To be Thankful”, by Avery Brook from his book, "Plain Prayers in a Complicated World”, remembering that the word “eucharist” means thanksgiving:

We have many things to be thankful for, God. And sometimes we remember them, and other times we forget. When something large or small goes wrong, it fills our minds and we forget those things for which---when we remember---we are thankful. Help us to remember the good things, God (especially during this time). To name them; savor them; and be thankful to you.  AMEN.

John

P.S. Picture is from my office, in my home away from home. No buffalo roaming, but the wildflowers are blooming!