The Soul of Creation
The Very Reverend Dr. Bill Phipps
Earth Day Sunday, April, 2021
Thank you for inviting me to share my thoughts on Earth Day Sunday. This is a great time to be the church because humanity and our Earthly Home have come to a moment of truth. I believe fervently that the spirituality and ethics of all faith traditions reaching back into the rich cultures of Indigenous Peoples is absolutely essential to this moment. Let that sink in please.
If ever there was a moment when we should be heard, it is now.’
So I also thank this congregation for your leadership in this community and beyond. You are a valued part of the United Church of Canada, and of the community you serve. Never forget the importance of who you are.
I looked at your impressive web page. I am inspired by your vision and actions, in many dimensions. I remind you of your words:
· called to radical love
· pro-active stewardship of the Environment
· serve the world with intention, passion, compassion
· ministries of Social Justice, Sustainability Action, Group for the Environment
I love your report on March 11 — Greenfaith, including Faith and the Common Good and The Green Rule. With Rev Ted Reeve, I was a co-founder of Faith and the Common Good many years ago. I am so delighted that you are plugged in and using their resources.
Lastly, under Social Justice, you have a great list of actions, including Basic Income, Reconciliation, Indigenous Justice and much more.
So, thank you for your faithful imagination, actions and commitment to the wider community, and to Mother Earth.
I call my reflection “The Soul of Creation” to remind us that we live in and are interdependent with Creation and all her forms of life. Our souls, our lives, are embedded in and dependent upon the soul of Creation.
The soul of Creation is the mysterious, ineffable, loving energy which initiates and embraces all life forms into beautiful interdependence and endless possibility.
The soul of Creation is the seed and grounding of all wonder, mystery, and life itself.
The soul of Creation is the foundational spark of Holy Mystery, Mother Earth, beauty beyond human comprehension.
The soul of Creation is the wonder, hope, complex reality into which human life is born, sister and brother with all living things, see and unseen.
The soul of Creation is infinite divine blessing and Holy Wisdom.
Therefore, as Mary Oliver says, “The only question is how to love this world.” So in the current Climate Crisis and dangerous loss of bio-diversity, we are learning just how much humankind is forgetting how to love Earth. Not only that, we have forgotten that Mother Earth is our only home on whom we depend and are called to love, not plunder.
Listen to Cherokee Elder Scott Momanday: “We humans must come again to a moral comprehension of the Earth and air. We must live according to the principle of a land ethic. The alternative is that we shall not live at all.”
Put more simply by Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, in Love Letter to the Earth, “A spiritual revolution is needed if we are going to confront the environmental challenges we face.”
We all know that the Climate Crisis is a political, economic, cultural, scientific matter. But if we do not address the spiritual and ethical dimensions, there is little hope. Technology and innovation alone, although important, will not save us.
I am encouraged that more and more scientific people are recognizing the spiritual and ethical revolution we need. This revolution is grounded in the gratitude and blessing of the soul of Creation.
What places in Creation do you love? Where are the places where your soul is nurtured? Where does Mother Earth refresh your spirit? You live in a most beautiful garden of God’s Creation. The basic fact is that we only fight for what we love. All this is a matter of the heart. The ravishes of the Climate Crisis and loss of biodiversity call out to us to defend what we love!
Faith communities can use love language — it is far more powerful than charts, data, and money talk.
There is a big battle going on in Alberta now. The government made behind-the-door commitments to Australian coal mining corporations to remove barrier to open pit coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rockies. Thankfully, there is a huge backlash from ranchers, towns, cities, Indigenous peoples and others, right across the political spectrum.
Most are flooding the debate with data, research, studies, models, projections and so on. Some of us are saying we need the language of love to save one of the most precious and beautiful and spiritual places on Earth.
I have one comment rooted in spirituality. Over my career in ministry I can’t count the number of times people have said to me, “Bill, I don’t come to church because I find God in the mountains (or lakes, seaside, forest, prairie, camp site, cabin….).”
Why do we think that such language is not as important as scientific data, economic opportunity, a few jobs?
In Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Kimmerer asks, “How, in our modern world, can we find our way to understand the Earth as gift again, to make our relations with the world sacred again?”
So, you see, faith traditions and their communities are essential in defending Mother Earth. This is our moment — a time of reckoning. A time of transformation when love language is as important as money, scientific or data language. Care for the Earth is spiritual.
Will we boldly stand up with others and say we love our Earthly Home whose soul is our soul, whose beauty and complex mystery is special, unique and irreplaceable?
Remember our Scriptures. The Bible is full of references to God’s Creation and human responsibility. The bookends of the biblical story speak of the rivers of life. In Genesis, four rivers flow out of Eden to water and nurture Mother Earth. Then, in Revelations, the River of Life flows into the City of God watering the Tree of Life in the city centre.
Beautiful imagery of a lush and fertile Earth in both country and city, calling forth gratitude and responsibility.
Then, in Job, he answers his tormentors with, “Ask the animals and plants of the Earth. They will teach you.” And they do. Even in our so-called savvy society, we are learning the wisdom of forests, wetlands, and animals from whales to insects.
We can no longer ignore the fact that our Earthly Home is sick, wounded — and brokenhearted. We are pushing our Home beyond her ecological limits. Humankind as consumer and plunderer has replaced humankind as citizen and spiritual being. So this is our moment. Mother Earth needs our faithful and passionate voice.
The ethical question, with which I leave you is, “To what does Mother Earth think we are entitled?”
So on Earth Sunday, we are grateful for our Earthly Home. Rabbi Heschel says, “Our goal should be to live in radical amazement!” And remember Mary Oliver, too. “The only question is how to love this world.” Great advice for this Earth Sunday.
Amen.