On the day after Ash Wednesday, the second day of Lent I was prompted to begin a new Lenten discipline. My adoption of this new Lenten discipline was a response to watching the news. I’m sure most of you have heard the news or have seen the videos of the Mars landing. On the very first Thursday of Lent, NASA landed a robotic spacecraft on the planet Mars. The purpose of the Perseverance Rover’s mission to Mars is to search for signs of ancient microbial life on a planet which is more than 207 million km from Earth. The cost of this expedition promises to exceed 2.7 billion dollars. Also, on Thursday, news reports began to appear heralding the unfolding catastrophe in Texas. Apparently, the Texas’ deep freeze will bear a price tag of about 100 billion dollars. So, when you look at the numbers the excursion to Mars may be a bargain, after all. While mulling over these unfathomable numbers, I came across the price tag which has prompted my new Lenten discipline. Apparently, scientists have put a price tag on saving planet Earth. It turns out that a Global Deal for Nature (a GDN) has been drafted by 19 international authors and it has the potential to save the planet. The estimated cost to set the policy in motion and save biodiversity is 100 billion dollars a year. That’s right, 100 billion dollars per year to save the planet. It almost sounds too good to be true. And when a deal sounds too good to be true, there must be a catch. Right? There’s got to be a catch. Well, it turns out catch is hidden in the fine print, which says, and I quote: “The Global Deal for Nature is a time-bound, science-based plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on Earth. Without the Global Deal for Nature, the goals of the Paris climate deal become unreachable; worse, we face the unraveling of the Earth’s natural ecosystems that sustain human life. Achieving the milestones and targets of the Global Deal for Nature is the best gift we can offer to future generations—an environmental reset, a pathway to an Eden 2.0. We must seize this hopeful pathway.” unquote
Did you spot the catch? Time. It will only cost $100 billion dollars a year to save the planet if we begin today. After today the cost will just keep going up and up and up. It’s so much easier to convince people to sink billions into looking for ancient microbial lifeform on Mars than it is to convince people to invest in saving life on this planet, which we call home. Annoyed and dismayed I shut down my news app and resolved to adopt a Lenten discipline to help to enlighten me on this strange journey we are all on together.
Now, if you listen closely, you should be able to hear my new Lenten discipline. That’s right, I have taken a vow to listen to the sound of babies laughing every day during this season of Lent. For I am convinced dear sisters and brothers that the sound of babies’ laughter is the only way I can confront the challenges of this most challenging of this most challenging of Lents. The good news is the internet is full of videos of babies’ laughing. There are more than enough laughing baby videos to get me through this wilderness of Lent. My dear old Nanny, she used to say, “Laugh, because if you can’t laugh, you’re gonna end up crying.” And I don’t have nearly enough tears to cry to adequately respond to the groaning of our dear Earth.
On this day when we remember Jesus’ journey into the wilderness to do battle with his own demons, I can’t help wondering why so many christians for so many years have spent so much time focused upon escaping the Earth. I’ve studied enough christian history to know that the ancient christians saw the Earth as our Sister and our Mother. Theologians like Bonaventure and Francis of Assisi insisted that God wrote two books with which to reveal God’s-self. The first book is Creation itself and the second book, the lessor of the two books, is the Bible. Sadly, christianity’s failure to heed the wisdom revealed in the miracles of Creation has left far too many of the followers of Jesus, looking for an escape route; an escape route out of this world and into the next. The temptation of theologies which promise eternal reward while threatening eternal damnation have allowed far too many of us to strike up a deal with the devil as we settle for an escape route which requires a blood sacrifice of the very person we profess to follow. No need to worry about this world as long as we can pay the price of twisting our interpretations of the Bible so that we can wait for Jesus to come back and destroy the wicked, while the righteous are swept up into Paradise. Meanwhile, the Earth continues to groan, as it suffers under the weight of our false economies.
Repent, Repent I say! That’s right you heard me. This progressive preacher is summoning up the prophets of old and shouting repent! Metanoia the Greek word which means to turn around or turn away from, which we translate as repent. Metanoia, repent, turn around, turn away from blood sacrifices, for the CREATOR of all that IS has no need of our sacrifices, not even the sacrifice of Jesus! Turn around, the gift of life is not to be squandered on the pursuit of an escape route from this planet. The gift of life is to be lived for the sheer joy of loving. For far too long we have turned away from the revelations of the CREATOR’s first book in favour of feeble interpretations of the second book.
Creation is telling the glories of God, while we store up our treasures for ourselves as if we could ever contain the miracles of Creation in our storehouses. How could we fail to see the beauty of the Earth? Listen again to the words of Saint Teresa of Avila, who declared:
“Just these two words God spoke changed my life,
‘Enjoy Me.’
What a burden I thought I was to carry—
a crucifix, as did Christ.
Love once said to me, ‘I know a song,
would you like to hear it?’
And laughter came from every brick in the street
and from every pore in the sky.
After a night of prayer, God
changed my life when
God sang,
‘Enjoy Me.’”
As we follow Jesus into the miracles of the wilderness, let us repent. Let us turn away from feeble efforts to respond to the miracles of Creation by grasping and hording Creation’s gifts to ourselves.
The precious gift of life with which we are blessed depends on the blessings of Creation. We are one with Creation, intimately and wondrously made creatures of the Earth. Let us touch her lightly. Let us walk upon her softly. Let us respond to her grace and majesty with generosity and love. Love for the Earth. Love for the creatures of the Earth. Love for the CREATOR.
As we journey through Lent, I hope we can begin to laugh at ourselves. Laugh at our own ridiculous desire to possess Creation. Laugh at our futile notions of escaping Creation. Laugh at our false economies. Laugh at our too small notions of the magnitude of the LOVE which IS the MYSTERY we call, “God” And through our laughter may we begin to see how silly it is for us not to stand in awe of the miracles of Creation. As our laughter subsides, perhaps we can begin to see what is being revealed to us about the nature of our CREATOR in the first book, in the book of Creation.
May the sounds of laughter, enable us to hear our CREATOR’s invitation to ENJOY Her. May we discover new ways of being LOVE in the world, in both the first and second books, so that we might give up our notions of escaping and settle down to enjoying Creation by LOV-ing Creation. LOV-ing all of Creation. May the sounds of laughter nourish, ground and sustain you on this Lenten journey.
We hope that you have found this broadcast to be of value to you at this time. To continue to offer these, we depend on the support of donors. If you wish to help to keep us going, please donate what feels right for you, via http://www.canadahelps.org to Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Newmarket. Peace be with you.
View the Full Worship Video Below
To DOWNLOAD the Order of Service CLICK HERE