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| Image by Giuseppe Milo |
A GREETING
You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.
(Psalm 40:17b)
A READING
I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favour to the skilful; but time and chance happen to them all. For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them. [But] just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything. So, in the morning, sow your seed.
Banish anxiety from your mind.
(Ecclesiastes 9:11-12; 11:5-6; 10)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
When I thought, ‘My foot is slipping’, your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
(Psalm 94:18)
A REFLECTION
With wide-embracing love
The spirit animates eternal years
Pervades and broods above,
Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates and rears
Though Earth and moon were gone
And suns and universes ceased to be
And thou wert left alone
Every Existence would exist in thee
There is not room for Death
Nor atom that his might could render void
Since thou are Being and Breath
And what thou are may never be destroyed.
- by Emily Bronte
found in The Flowering of the Soul: A Book of Prayers by Women
ed. by Lucinda Vardey
VERSE OF THE DAY
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea.
(Psalm 46:2)
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| Image by P Clement |
The book of Ecclesiastes belongs to ‘wisdom literature’, those books of the bible which reflect on what it means to be human within God’s creation, and which help us find our way within the trials and challenges life brings us. Today's reading selection reflects the spirit of the book as a whole, which invites us all to stare life in the face, acknowledge the hard passages, and also be encouraged to rest in God’s love, trusting in God’s accompaniment.
The climate crisis is a global challenge that we as a species are finding hard to stare in the face and reckon. Many of us live without feeling any of the repercussions of its profound impacts and so it's easy to let that problem go for another day. "What does it matter what I do anyway?" But even in our own country of Canada and neighbouring United States, we are seeing dramatic changes in weather and climate patterns. One area of growing conservaton is for our skies — but not just for ozone levels or greenhouse gas emissions, though these are by far the dominant concern. This growing edge of conservation is against light pollution. Artificial light at night is a hazard to nocturnal creatures, affecting moths, bats, and predatory birds that are active at night, by throwing their natural migratory sense of direction and confusing their sense of timing in searching for food and nesting. Increasingly, regions around the globe are being defined and preserved for ‘dark sky preservation’, for the sake of both creatures and humans. A dark sky preserve tries to carve back the preciousness of darkness, as a place of the life of all that is beyond us to fully see, know or understand. One such dark sky preservation area is the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park, on the northeastern coast of England near the border of Scotland. Here, the night sky is protected by the International Dark Sky Association, so that human beings can experience the night sky as it had been known for thousands of years before the invention of electric light. It also provides a safer habitat for earthly creatures.
The dark sky is as precious to us as the daylight. If we are unable to really see the night sky, it becomes harder for us to understand our place and relationship to the universe. In so many ways, our own human limitations mean that we have developed a cycle of breaking this wonderful Creation we were given and then trying to fix it somehow. What would help us to live in such a way that the harm doesn’t happen in the first place?
In today’s music, the singers are gathered in a lighthouse. A lighthouse is designed to bring sea-going vessels safely to land, and to warn of the dangers. In our contemporary world, there are many scientists and activists trying to wake us up to the realities of our own created climate crisis. Partly in our own fear, we can easily become numb to these warnings.
A boat at sea relies on the lighthouse warning, especially in bad weather. How can we become more attentive to the beacons of light (scientists, activists, knowledge keepers) in our own communities, who want to share with us what they know? When will we have ears to listen?
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A STORY OF ENDURANCE
What do a precious tree and a dark sky preserve have in common? In Northumberland, England, they both exist in the same park. The Sycamore Gap tree is a 150-year-old sycamore tree that has been a beautiful beacon of its own kind in the landscape of Northumberland National Park in northeast England. It has been enormously popular among visitors to the park and has been used in many films. Last September, the tree was felled in an act of vandalism, overnight. The outpouring of grief and anger was a testament to the beauty and meaning it had offered many. Seeds and saplings were taken from the tree so that it will live in other forms. Scientists are now saying that the stump itself will survive, but will take many many years to begin to show signs of life. The nature of human beings is that we can still damage it, even after its destruction. Instead, we are being asked to respect the life we cannot see, and let God and nature do the rest. (Read more here.)
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| Uncredited image from the linked article above. |
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LC† Awakened by the Spirit is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!