Isaiah 35:4-7 (GNT)
4 Tell everyone who is discouraged,
“Be strong and don't be afraid!
God is coming to your rescue,
coming to punish your enemies.”
5 The blind will be able to see,
and the deaf will hear.
6 The lame will leap and dance,
and those who cannot speak will shout for joy.
Streams of water will flow through the desert;
7 the burning sand will become a lake,
and dry land will be filled with springs.
Where jackals used to live,
marsh grass and reeds will grow.
THE MANDALA OF CREATION
Fr. Vincent Busch,SSC
The Birth of the Universe (yellow circle at bottom)
In the beginning the Spirit said:
"From my fire and its warmth
Let all creation come flaring forth.
Let matter and energy converse
To weave the tale of the universe,
And through the course of time and space
I'll cherish all in my embrace."
The Birth of the Galaxies ((blue spiral)
Then the Spirit said:
"Let the fire begin to dance
In cooling clouds of elements
Where the tug of gravity
Draws atoms into galaxies,
And hugs the stars till they ignite
To fill the darkness with their light
The Birth of the Solar System (yellow circle on top of blue spiral)
Then the Spirit said:
"Let stars blaze till they consume
The nuclear fire in their wombs,
And bursting forth as they collapse
Sow the elements in their grasp,
And from their dust let new stars grow
With moons and planets in their tow."
The Birth of the Earth (star shaped figure with red center)
Then the Spirit said:
"Along with planets near and far
Let Earth take shape around its star.
While its crust solidifies,
Let molten rock throb inside,
Lifting the mountains, spreading the seas,
Molding and folding its geography."
The Birth of Life (green tree)
Then the Spirit said:
"Let heat and lightning stir the sea
To animate its chemistry,
And from that swirling pool of genes
Let Earth give birth to living beings,
Sprouting forth all kinds of things
With roots and legs, fins and wings."
The Birth of the Earth Community (multi coloured spiral)
Then the Spirit Said:
"From desert sand to mountain snow
Let habitats emerge and grow,
Where plants and beasts participate
In nature's rugged give and take
And every creature plays a role
In keeping Earth alive and whole."
The Birth of Humans multicoloured stick figures holding hands)
Then the Spirit said:
"Let the fire of nature's chorus,
Its raging storms and mighty forests,
Its pounding seas and soaring peaks,
Its blazing skies and teeming reefs,
Burn human hearts with its splendour
And forge their souls in awe and wonder."
The Birth of the Ecological Age (center circle)
Then the Spirit said:
"Let life entwine the land and sea
In the web of its community.
Let its power move human hearts
To mend the world they've torn apart,
And sing with every leaf and stone
This is our Earth. This is our home."
The Birth of Your Story
Then the Spirit Said:
"The habitats that grace the Earth
Were there to hold you at your birth
And welcome you to the celebration
Of creation's transformation
From my fire that grew to be
A wondrous blue-green symphony."
Note: The Season of Creation
The month of September marks the Season
of Creation ending with World Wide Communion Sunday on the first Sunday in October.
The Season celebrates God as Creator of the vast universe, helps us to see God’s revelation in creation,
and reminds us of our calling to care for creation.
We are called to protect the world’s rich diversity and
to help address the urgent, destructive crises threatening
its health into the future. We can all do our part to help the world heal. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. We are making a difference.
The Creation Mandala image and reading by Vincent Busch. Fr. Vinnie is a Columban priest from the USA who has been serving in Mindanao, Philippines since his arrival in 1975.. He initiated a handicraft project with the Subanens in Zamboanga del Sur in 2001.
Reflection:
Today we begin the Season of Creation, a time when the United Church of Canada and many churches around the world, including the Roman Catholic and Orthodox church, express gratitude for God’s creation and seek to understand our role as Christians within the intricate web of life.
It is easy for us to take for granted that our place in the web is at the top – in Genesis we are given “dominion over”, “put in charge of”, made “masters of” all, well everything, that we see, use, and manipulate. We are told to “be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it”. (Genesis 1:26b-30) A task we have taken very seriously because in supposing that God’s creation is a pyramid with humans just under the pinnacle with God at the top we missed the sentiment that these are words of responsibility, not license. Of course, no one in the Bible could envision the world we live in today!
This morning we read a ”Mandala of Creation” poem, written by Father Vincent Busch, SSC, a missionary who works in the Philippines with a fair trade craft mission; Subanen Crafts, they are the ones who produce these mandalas in beadwork for sale.
This poem takes the creation story and presents it as a web, in which we and the whole universe are connected, the creation events are all connected. The poet is just looking at creation but we could just as easily have our creation mandala showing a series of circles one containing people, one animals,one plants and trees, one birds, one sea animals, one the air we breathe. or we could have a mandala of community: with circles connecting family, home, friends, work, school, health, politics to an individual in the center. You can make your own mandala. It doesn’t really matter what you want to represent: the universe, the world, ourown lives; we are connected to each other, to the world the world, to the universe in so many ways.
We are all connected! Family friends, neighbours, co-workers, fellow worshippers, distant cousins, Christians all over the world, - and Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, refugees, political opponents, anti-vaxers, enemies. We are all connected. We are all dependent upon the world we live. This world for our food, our water, our wellbeing, our homes, our education, our health – the list goes on and on. We are all in this together, even if we don’t all of the same opinion; we are all responsible for the stuff of this world together. Whoa!
Makes you wonder doesn’t it! I think that is one of the main purposes of the Genesis story, to instill in us a sense of wonder. There is so much we don’t know but look at the wonder of it all.
We are living in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy, we think we know what a large part of the universe looks like – kind of! – because we’re limited into studying the past based on the speed of light. I mean, I have lots of questions about this universe, what does it look like from outside? are there are other universes?, what is dark matter really made of? and why is there so much of it? If our star imploded now could we see it? See wonder! We are one speck on one galaxy that we think has a black hole in it’s center circling around a star that will one day implode – OK a little dark but still the amazingness of this world and our being on it- is, well, amazing! A speck on a speck you might say but that is not really a new notion when you have a God who knows your name and has numbered the hairs on your head.
God’s world is amazing and we get to be a part of it. Wonder!
So what went wrong to bring us to this perilous point where the climate is changing and we are facing environmental degradation, droughts, forest fires, a thawing of the permafrost, a warming of the oceans, poor air and water quality and extinction of many species.
What can I say. We, humans, with all our superior adaptations and big brains; we generally do not know our place within the natural systems. We want to alter and control nature for our own purposes without placing limitations upon ourselves. We worship personal freedom over against healthy communities, national interests over against global interests, and human interests over against the interests of the vast majority of God’s creation. We don’t like limitations. Neither did Adam and Eve, so it is something in us that wants power and riches and more. That wants to go farther, be faster, smarter and have a bigger house. We want to see the earth from space to wonder at its beauty and yet somehow miss what is going on when you get up close.
But we, as people of faith, as people, who see God everywhere and in everyone, we have a mission. God has a purpose for our lives. Basil the Great living in the 4th century wrote; “O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, our brothers the animals [and all creatures] to whom thou gavest the earth as their home in common with us.”
We, as people of faith, believe that God is with us in our quest to find ways in our lives respectfully and peacefully with all creation. As our creed reminds us:
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jeses, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
We, as individual’s are not burdened with the task of righting every wrong by ourselves, we are responsible to do what we can, when we can, in our homes and in our communities.
For some of us it just means trying to live simpler lives: reduce, resuse, recycle; for others it means working with others to protect our forests or waterways, for some it is helping to ensure that injured or abused animals are helped and sheltered and found homes, for others it means working in large organizations at the provincial or national or international level. We need all of it to do this work.
The reading from the Isaiah 35 reminds us that although the way forward may be daunting we are not to become discouraged. For our God is the God of miracles, the God who brought the Jews out of slavery in Egypt, the God who provided and sustained the faithful and not so faithful during times of trial and occupation and exile. Our God is a God of healing and wholeness, the blind see, the lame dance and the dead are resurrected. the desert is alive and the land flourishes. We are called to be apart of that healing process with God.
I have always like a quote from Martin Luther, writing in the 1500’s:
Do you think God is sleeping on a pillow in heaven? …
God is wholly present in all creation, in every corner,
behind and before you.
We are not alone in this endeavour to save our planet.
We are not alone as we work to make the world a better place.
We are not alone as we join with thousands of other Christians around the world to reflect and pray during this season of creation.
Amen
In the beginning the Spirit said:
"From my fire and its warmth
Let all creation come flaring forth.
Let matter and energy converse
To weave the tale of the universe,
And through the course of time and space
I'll cherish all in my embrace."
The Birth of the Galaxies ((blue spiral)
Then the Spirit said:
"Let the fire begin to dance
In cooling clouds of elements
Where the tug of gravity
Draws atoms into galaxies,
And hugs the stars till they ignite
To fill the darkness with their light
The Birth of the Solar System (yellow circle on top of blue spiral)
Then the Spirit said:
"Let stars blaze till they consume
The nuclear fire in their wombs,
And bursting forth as they collapse
Sow the elements in their grasp,
And from their dust let new stars grow
With moons and planets in their tow."
The Birth of the Earth (star shaped figure with red center)
Then the Spirit said:
"Along with planets near and far
Let Earth take shape around its star.
While its crust solidifies,
Let molten rock throb inside,
Lifting the mountains, spreading the seas,
Molding and folding its geography."
The Birth of Life (green tree)
Then the Spirit said:
"Let heat and lightning stir the sea
To animate its chemistry,
And from that swirling pool of genes
Let Earth give birth to living beings,
Sprouting forth all kinds of things
With roots and legs, fins and wings."
The Birth of the Earth Community (multi coloured spiral)
Then the Spirit Said:
"From desert sand to mountain snow
Let habitats emerge and grow,
Where plants and beasts participate
In nature's rugged give and take
And every creature plays a role
In keeping Earth alive and whole."
The Birth of Humans multicoloured stick figures holding hands)
Then the Spirit said:
"Let the fire of nature's chorus,
Its raging storms and mighty forests,
Its pounding seas and soaring peaks,
Its blazing skies and teeming reefs,
Burn human hearts with its splendour
And forge their souls in awe and wonder."
The Birth of the Ecological Age (center circle)
Then the Spirit said:
"Let life entwine the land and sea
In the web of its community.
Let its power move human hearts
To mend the world they've torn apart,
And sing with every leaf and stone
This is our Earth. This is our home."
The Birth of Your Story
Then the Spirit Said:
"The habitats that grace the Earth
Were there to hold you at your birth
And welcome you to the celebration
Of creation's transformation
From my fire that grew to be
A wondrous blue-green symphony."
Note: The Season of Creation
The month of September marks the Season
of Creation ending with World Wide Communion Sunday on the first Sunday in October.
The Season celebrates God as Creator of the vast universe, helps us to see God’s revelation in creation,
and reminds us of our calling to care for creation.
We are called to protect the world’s rich diversity and
to help address the urgent, destructive crises threatening
its health into the future. We can all do our part to help the world heal. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. We are making a difference.
The Creation Mandala image and reading by Vincent Busch. Fr. Vinnie is a Columban priest from the USA who has been serving in Mindanao, Philippines since his arrival in 1975.. He initiated a handicraft project with the Subanens in Zamboanga del Sur in 2001.
Reflection:
Today we begin the Season of Creation, a time when the United Church of Canada and many churches around the world, including the Roman Catholic and Orthodox church, express gratitude for God’s creation and seek to understand our role as Christians within the intricate web of life.
It is easy for us to take for granted that our place in the web is at the top – in Genesis we are given “dominion over”, “put in charge of”, made “masters of” all, well everything, that we see, use, and manipulate. We are told to “be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it”. (Genesis 1:26b-30) A task we have taken very seriously because in supposing that God’s creation is a pyramid with humans just under the pinnacle with God at the top we missed the sentiment that these are words of responsibility, not license. Of course, no one in the Bible could envision the world we live in today!
This morning we read a ”Mandala of Creation” poem, written by Father Vincent Busch, SSC, a missionary who works in the Philippines with a fair trade craft mission; Subanen Crafts, they are the ones who produce these mandalas in beadwork for sale.
This poem takes the creation story and presents it as a web, in which we and the whole universe are connected, the creation events are all connected. The poet is just looking at creation but we could just as easily have our creation mandala showing a series of circles one containing people, one animals,one plants and trees, one birds, one sea animals, one the air we breathe. or we could have a mandala of community: with circles connecting family, home, friends, work, school, health, politics to an individual in the center. You can make your own mandala. It doesn’t really matter what you want to represent: the universe, the world, ourown lives; we are connected to each other, to the world the world, to the universe in so many ways.
We are all connected! Family friends, neighbours, co-workers, fellow worshippers, distant cousins, Christians all over the world, - and Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, refugees, political opponents, anti-vaxers, enemies. We are all connected. We are all dependent upon the world we live. This world for our food, our water, our wellbeing, our homes, our education, our health – the list goes on and on. We are all in this together, even if we don’t all of the same opinion; we are all responsible for the stuff of this world together. Whoa!
Makes you wonder doesn’t it! I think that is one of the main purposes of the Genesis story, to instill in us a sense of wonder. There is so much we don’t know but look at the wonder of it all.
We are living in one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy, we think we know what a large part of the universe looks like – kind of! – because we’re limited into studying the past based on the speed of light. I mean, I have lots of questions about this universe, what does it look like from outside? are there are other universes?, what is dark matter really made of? and why is there so much of it? If our star imploded now could we see it? See wonder! We are one speck on one galaxy that we think has a black hole in it’s center circling around a star that will one day implode – OK a little dark but still the amazingness of this world and our being on it- is, well, amazing! A speck on a speck you might say but that is not really a new notion when you have a God who knows your name and has numbered the hairs on your head.
God’s world is amazing and we get to be a part of it. Wonder!
So what went wrong to bring us to this perilous point where the climate is changing and we are facing environmental degradation, droughts, forest fires, a thawing of the permafrost, a warming of the oceans, poor air and water quality and extinction of many species.
What can I say. We, humans, with all our superior adaptations and big brains; we generally do not know our place within the natural systems. We want to alter and control nature for our own purposes without placing limitations upon ourselves. We worship personal freedom over against healthy communities, national interests over against global interests, and human interests over against the interests of the vast majority of God’s creation. We don’t like limitations. Neither did Adam and Eve, so it is something in us that wants power and riches and more. That wants to go farther, be faster, smarter and have a bigger house. We want to see the earth from space to wonder at its beauty and yet somehow miss what is going on when you get up close.
But we, as people of faith, as people, who see God everywhere and in everyone, we have a mission. God has a purpose for our lives. Basil the Great living in the 4th century wrote; “O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, our brothers the animals [and all creatures] to whom thou gavest the earth as their home in common with us.”
We, as people of faith, believe that God is with us in our quest to find ways in our lives respectfully and peacefully with all creation. As our creed reminds us:
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jeses, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
We, as individual’s are not burdened with the task of righting every wrong by ourselves, we are responsible to do what we can, when we can, in our homes and in our communities.
For some of us it just means trying to live simpler lives: reduce, resuse, recycle; for others it means working with others to protect our forests or waterways, for some it is helping to ensure that injured or abused animals are helped and sheltered and found homes, for others it means working in large organizations at the provincial or national or international level. We need all of it to do this work.
The reading from the Isaiah 35 reminds us that although the way forward may be daunting we are not to become discouraged. For our God is the God of miracles, the God who brought the Jews out of slavery in Egypt, the God who provided and sustained the faithful and not so faithful during times of trial and occupation and exile. Our God is a God of healing and wholeness, the blind see, the lame dance and the dead are resurrected. the desert is alive and the land flourishes. We are called to be apart of that healing process with God.
I have always like a quote from Martin Luther, writing in the 1500’s:
Do you think God is sleeping on a pillow in heaven? …
God is wholly present in all creation, in every corner,
behind and before you.
We are not alone in this endeavour to save our planet.
We are not alone as we work to make the world a better place.
We are not alone as we join with thousands of other Christians around the world to reflect and pray during this season of creation.
Amen
