“We are called to care for the earth as God cares for the earth.” (from the ELCA Social Statement)’
“This summer of 2023 climate change moved from the abstract to the concrete….While some of us still deny it, the rest of us look on with sober fear….The evidence of our impact on the planet is clear.” (Bishop James Hazelwood).
In Advent we’re called to meditation. We’re called to evaluate our place and our accountability in the world. But slowing ourselves down in present times, let alone in December, is hard. We have so many responsibilities—shopping, wrapping, mailing—and so many activities—office work, meetings, neighborhood parties. It’s hard. Add to this the fact that the larger world is filled with terrible, frightening events, and we can’t escape them. Here in New Hampshire, it’s political fighting. Throughout our country, children are hungry and people are homeless. Around the world, we see wars and rumors of wars. And everywhere, nature is threatened by climate change.
But ironically, while we know nature is in danger, there’s no better way to slow down emotionally, to calm ourselves, than to be in nature.
So, let’s take the nature walk. We go into the woods and hold very still, and we’re blessed with the sounds of nature. We watch the birds. A squirrel scampers by. We wait; we keep silent. There’s a snowshoe hare, almost hidden in the snow. Then leaves rustle and a raccoon appears. A red fox chases a woodchuck.
After a while we drive to the seacoast to watch the waves. Overhead seagulls squawk before they dive to fish. A great blue heron wades near the shoreline. We hear barking and turn our heads to find a harbor seal.
Feeling calmer, feeling filled by nature, we head off to church for yet another activity. There we find the Climate Care section in the BGLibrary displayed on the carousel. There’s a book that draws our attention: Behold the Lilies: Jesus and the Contemplation of Nature by H. Paul Santmire. In it he describes that when he stays in his rustic vacation home in New Hampshire, when he works the fields and digs into the dirt, he discovers how to meditate, how to be in holiness.
Santmire’s book is just one of many in the Climate Care section that teaches us about how we can care for the earth. Caring for the earth is meditation. I urge you to check out Santmire’s and some of the other caring books on this carousel.