Dear Friends;
Good Morning to you each and all on this cold spring morning. Although the temperature is several degrees below freezing – at least the sun is shining brightly to cheer our hearts.
This morning I have already asked our Tech Team to forward to you an email and You Tube attachment from a great Canadian Scottish pastor and teacher Rev. Dr. J. Philip Newell. Please do take the time to read the email and view the video. I’m also sending along to you the reflection below. May God’s Spirit move within you and among you with encouragement and grace this day.
With pastoral love and concern,
Rev. Phil
Earth Day April 22, 2020
“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world and those that dwell there-in.”
Psalm 24.1 (KJV)
These are difficult days for many as we are isolated in our homes – seeking to help in the defeat of this COVID-19 virus. The regular routines of our lives have been completely overturned. And yet, “Love conquers all.” I heard yesterday the delightful story of one of our people whose 80th birthday took place in the past week or so. Isolating in place at home with his spouse, it seemed this milestone would fail to be marked in an appropriate manner. But early in the morning our friend was awakened by a phone call from a neighbour who sang “Happy Birthday” to him over the phone! (This may not have been the most melodious rendition of the song – but it was one of the most appreciated!)
Later, when he looked out the front door, three generations of his family were gathered there in the driveway – having journeyed from a distance – to serenade him once more with the birthday song! Even though he wasn’t able to get hugs from everyone – he was “virtually” embraced and held close in the hearts of family and community.
A little later that same day, the “birthday boy” and his beloved took a thermos of hot chocolate and walked to the shore. They sat together, enjoying their refreshments and taking comfort as they watched a Great Blue Heron and pairs of Mergansers fly by – as beavers went about their routines in the shadow of mighty pines. I’ve no doubt that this couple experienced the Presence of our Kind Creator, blessing them in the stillness.
On this “Earth Day” we are invited to “fall in love with the world – with the whole creation”, once again. God comes to us embodied in the good earth – trees, river, lake, sky, animals, birds and stars and planets – and in our own beloved neighbours, friends, spouses, children, grand-children, sisters and brothers.
In a few more weeks or months, we will emerge from this crisis experience. But when that happens, let’s not just “get back to normal”. Let’s learn from all that has happened to us and continue to find ways to love the world in Jesus’ name. Let’s continue to reach out to one another and to “all our relations”.
-
Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently, nourish the life of the world in our care: gift of great wonder, ours to surrender, trust for the children tomorrow will bear.
-
We who endanger, who create hunger, agents of death for all creatures that live, we who would foster clouds of disaster, God of our planet, forestall and forgive.
-
Let there be greening, birth from the burning, water that blesses and air that is sweet, health in God’s garden, hope in God’s children, regeneration that peace will complete.
-
God of all living, God of all loving, God of the seedling, the snow and the sun, teach us, deflect us, Christ reconnect us, using us gently and making us one.
Voices United #307 – “Touch the Earth Gently” (Shirley Murray & Colin Gibson – 1991)
“Then the angels showed me the river of the water of life – on either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Rev.22.1-2 (NRSV)
All illustrations, Photos, links used on this website are property of their respective owners
