Living Faithfully in the Time of Creation pages 3b.qxp_Summer 02/08/2021 08:12 Page 20
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Living Faithfully in the Time of Creation
16th Sunday after Pentecost (B) Reading Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: ‘How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you I will make my words known to you … but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.’ (Proverbs 1:20–23, 33, NRSV)
Reflection For a long time, I avoided what we used to call the ‘Old Testament’. It seemed to be full of images of an angry, vindictive God who punishes people for their wrongdoings and sins. And then one day I looked at it again, and it spoke to me. I saw the Hebrew Bible with completely new eyes. We are not punished for our sins, but by our sins, by the consequences of our actions! I have learned to read the biblical language differently. It is not about God coming down and punishing us; it is about our actions – and inaction – causing harm to ourselves, to other people, to our common home, our planet. God does not want that! We read in Ezekiel 33:1: Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways … As an example, let us look at the forests of my adopted home, Scotland. Or rather – let us have a look at their history: ‘Woodland cover around 5,000 years ago reached Shetland and the Western Isles … then began to decline, largely due to early agriculture. By the time the Roman legions of Agricola invaded Scotland in AD 82, at least half of our natural wood-
