16th Sunday after Pentecost (B), Urzula Glienecke

20 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-

Lectionary reflections

land had gone. Much of it was replaced by peatland, partly as a result of the cooler, wetter climate and partly because of human activities …

By 1900, woodland covered only about 5% of Scotland’s land area, as many small and isolated blocks. This led to the loss of species requiring larger, unbroken blocks of native woodland – especially larger mammals and predators.’1

The deforestation in Scotland that had begun long before our time was dramatically accelerated from the 18th century onwards: by the Clearances, by agricultural and industrial revolutions and by the development of large shooting estates,2 all driven to maximise profit, and resulting in too many cows and sheep, the overpopulation of deer, and in many places, almost no wild nature left. The only natural source of drinking water on one of the islands I know well is no longer fit for use.

Today, there are wonderful reforestation projects already at work. Forests are the lungs of our planet, each precious tree, each little plant produces the oxygen we breathe and consumes the CO2 we emit. We need them – we need them to be able to live.

We can find a new harmony with creation, if we are willing to listen to the groaning of the world. We need to stop the destruction by reducing our carbon emissions, by considering the environment in every decision that we make, and by planting trees again.

In Jewish tradition (and in many Christian traditions too) Wisdom, She who cries out in the streets in the Proverbs text, is one of the images, one of the attempts, used to describe the nature of God. It tells us about a loving God who cares deeply about the whole of the wonderful, diverse, rich creation –including us. We are not above creation, not meant to subdue and exploit it as has been done for a very long time. Instead we are part of it, intertwined: one thread of the fragile mesh of life. But we are destroying it. With our greed, our consumerism, our poor sharing and poor care, we are polluting the waters and the air and the earth we depend on for life. We are contributing to climate catastrophe. It is injustice against our planet and injustice against the people who suffer most from it. We are cutting a hole in the very boat that carries us and our children through the sea of life. And we are diminishing the beauty of the world’s diversity at the same time.

Let us listen to Wisdom, to God! Let us change our ways and live, have a life and a future for our planet, for our beautiful fellow creatures and for our

22 Living Faithfully in the Time of Creation

children. It’s almost too late, but not quite. Turn around now, repent now, change our ways now – as individuals and as society! Let us make wise, informed choices in our everyday lives; let us raise awareness and work to change the destructive systems and mechanisms in our societies.

Prayer

Source of all life, God of the lush forests, God of the clean air, God of the clear waters, God of every living creature, open our eyes, minds and hearts to see that we are all connected, all part of the same network of life: what hurts and pollutes one, hurts and pollutes the other.

Help us to listen to you and to repent from our destructive ways. So that your wonderful, diverse planet can breathe again and live, and we and our children with it. Amen.

Question

Ask your church or community when and how they plan to go ‘net zero’ (the UK government has committed itself to cutting greenhouse gas emissions to ‘net zero’ by 2050).3 Keep asking until it happens. Inform yourself about the best ways to lower the CO2 footprint.

Action

Find out which trees are best suited to the changing climate in your area and, if possible, endemic. Then find a way to plant one or several of them. Connect with reforestation organisations.

Urzula Glienecke

Lectionary reflections

Urzula Glienecke, PhD, is a member of the Iona Community and a Latvian theologian, artist and activist living in Scotland (https://artseekingmeaning.com). She has worked and studied in Latvia, Norway, Germany, Spain, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland and has travelled around the world. She is passionate about working together with people on the margins and preserving our diverse and wonderful environment.

Notes

1. From ‘History of Scotland’s woodlands’ on the NatureScot: Scotland’s Nature

Agency website, www.nature.scot

2. Information from ‘History of Scotland’s woodlands’, NatureScot: Scotland’s Nature

Agency website, www.nature.scot

3. See: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/netzero-government-climate-change-target.pdf

Fragile creation

Sculpture, by Urzula Glienecke © Photo, by Michael Glienecke ©