Guest Perspective
Earth Day Reflection given at the Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church
April 30, 2017
by The Rev. Craig M. Nowak with Wisdom Skit written and performed by BUUC RE players Laurie, Jack, Payson, Eliot, Avery, Caterina, Zoey, Gretchen and Lorelei
“May we be blessed with the remembrance of who we really are….” These words which close this morning’s prayer have been on my mind for quite some time now…well before the planning for today’s service began. Indeed, I pray that particular line in one form or another nearly every day, and often several times a day.
The source of those words is said to be something called “The Terma Collective.” According to Tibetan legend, terma are ancient texts buried by deities until their wisdom can be used for the benefit of all living beings.
Wisdom.
I look out at the world, walk upon the landscape, rest in the shadow of of ancient trees, breathe in the air and I marvel at the beauty that surrounds me. And then I think of a store I was in last week, filled to capacity with an endless sea of cheap stuff and I wonder, Where does all of this go? I recall the warm days of this and the last several winters in New England with a sense of unease, intensified by some of the recent choices and proposed changes in national environmental policy.
And I remember Buttermilk Falls, nestled deep in the Vermont woods, whose pristine, bone chilling waters I swam in as a kid and how the last time I visited, the trail leading to the falls was scarred with broken glass and plastic candy and cigarette wrappers.
And as I hold all of these experiences, thoughts, and recollections in my mind, I think…yes…now…now is the time to unearth wisdom…any and all wisdom that can be used to benefit all living beings.
So much has been lost already…so much more is at risk…it is time to remember who we really are in relation to the earth.
In the Western world, rooted largely the Judeo-Christian tradition, many claim, assume or assent (without much thought) to the notion that human beings have “dominion” over the earth…dominion ordained by God. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Genesis 1:26.
Others insist we are stewards of the earth…here to take care of what is not really ours. For which the Bible also provides cover, “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Genesis 2:15. The Hebrew word sometimes translated as keep, is Shamar, which means more than to simply keep things neat and tidy, it means to guard, to watch over or protect.
Taken separately and/or too literally, these understandings become dangerous and invite exploitation. What if instead of either dominators or protectors of the earth, we came to understand ourselves as guests of the earth? Transient visitors charged with discerning and living a moral response the generous hospitality of the planet.
Now, I wish that I could tell you I arrived at this question…this idea… through some sophisticated process of the theological inquiry, but instead I have to credit the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” Oh wait… it gets worse…the part of the movie I credit takes place in Munchkin Land.
In the movie Dorothy Gale of Kansas, portrayed in the film in black and white, finds herself a guest in a miraculous albeit techno-colored world. Shortly after her arrival she is approached by Glinda, a good witch. Glinda asks Dorothy, “Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?” Dorthy, not a witch at all, is initially confused.
But What Glinda really wants to know is “Are you here to help or to harm?” Essentially, “What kind of guest will you be?” A question surfaced by our RE player’s wisdom skits this morning. Will we be the kind of guest who takes things that don’t belong to us, like food off someone else’s plate? Or who makes a mess for someone else to find and clean up later? Or who chooses to ignore the world around them?
What if we, asked ourselves the same question in relation to the earth? Are we here to help or to harm? What kind of guest will we be?
How would it change the way you are in the world?
Let’s see what our children have to show us in the fourth wisdom skit…
WISDOM SKIT: LOGGERS (Written and presented by children and adults from BUUC’s RE program)
Scene 1:
(Loggers enter the stage, making a chopping motion as if they are chopping down trees.)
Jack: I’m chopping down all these trees to build a huge mansion for me and my brothers. I am very rich.
(Loggers exit stage.)
Scene 2:
(Mayor and citizens enter the stage.)
Avery: I am the mayor, and I have some bad news. All of the trees in our town are being cut down by loggers. I am going to assign an important job to you; let’s build a nature preserve to protect our town’s land.
Zoey: I have some extra wood at home for the loggers to use instead of cutting down all these trees.
Caterina: I will stop anymore loggers from coming into town.
Gretchen: I am assistant mayor. Avery and I will go talk to the loggers and talk to them about our plan.
(Mayor and citizens remain on stage. Zoey leaves the stage.)
Scene 3:
(Loggers enter the stage, making chopping motions. Avery and Gretchen walk over to the loggers. Avery and Gretchen tell the loggers about the idea for a nature preserve. Zoey enters with some wood.)
Zoey: Here Jack, I have some wood you can use that I’m not using. You won’t have to cut down anymore trees.
Zoey: I also have a rabbit I want to live in the nature preserve.
Gretchen: You can help us plant new trees to replace the ones you cut down, Jack.
Jack: Ok, let’s get to work!
END
They make it seem so effortless! The value of any wisdom story is of course lies not in the simplicity of its application, but in its ability to expose, inspire reflection, or present alternative possibilities concerning conventional ways of thinking or doing things. Notice how our RE players led us from the dominion approach taken by the logger to the steward or protector approach taken by the Mayor to a host/guest approach taken by all, with a commitment to share resources, working cooperatively, and responding gratefully.
At the heart of the guest approach or perspective is a commitment to seek and to live lives worthy of our host…to cultivate a sense of gratitude and awareness of our interconnectedness. Really… to be gracious guests in response and responsibility to a gracious host.
After all, the earth does not need human beings, but we need it. It has no obligation to accommodate, house, or feed us.
When we treat the earth and the environment as something we have dominion over we tend to objectify it and objectification is the first step towards oppression. To understand ourselves solely as stewards of the earth or environment is an improvement, but it still places us above or over creation creating the potential for abuse in the name of expediency.
Understanding ourselves as guests, we place ourselves closer to the reality of our situation. And yes, in addition to the “Wizard of Oz”, there is scriptural support for this view: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1) And in 1 Peter 17:1, where admittedly the English translation from the Greek gives us words that can get in the way of hearing what it means, “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.” More plainly stated both remind us we do not own the planet, that our time here is temporary, and thus we are called to be mindful of our actions and respectful of our host.
We are finite, we come and go. The earth, so far, remains. So how will we spend our limited time here as guests of this gracious planet? Will we honor our faithful, generous host by living as grateful guests or will we betray or offend it to the point that we wear out our welcome? Indeed, the single most important change we can make for the benefit of the earth and the life that depends upon it, including our own, is to shift our perspective from owner or protector to respectful guest.
Thus may we, for the benefit of the earth, our own sake and those who follow us, indeed be blessed with the remembrance of who…and what we really are on this planet. Guests of a most gracious host, planet earth.
Amen and Blessed Be
Earth Day Reflection given at the Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church
April 30, 2017
by The Rev. Craig M. Nowak with Wisdom Skit written and performed by BUUC RE players Laurie, Jack, Payson, Eliot, Avery, Caterina, Zoey, Gretchen and Lorelei
“May we be blessed with the remembrance of who we really are….” These words which close this morning’s prayer have been on my mind for quite some time now…well before the planning for today’s service began. Indeed, I pray that particular line in one form or another nearly every day, and often several times a day.
The source of those words is said to be something called “The Terma Collective.” According to Tibetan legend, terma are ancient texts buried by deities until their wisdom can be used for the benefit of all living beings.
Wisdom.
I look out at the world, walk upon the landscape, rest in the shadow of of ancient trees, breathe in the air and I marvel at the beauty that surrounds me. And then I think of a store I was in last week, filled to capacity with an endless sea of cheap stuff and I wonder, Where does all of this go? I recall the warm days of this and the last several winters in New England with a sense of unease, intensified by some of the recent choices and proposed changes in national environmental policy.
And I remember Buttermilk Falls, nestled deep in the Vermont woods, whose pristine, bone chilling waters I swam in as a kid and how the last time I visited, the trail leading to the falls was scarred with broken glass and plastic candy and cigarette wrappers.
And as I hold all of these experiences, thoughts, and recollections in my mind, I think…yes…now…now is the time to unearth wisdom…any and all wisdom that can be used to benefit all living beings.
So much has been lost already…so much more is at risk…it is time to remember who we really are in relation to the earth.
In the Western world, rooted largely the Judeo-Christian tradition, many claim, assume or assent (without much thought) to the notion that human beings have “dominion” over the earth…dominion ordained by God. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Genesis 1:26.
Others insist we are stewards of the earth…here to take care of what is not really ours. For which the Bible also provides cover, “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Genesis 2:15. The Hebrew word sometimes translated as keep, is Shamar, which means more than to simply keep things neat and tidy, it means to guard, to watch over or protect.
Taken separately and/or too literally, these understandings become dangerous and invite exploitation. What if instead of either dominators or protectors of the earth, we came to understand ourselves as guests of the earth? Transient visitors charged with discerning and living a moral response the generous hospitality of the planet.
Now, I wish that I could tell you I arrived at this question…this idea… through some sophisticated process of the theological inquiry, but instead I have to credit the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” Oh wait… it gets worse…the part of the movie I credit takes place in Munchkin Land.
In the movie Dorothy Gale of Kansas, portrayed in the film in black and white, finds herself a guest in a miraculous albeit techno-colored world. Shortly after her arrival she is approached by Glinda, a good witch. Glinda asks Dorothy, “Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?” Dorthy, not a witch at all, is initially confused.
But What Glinda really wants to know is “Are you here to help or to harm?” Essentially, “What kind of guest will you be?” A question surfaced by our RE player’s wisdom skits this morning. Will we be the kind of guest who takes things that don’t belong to us, like food off someone else’s plate? Or who makes a mess for someone else to find and clean up later? Or who chooses to ignore the world around them?
What if we, asked ourselves the same question in relation to the earth? Are we here to help or to harm? What kind of guest will we be?
How would it change the way you are in the world?
Let’s see what our children have to show us in the fourth wisdom skit…
WISDOM SKIT: LOGGERS (Written and presented by children and adults from BUUC’s RE program)
Scene 1:
(Loggers enter the stage, making a chopping motion as if they are chopping down trees.)
Jack: I’m chopping down all these trees to build a huge mansion for me and my brothers. I am very rich.
(Loggers exit stage.)
Scene 2:
(Mayor and citizens enter the stage.)
Avery: I am the mayor, and I have some bad news. All of the trees in our town are being cut down by loggers. I am going to assign an important job to you; let’s build a nature preserve to protect our town’s land.
Zoey: I have some extra wood at home for the loggers to use instead of cutting down all these trees.
Caterina: I will stop anymore loggers from coming into town.
Gretchen: I am assistant mayor. Avery and I will go talk to the loggers and talk to them about our plan.
(Mayor and citizens remain on stage. Zoey leaves the stage.)
Scene 3:
(Loggers enter the stage, making chopping motions. Avery and Gretchen walk over to the loggers. Avery and Gretchen tell the loggers about the idea for a nature preserve. Zoey enters with some wood.)
Zoey: Here Jack, I have some wood you can use that I’m not using. You won’t have to cut down anymore trees.
Zoey: I also have a rabbit I want to live in the nature preserve.
Gretchen: You can help us plant new trees to replace the ones you cut down, Jack.
Jack: Ok, let’s get to work!
END
They make it seem so effortless! The value of any wisdom story is of course lies not in the simplicity of its application, but in its ability to expose, inspire reflection, or present alternative possibilities concerning conventional ways of thinking or doing things. Notice how our RE players led us from the dominion approach taken by the logger to the steward or protector approach taken by the Mayor to a host/guest approach taken by all, with a commitment to share resources, working cooperatively, and responding gratefully.
At the heart of the guest approach or perspective is a commitment to seek and to live lives worthy of our host…to cultivate a sense of gratitude and awareness of our interconnectedness. Really… to be gracious guests in response and responsibility to a gracious host.
After all, the earth does not need human beings, but we need it. It has no obligation to accommodate, house, or feed us.
When we treat the earth and the environment as something we have dominion over we tend to objectify it and objectification is the first step towards oppression. To understand ourselves solely as stewards of the earth or environment is an improvement, but it still places us above or over creation creating the potential for abuse in the name of expediency.
Understanding ourselves as guests, we place ourselves closer to the reality of our situation. And yes, in addition to the “Wizard of Oz”, there is scriptural support for this view: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1) And in 1 Peter 17:1, where admittedly the English translation from the Greek gives us words that can get in the way of hearing what it means, “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.” More plainly stated both remind us we do not own the planet, that our time here is temporary, and thus we are called to be mindful of our actions and respectful of our host.
We are finite, we come and go. The earth, so far, remains. So how will we spend our limited time here as guests of this gracious planet? Will we honor our faithful, generous host by living as grateful guests or will we betray or offend it to the point that we wear out our welcome? Indeed, the single most important change we can make for the benefit of the earth and the life that depends upon it, including our own, is to shift our perspective from owner or protector to respectful guest.
Thus may we, for the benefit of the earth, our own sake and those who follow us, indeed be blessed with the remembrance of who…and what we really are on this planet. Guests of a most gracious host, planet earth.
Amen and Blessed Be
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