April 19 - Earth Day
Earth Day Sermon: Carolyn Smith
Gospel Reading: John 20: 19-21, 24-29
In the evening after Mary of Magdala had been to the tomb, on that first day, the doors were locked in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Temple Authorities.
Jesus appeared among them and said “Peace be with you,” then showed them the marks of crucifixion. The disciples were overjoyed to see Jesus, who said to them again “Peace be with you, as Abba God sent me, so I am sending you.”
It happened that Thomas, one of the twelve disciples, was absent that first time when Jesus had appeared. The others kept telling him, “We’ve seen Jesus!”
Thomas answered: “I’ll never believe it without putting my finger in the nail marks and my hand into the spear wound.” On the eighth day, again the disciples were in the same room and this time Thomas was with them. Despite the locked doors, again, Jesus appeared saying “Peace be with you.”
Then, turning to Thomas, he said, “Take your finger and examine my hands. Put your hand into my side. Don’t persist with your doubting, but believe!”
Thomas burst out saying “My saviour, My God!”
Jesus then said, “You’ve become a believer, because you saw me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen, and yet have believed.”
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If you ask me, Every day is Earth Day but today we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of an event acknowledged yearly on April 22 (Wednesday). The 1970 original Earth day saw the first policy changes recognizing the real challenges facing our planet. So, Happy 50th Earth Day !
My family celebrated a 50th birthday and a 50th anniversary recently. But I’ve noticed - a 50th celebration isn’t like a shower for a brand new baby, or the exciting launch of a meaningful cause. Instead, for a 50th, we joke “It’s all Downhill from here”...
But it’s not a funny joke if we’re talking about Earth Day. If I had an Earth Day party I can picture Greta Thunberg, David Suzuki Jane Goodall and others wistfully enjoying a photo album of the planet’s wonders. Like a sunset, or a Muskoka summer.,, Maybe you’ll share some of your favourite spots into the Facebook chat...They’d be cheering about solving the hole in the Ozone Layer back in the 80s, or the Paris Accord. But looking ahead would feel distressing. Is it all downhill from here?
A 50th celebration can’t help but celebrate the good times, but at its best, it honours the hard times too. We laugh, and cry, and talk a lot and fall silent in memories. It’s uncomfortable to hold space for all of that. Some of us do it badly, but squashing down sorrows isn’t healthy either. Human nature makes it a messy balance: to bear witnesswell, in tune with each other.
Right now it feels messy to be in the midst of a Pandemic storm AND to celebrate Easter. And to acknowledge Earth day. The word ‘absurd’ comes to mind, holding both anguish at Covid-19, and smirking toilet paper jokes, and Easter eggs and isolation; And then where do we have energy for our relentless Climate emergency? In our humanness, we feel moody, out of tune with each other, even lost.
Doubting Thomas was literally late to the party. Often he’s teased or even scorned for his doubting, but let’s take a trip back to the story: .... On the eighth day...like a week later, after the Sunday when the women came running from the empty tomb, and that same evening when Jesus first appeared to the shocked men saying Peace be with you - Thomas had missed all of that. After the Friday of the crucifixion, after the arrest, the betrayal, we can taste the fear and trauma. And Maybe we can relate - Thomas couldn’t bring himself to meet up with everyone that first night. Maybe he had chosen to be home, alone in his grief. So eight more days have passed, and despite being told “We’ve seen Jesus!”...
Would you let down your guard? Open yourself to ridicule or worse, heartbreak? It was reasonably insane to think someone killed so viciously, would live again. or that anything normal and safe could ever return...
Jesus, - I wonder - might he have been gentle, or lordly, or captivating... however he was, he didn’t laugh.. he didn’t get angry at Thomas, and he wasn’t grossed out to show him wounded hands and side. There was time given, gently, for Thomas to see, to know what he was seeing and to trust, to somehow make sense of it all. Thomas became, in that moment, a witness.
I’m not sure if the events unfolded just like this, but I know this story is true: To witness with humanness, and with faithfulness, is to hold past and future, highs and lows, with honour and full emotion all at the same time. It’s a grounded place but a trusting, expansive one. Witnessing well seems our best hope now for any sense of stability this spring. Holding space for all the emotions we’re feeling, and the experiences of those around us too, right? Because we’re not all in the same space, but we care.
I’ve been hearing many say: “In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to.Some things are obvious: Hugging each other, getting back out into the world, ensuring enough necessities for all! And here we acknowledge our celebration of Earth day, in this climate emergency. It seems that humans in forced isolation remember the power of connection with each other and with the planet. That we are healthier when connected to the forests and skies and waters, and each other. Our creation is a wonder in how it ebbs and flows, and rebalances itself, how the top of the food chain is impacted directly by the health of the bottom, so much that one isn’t actually at the top or bottom, but interdependent. Do we want a sustainable, thriving, interdependent world or one again that breaks the cycles, monopolizing and capitalizing out of greed?
So “what parts of normal are worth rushing back to?” Let’s share, and please - use the Facebook chat (or email me, or let’s talk about it on the phone) “what parts of normal are worth rushing back to?” While you share your thoughts, the evidence-based facts tell us 3 things. 1 - we need to leave fossil fuels in the ground. 2- we need to replant healthy forests and stop cutting down the trees that are living now. 3- we need civic action for political change. Without number 1, 2 and 3, our lightbulbs and our diets and our recycling will be moot points as our climate warms beyond the tipping point. I’ve posted a video with Greta Thunberg and Journalist George Monbiot that describes this. We are at that point, or it’s all downhill from here.
....So what parts of normal are worth returning to? ... May we rebuild a sustainable future of hugs and grandkids, of equality and Living wages, of good health care and a healthy planet. Today is a Pandemic Time. It is Earth Day. It is a day of isolation, and facing illness and worries about our jobs. And It is still an Easter day! God holds the long view, that dream of the Garden- flourishing and alive, the divine Way of Witnessing that Love makes life worth living and saving, even after our darkest times!
And despite our humanness which at its worst has proven destructive, we have capacity for such a dream and such solidarity and innovation!
So Witness again... gaze out the window at the clouds tumbling in the sky, consider the lines on your face, spare the spider, savour a glass of water and call your loved ones.
Easter and Earth day are about Rising and Thriving. Rising... Uphill... Hopeful life.
And we are an Easter People. Amen.