It wasn’t too many years ago that I heard on the news that Atlanta, Georgia was running out of water. My little brother lives near Atlanta, so when I hear news from this region, I pay attention. When I heard this piece about the disappearing water, I was shocked. How is it possible for an entire city to run out of water? What kind of world do we live in when nature’s most prolific resource runs dry?
Of course, I now know this is not uncommon. An April 2015 article in the Huffington Post listed 11 cities that would soon run out of water, San Francisco (the entire Bay Area, actually) displayed along with Miami, Washington DC, Los Angeles and others. We know that our earth has run dry, that the ground is thirsty for life, that what was once a given is now a treasure. We know that we all have a responsibility to conserve what has become so scarce.
As Episcopalians, we believe that caring for our creation is part of the Christian walk, supported not only by scripture, but also by our God-given conscience. The first thing that is said about God in scripture is that God created the world, the land and the sea, the animals on land and the creatures of the water, and all that is contained in the earth, and God called it good, and at the end, God created humanity. Our faith is intimately connected with God’s creation. If we are meant to be in relationship with God, and if God created all things, aren’t we then meant to be in relationship with creation? Should we not seek to be in harmony with the universe?
We are blessed to have Celtic Spirituality as part of our Anglican/Episcopal ethos, a particular way of integrating the earth and all that it contains with worshipping and honoring God. Following the Celtic way, we find evidence of God in nature, in plant life, sea life, animal life, in all things living, including water. We praise God by praising that which God created. And every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven” we are calling upon God to remind us that God’s Kingdom is not only meant to be a far away place entered into upon death, but is also meant to be right here, right now. We cannot realize God’s Kingdom here on earth while at the same time depleting and disregarding the earth.
As we move towards the summer months, I offer this piece to remind us that God is everywhere, calling each one of us to honor and respect the creation that God dwells in.
That in the elements of earth, sea and sky I may see your beauty,
that in wild winds, birdsong and silence
I may hear your beauty,
that in the body of another and the interminglings of relationship,
I may touch your beauty,
that in the moisture of the earth and its flowering
and fruiting
I may smell your beauty,
that in the flowing waters of springs and streams I may taste your beauty,
these things I look for this day, O God,
these things I look for.
-from John Philip Newell, Sounds of the Eternal: A Celtic Psalter
With God’s love,
Lori+