Matthew Sleeth & Reforesting Faith

When the Green Bible was published eleven years ago I was perplexed by the highlighting of  some questionable "green" verses and the omission of other more likely candidates. While I was underwhelmed by that part of the project I was impressed by several of the introductory essays, including one by Dr. Matthew Sleeth called The Power of a Green God. Sleeth is a physician and an evangelical Christian who writes passionately about the God of Creation. In his introduction he reminds us of the many references to trees in both the Older and Newer Testaments of the bible. As an unapologetic tree admirer and occasional hugger I appreciate what he wrote.

I see that Dr. Sleeth has written a new book (he's written several others) which appears to expand upon that aspect of his Green Bible intro. It won't be released for a few months. Here is a portion of the description of the book.

About Reforesting Faith

The Bible talks about trees more than any living creation other than people. Perhaps you've missed the forest...and the trees.

In this groundbreaking walk through Scripture, former physician and carpenter Dr. Matthew Sleeth makes the convincing case why trees are essential to every Christian's understanding of God.

Yet we've mostly missed how God has chosen to tell His story--and ours--through the lens of trees. There's a tree on the first page of Genesis and the last page of Revelation. The Bible refers to its wisdom as a Tree of Life (Proverbs 3:18). Every major Biblical character has a tree associated with them. Jesus himself says he is the true vine (John 15:1). A tree was used to kill Jesus--and a tree is the only thing the Messiah ever harmed.

This is no accident. When we subtract trees from Scripture, we miss lessons of faith necessary for our growth.

This is the rare book that connects those who love the Creator with creation, and those who love creation with the Creator. It offers inspirational yet practical ways to express our love for God--and our neighbors--by planting spiritual trees and physical trees in the world.

 I'm not sure that I'll purchase the book, but it is a worthwhile reminder of the importance of trees in scripture and their essential role in the health of the planet.

Living With Respect in Creation

To Live With Respect in Creation -- Gary Crawford

After worship on Sunday we took our two grandsons, six and three and a half, out for lunch. The enjoy the play area at McDonald's but we don't like the ridiculous amount of single-use plastic which ends up as waste from our four meals. We went to A&W instead to test the level of resistance. It's possible for adults to eat a sit-down meal with no plastic garbage, although kid's drinks have a plastic lid. We started to explain about straws but the six-year-old was already on board. He told us that his Mom has talked with him about not using throw-away plastics and other things we can do to be kind to the environment.

When we dropped the boys at home later I commended her efforts to educate the boys early. She told me that the older of the two had come home from kindergarten and asked what climate change is, obviously having heard about it in school. She attempted to gently help him understand but as he listened he began to cry at the prospect of a planet under siege. They then talked about how they might make a difference.

Hearing that he had cried cut me to the quick. In fact, I was awake in the wee hours of the next morning thinking about this precious lad and what we Baby Boomers have degraded the Earth in the years of the post-WWII era, a mere blink in planetary history, as homo consumeris.

On Sundays we sit with the boys in church until they leave for Sunday School, always a joy to be with them as we sing our praises to God, Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. I want this to be more than lip service, so that they may experience abundant life as children of the One who brought all things into being.

It must be 25 years ago that Gary Crawford, the artist who created the images for the United Church New Creed booklet, was a guest speaker for the congregation I was serving in Northern Ontario. Gary was selling prints of his work and we bought the image with the line "to live with respect in Creation." At that time our son was still in grade school so both theme and depiction appealed to us. If anything it is more poignant for us now.

We must "live with respect in Creation," prayerfully, actively, with God being our helper.

Piping Down in Cremona

Cremona, Italy

I have written many times about silence as both a spiritual practice and environmental issue in my Lion Lamb and Groundling blogs. There are environmentalists who regard noise as the least recognized form of pollution, which can have serious effects on our health and wellbeing.

I'm quite taken by a project in Cremona, Italy, which requires the population of 70,000 to "pipe down' for a month. Since January, a team of musicians and professional sound engineers have been recording the incomparable sound of Antonio Stradivari's violins as well as historic instruments crafted by Nicolò Amati and Guarneri del Gesù. The "Stradivarius Sound Bank" is born both out of a love for the instruments, and a commercial need, Leonardo Tedeschi says. According to a CBC report:

The project's 32 ultra-sensitive microphones can pick up even the smallest vibrations from the earth beneath the building.
"We have, very close to the auditorium, this piece of road that is made in cobblestone and the vibration of the cars passing by actually gets in our recording," said Tedeschi, a former DJ and the co-founder of Audiozone Studios.
Until the end of next week, the streets around the auditorium are closed off to traffic, the town's mayor has deployed police to shush noise-makers, and stilettos are all but forbidden on local cobblestone roads. "If high heels pass by, we will hear it," he said.
Asking an entire town to be quiet for more than a month might seem like a stretch, but according to Tedeschi, the residents have been receptive to the project.
"They are really kind with us doing this quiet period for the greater good," he said.

It got me wondering what it would take in most communities, large or small, to get people to consciously be quiet for even an hour, let alone a month.
What would the outcome for body, mind, and spirit be if there was a communal effort to choose silence?
Would participants have a sense of heightened awareness of the "sound of sheer silence," or would they just be annoyed?

 It's unlikely that we'll ever know. It's difficult enough to find a place of quiet when we move away from communities, let alone within them. I've always found it a challenge to get congregants to quiet down for even a minute in worship.

Congratulations to the residents of Cremona!

The Adults in the Room on Climate Change

I've mentioned environmental activist Greta Thunberg in both blogs in recent months. Greta is a 16-year-old  who jumped onto the world stage, literally and figuratively, at the COP24 climate conference in Poland last December. She has been blunt, saying that world leaders are acting like children in response to the global threat of climate change.

Greta began by convincing her family members to become vegans and give up air travel. Last year, when 15, she decided to not attend school until the 2018 Sweden general election in September in response to heat waves and wildfires in her native Sweden. She demanded that the Swedish government reduce carbon emissions as per the Paris Agreement, and she protested via sitting outside the national legislature every day during school hours.


Berlin
 
After the election, she continued to strike only on Fridays, which gained worldwide attention. She inspired school students across the globe to take part in student strikes. As of December 2018, more than 20,000 students held strikes in at least 270 cities in countries including Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. That's impressive.

In Australia, thousands of school students were inspired by Thunberg to strike on Fridays, ignoring Prime Minister Scott Morrison's comments of "more learning in schools and less activism".  His comments are disturbing because the Australian government has taken a decidedly climate-change denying stance in practical terms. Meanwhile the country is living through an unprecedented heat-wave in which temperatures in the 40's C are cooking fruit on the trees, destroying field crops and causing wild creatures to die of heatstroke and dehydration.

This is one area amongst many where we may have to accept that children are the adults in the room. In too many spheres, including religion, those who should be acting as wise elders are protecting conventions which no longer make sense (if they every did) and holding on to power. Kids and young adults realize that their future depends on decisions which should have been made decades ago but are absolutely necessary today.

Pay attention to news about Greta and watch tomorrow for reports about the school strikes and protest marches around the world.

Celtic Intersections

The concluding session of my study group with a lovely bunch from Trenton United Church will take place tomorrow morning (9:30 AM, feel free to join us.) In the two weeks since we postponed from the original date there have been several interesting serendipitous occurrences -- providential?

February 1st was St. Brigid's Day, and I will be talking about Brigid as one of the three patron saints of Ireland.

I'll also speak about Irish/Canadian Barbara Beresford Kroeger who is a world renowned botanist whose documentary Call of The Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees touches on her Irish and Celtic roots. I discovered that she is working on another book as well, entitled The Celtic Connection. I can hardly wait. https://www.straight.com/movies/882746/diana-beresford-kroeger-shares-ancient-wisdom-trees



Then on the weekend I discovered that John Philip Newell, one of the foremost writers on Celtic spirituality was interviewed and preached at Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco. I listened to the hour-long conversation and it was very worthwhile. I'll let the study participants know about it because it would certainly augment what we have discussed together.

Here is the link, in the event you are interested. Don't be daunted by the length!

https://www.gracecathedral.org/events/the-forum-with-john-philip-newell-john-muir-as-celtic-prophet/

Sowing the Seeds of Creation Faith

The Sower Bertram Poole

I'm like a lot of us in that I'll start off on an internet search, ending up in sometimes weird and worthless places, while at other times discovering something of equal or greater value than my original quest.

That happened recently when I went searching for articles by Dr. Lisa Dahill who researches and writes on what I feel is the increasingly important subject of worshipping outside. I found two excellent articles, including Life in All its Fullness: Christian Worship in the Natural World. Along the way I found a website called AllCreation.org which describes its content as "a living archive of faith and spiritual practice views on biodiversity and today's environmental challenges." The illustration above accompanies a piece by Elaine Wainwright about Jesus' parable of the sower called An Ecological Reading of Matthew 13:1-9  . http://www.allcreation.org/home/matthew-13

If the intersection of faith and Creation Care is important to you, take a look. It's good to know that there are people out there sowing the seeds. http://www.allcreation.org/

Covenant With a Hermit

Father Charles Brandt fly-fishing in an earlier time
Photo by George Reid

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,
 “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 
 and with every living creature that is with you,
 the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you,
as many as came out of the ark.

Genesis 9:8-10

I've written several times about Father Charles Brandt, a Roman Catholic priest and hermit who has lived as both a solitary and environmental activist life on Vancouver Island for decades. I visited him at his secluded property and hermitage many years ago and recently a former worshipper at the last church I served here in Ontario wrote an article as a journalist now working in the area where Father Brandt resides.

James Wood tweeted a few days ago that Father Brandt, now well into his 90's, has worked out a legal agreement with the Comox Valley Land Trust to have his 27 acres on the Oyster River protected in perpetuity while the hermitage will continue to be used for that purpose. The term used for the agreement is "covenant" which I like because, well, it is so biblical. Covenants in scripture involve God and a person or people in a relationship which is like a contract or more. While I doubt there will be God-talk in the language of the covenant I like the implicit presence of the Creator whom Father Brandt honours in his worship life and activism. Who knows, there may be a rainbow involved.

The driveway to Father Charles Brandt's hermitage.

Photo by James Wood/98.9 The Goat/Vista Radio

Here is James' latest article and another I posted from Hakai Magazine along the way

https://www.mycomoxvalleynow.com/49425/covenant-drawn-up-to-protect-oyster-river-hermit-priests-land/

https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/the-oracle-of-oyster-river/