Sacred Earth as Spiritual Teacher

Sacred Earth as Spiritual Teacher, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski. Series: This Sweet Earth A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: Matthew 6.28; Genesis 1.31.

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At First Presbyterian, you will meet people at many different places theologically and spiritually. And we love it that way. We want to be a place where our diversity brings us together and where conversation takes us all deeper in our understanding of God.

We call this kind of faith “Spacious Christianity.” We don’t ask anyone to sign creeds or statements of belief. The life of faith is about a way of being in the world and a faith that shows itself in love.

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Featuring:

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski, Rev. Sharon Edwards, Becca Ellis, Brave of Heart, Guests

Transcript

Whitney Higdon: 0:40

Welcome to worship At First Presbyterian we, at First Presbyterian, practice a spacious Christianity, which means no matter where you are in your faith journey, you belong and there is space for you at the table, there is space for your doubts and questions. We believe doubts and questions are a gift that invite us into deeper conversations and a more authentic faith. We believe diversity is a strength. Every story is sacred and everybody matters. We do our best to live the spacious and radical love of Jesus so that all might have a chance to flourish in this world. We are so glad to connect with you in this way. We would also love to worship with you in person if you're ever in the neighborhood on Sunday mornings at 830, or 10am and never hesitate to reach out to us to learn more about us or how we might support You. I hope you enjoy this worship service. Welcome you.

Unknown: 4:46

a prayer from the uncumga Gray also known as the northern ute people Earth teach me stillness as the grasses are. Stilled with light. Earth, teach me suffering as old stones suffer with memory. Earth, teach me humility as blossoms are humble with beginning. Earth, teach me caring as the mother who secures her young. Earth, teach me courage as the tree which stands alone. Earth, teach me limitation as the ant which crawls on the ground. Earth, teach me freedom as the eagle which soars in the sky. Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall. Earth teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring. Earth teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life. Earth teach me to remember kindness as dry fields weep in the rain and Amen. We're in

Steven: 7:13

the middle of a worship series on our relationship with and caring for creation. Have you noticed how vital it is for our well being to spend time outside in nature. I mean, nature is our best therapist, physician, teacher. Nature is our healer. I mean, how ironic that that we turn to God's holy earth for healing. When God's holy earth is in crisis, crying out for healing. Healing both ourselves and the earth, involves healing our relationship with the earth. There's an exquisite documentary celebrating the wonder of trees, called my passion for trees with British actress Judy Dench. Now Judy Dench walks among the trees on our large rural property in Sussex, and she's with a scientist who uses a special instrument that that allows her to listen to the gurgling, rushing sounds of water moving up through the trunk of a tree, nourishing its branches and leaves, a sound the film actually allows us to hear as well. Have you ever heard the sound of a tree drawing water up through the veins of its noble body? Probably not. The Earth breathes. The Earth has a pulse. How might it change our presence on the earth? If, if we actually were able to hear the Earth's pulse? I vividly remember how I was profoundly changed the moment I heard the the pulse of my first child, the bump of the ultrasound, when the obstetrician said, Well, Dad, that's your child's heart. You know, until that moment, I thought I was separate from my child, distant from the mystery inside the womb. But I tell you, once I heard the heartbeat, once I once I heard the pulse, everything changed. I was I was connected my my heartbeat was one with my child's heartbeat. And to this day, 30 years later. When my child's heart breaks, my heart breaks when my child's heart bursts with joy, my heart bursts with joy. Our healing and well being cannot be separated from the Earth's healing and well being. Jesus said, consider the lilies. Now, the Greek word, translated as considered literally means, pay attention, give the fullness of your attention. And in that same passage of Scripture, Jesus links paying attention, paying attention to nature, to reducing our anxiety, the poet Mary Oliver wrote a poem called instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. We are so, so so focused on ourselves that sometimes we miss the sheer goodness and wonder of nature. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, Earth is crammed with heaven and every common Bush a fire with God, but only she who sees takes off her shoes, the rest of us sit round and pluck blackberries. We are a human centric race, aren't we? I mean the earth. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, billion years old. Homo sapiens, our tribe, have been around for maybe 200,000 of those years, I mean, a tiny fraction of Earth's existence. And yet we assume, we assume we've always been here. We assume we we will always be here. And unless we're wise, and unless we heal our relationship with the Earth, we may not be I'm not so sure we can be, not so sure we can be so human centric and actually survive as a species. We've got to move from being egocentric to becoming eco centric, from seeing this incredible Earth as a commodity for our consumption, to seeing God's holy earth as a sacred community, a living web we get to share with all living things. Wendell Berry wrote, we have, we have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the earth. We have been wrong, and we must change and live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the Earth is actually good for us, and that requires rediscovering and recovering the sacredness of God's holy earth, the description of the beginning of creation in the book of Genesis, in the Bible, by The way, is not science, but it's actually beautiful poetry. The poet wrote that on the sixth day of creation, God surveyed the earth. God examined the skies, the oceans, the mountains, the forests, the streams, the high desert, the Rolling Plains. God laughed at the centipede, the tumbleweed, the scampering puppy in the platypus. God rejoiced in the apple blossoms, the tadpole, the glacier and the glorious configuration of wrinkles and neurons that make up the human brain. And the poet says, God saw all that God has made and saw that it was Tov me old, that's the original Hebrew. Told me old, the original Hebrew that we we feebly translated as very good, a more accurate translation. I. It is to say that that God paid attention and God saw all that God had made and exclaimed, wow. You know, an even more accurate translation is that that when God took in the majesty, beauty, beauty, sacredness, the sacredness of creation, the beauty of creation. God was so overcome with awe that God was speechless. The Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel said, God is not the object of our knowledge, but God is the catalyst for our wonder and awe. We are to live in radical amazement, to get up in the morning, take in the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. To be spiritual, to be spiritual is to be amazed. Does that describe your spiritual life? Maybe that's what we've lost, a sense of reverence and awe in our souls are poor for it, the Earth is poor for it, the environmental crisis, and it is a crisis. Is a spiritual crisis. We will not cherish and protect what we take for granted. We will not save what we do not savor and hold sacred. We will not restore and renew what we do not Revere. We will not humbly serve what we arrogantly assume exists to serve us. We will not heal what we don't recognize as essential for our own healing. Jewish philosopher Martin buper said there are two ways of relating to one another. I it where the other is an object to be used for our benefit. You know, this is when we treat other people transactionally in terms of how they might might serve our needs, how they might make us happy. And Bubba says, the other way of relating is, I, thou, where we see and treat the other as holy, sacred. I mean, what a difference it makes in our relationships when we are able to see others as beloved children of God when we actually treat others with respect and even reverence. The most important question we ask, we can possibly ask the the question I believe that would would transform every relationship you have is simply asking yourself, do people feel important and valued in my presence now, Just imagine, just imagine if we treated our relationship with God's holy earth with the same humility, respect, reverence, rather than an IT, seeing the Earth as existing to serve our needs. What if we saw God's holy earth as a sacred thou to be revered as Chief Seattle said, the Earth doesn't belong to us. We belong to the earth. What if we actually asked, Does, does God's holy earth feel valued, respected, revered in our presence? You know, in the sacrament of Holy Communion, Jesus holds up the bread. The bread a gift from the earth. And the first thing Jesus does is he gives things. I think gratitude inspires reverence. I. Imagine adopting a spiritual practice expressing gratitude for one aspect of creation every day for a whole year. Every day for a whole year. One aspect of creation, the rising of the sun, the wind in our hair, the grace of the birds in the air, the beauty of the flowers, the salmon that swim in the stream, the stillness of the trees, the steadiness of the rocks, our reverence will deepen and we'll be reminded how deeply, intimately connected we are to creation. You know, I love to kayak, one of my favorite things in the world to do. And I wonder what would happen if, before we got in our kayaks, it became our spiritual practice to pay attention, really, really pay attention to come, to come to that place of WoW, and then give thanks for the gift of the river. What would happen if we didn't see the river as simply there to serve us and our pleasure, but made it a spiritual practice to bow to the river with reverence. What might happen if, before we asked the river to heal us, which I don't know about you, it always does, what if we listen for the river's Heartbeat, asking how we might contribute to her healing? One more poem to finish, window berries, the peace of wild things, when despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night, at the least sound and fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go lie down where the wood Drake rests in the beauty of the water and the great Heron feeds, I come into the presence of still water, and I feel above the day Blind stars waiting with their light for a time, I rest in the grace of the world and am free. Friends, take a moment open your heart to the sheer goodness, the WoW of creation. Let it heal you, and consider what you might do today to love and heal God's holy earth. May it be so, God looked over all that God had created, and God was speechless. Friends, pay attention, be astonished, take nothing for granted, recover a sense of reverence and awe for God's holy earth. Let the earth heal you, that you might remember our first and the holiest calling is to love and heal the earth. May it be so.

Whitney Higdon: 28:56

Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope you enjoyed this worship service. If you would like to make a donation helping make these broadcasts possible or support the many ways. First, Presbyterian seeks to serve our community. You can make a financial gift online at bend fp.org, every week, we hear from someone thanking us for the gift of these broadcasts and what a difference they make. Your support makes that possible. Our church is committed to reach beyond our walls, bringing hope where there is despair and love where it is needed the most. Your generous support helps us to be generous in love. Go to our website, bend fp.org, and click on the link. Give online. Your support is really appreciated and makes a difference in people's lives. Thanks again. I hope to see you next week. You.