It's a strange way for me to spend Sunday morning, and even stranger as I continue reading Bill McKibben's book Eaarth, check as I can for the latest news about the oil gushing into the Gulf, and fly in and out of the heavy rains and storms that Memphis has been experiencing.
In my post The Day after Earth Day (April 23) I wrote: "The good news the day after Earth Day is that there doesn’t seem to be a major oil spill, though there is an oil slick that at the last report I heard measured ten miles by ten miles." We have gone from that on April 23 to the headline Gulf Coast Towns Brace as Huge Oil Slick Nears Marshes as I checked today's New York Times. Describing the effects of the approaching huge oil slick, this story says: "But what is terrifying everyone from bird watchers to the state officials charged with rebuilding the natural protections of this coast is that it now seems possible that a massive influx of oil could overwhelm and kill off the grasses that knit the ecosystem together."
Meanwhile, the Revised Common Lectionary for today has us reading Psalm 148, which talks about all of creation being knit together in praise of God, the ruler of all creation:
7Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps,
8fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command!
9Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars!
10Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!
11Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth!
12Young men and women alike, old and young together!
13Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven.
The book I'm reading talks about the increase of flooding storms as the temperature rises, since warmer air holds more moisture. With the news from the Gulf getting more alarming by the day -- and the hour -- the attempt to solve some of our energy problems by increasing the number of offshore oil wells seems like a more problematic solution than some people, including some environmentalists, had led us to believe. Some of the things we have been seeing in recent months -- the increased snowfall in part of the United States and the heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro that caused loss of life and homes in landslides come to mind -- are most likely going to become more frequent.
The solutions to our environmental woes aren't coming easily. They are difficult to figure out from an engineering and scientific point of view, and politically will be very difficult to implement, if we even find the political will to look past short-term concerns to the big picture. But people of faith are called to take on an extra challenge, to continue praising God in the midst of it all, to praise God in the storm.
When we join our voices with all of creation in praise, we become more aware of our connection not only to God, but to all of creation. Praising God may bring us to the perspective we need: not an escape from the reality of what we have done to God's creation, not a denial of or escape from the realities of the world around us, but a place where our hearts and our sights are open wide enough to repent and do the hard work of reconciliation with God, one another, and all of creation.
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