Sermon 04/26/09
Prayer of Manitongquat
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To trace the history of a river, or a raindrop, as John Muir would have done, is also to trace the history of the soul,
- Gretel Ehrlich (Open with remarks about our earth day celebration, Thea Sagen's art installation, and define term, "Gaia.") The Gaia hypothesis is an ecological hypothesis proposing that living organisms and inorganic material are part of a dynamic system that shapes the Earth's biosphere, and maintains the Earth as a fit environment for life. In some Gaia theory approaches the Earth itself is viewed as an organism with self-regulatory functions. Originally proposed by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the mid 1960's, it came to be known as the Gaia Hypothesis named after the Greek goddess of Earth. In Greek mythology Gaia was the everlasting foundation for the gods of Olympus. She is believed by some sources to be the original deity behind the Oracle of Delphi. Etymologically Gaia is a compound word of two elements. Ge, meaning " Earth", is found in terms such as geography (Ge/graphos = writing about Earth) and geology (Ge/logos = words about the Earth). Aia is a derivative of an Indo-European stem meaning "Grandmother". The full etymology of Gaia would, therefore, appear to have been "Grandmother Earth 1) Armand Bayou Nature Center During my recent trip to Houston we had the opportunity to visit Armand Bayou Nature Center, a 2,550 acre nature preserve and educational center that is named after my uncle, Armand Yramategui. The following is from the ABNC website: ABNC was founded in 1974 as a result of efforts begun by an environmental visionary, Armand Yramategui. It is the largest urban wildlife refuge in the United States. Armand foresaw the urban growth around Armand Bayou and strove to have this land remain a wilderness. Armand's tragic death in 1970 inspired a local, regional and national coalition of people and organizations to acquire the land now preserved as ABNC. ABNC's educational programs promote the value of preservation and conservation of natural resources. These programs also encourage everyone to incorporate ecological concepts into their daily lives.
- To preserve the wetlands prairie, forest and marsh habitats with which we have been entrusted. - To provide opportunities for people to experience the Armand Bayou habitats and the importance of preserving these vanishing habitats. Through preservation and education, ABNC strives to "Reconnect People with Nature". It had been at least twenty years since I had visited Armand Bayou and I was very impressed at how it has been maintained and preserved. I was also struck at the increased urban development around the bayou. My memory of the last trip to the bayou was of it being way out in the country; it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Now it felt like you never left the city, and then right in the middle of all this urban sprawl is a nature preserve. I first felt a little sadness at the loss of all the countryside that I had remembered. But that soon shifted and I started to feel a sense of gladness and gratitude that at least there was this much natural habitat that was preserved for future generations and had become a center for education and advocacy for the environment. 2) Spiritual Foundations The main catch-phrase the ABNC uses to describe it's work is "to reconnect people with nature." This gets at what I believe is a deeply spiritual experience and one that points toward the role of the church in the environmental movement. Feminist theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether reminds us of the two divine voices we hear in nature and how important it is to listen to both these voices. In God and Gaia we hear two voices of divinity from nature. One speaks from the mountaintops in the thunderous masculine tones of "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not." It is the voice of power and law, but speaking (at its most authentic) on behalf of the weak, as a mandate to protect the powerless and to restrain the power of the mighty. There is another voice, one that speaks form the intimate heart of matter. It has long been silenced by the masculine voice, but today is finding again her own voice. This is the voice of Gaia. Her voice does not translate into laws or intellectual knowledge, but beckons us into communion. . . . We need both of these holy voices.
These voices lead us towards a spiritual vision of the earth community, a vision sustained by a re-orientation towards the sacred in nature, self, others, and the environment. They lead us into a greater commitment to live and act as responsible members of the earth community. There is a moving example of the transformation born in communion with nature found in a popular novel THE COLOR PURPLE, by Alice Walker. The story centers around Celie and her lover shug. At one point in the book they are having a conversation about God and it's obvious that Celie and Shug have very different images and concepts about God. Celie's God is "big and old and tall and greybearded and white," (and male) very different from Celie. Shug then relates to Celie her rather different view of God. Here's the thing, say Shug. The thing I believe. God is inside you and inside everybody else. You come into the world with God. But only them that search for it inside find it. And sometimes it just manifest itself even if you not looking, or don't know what you looking for. Trouble do it for most folks, I think. Sorrow, lord. . . . She say, My first step from the old white man was trees. Then air. Then birds. Then other people. But one day when I was sitting quiet and feeling like a motherless child, which I was, it come to me: that feeling of being a part of everything, not separate at all. I knew that if I cut a tree, my arm would bleed. And I laughed and I cried and I run all round the house. I knew just what it was. In fact, when it happen, you can't miss it. It sort of like you know what, she say, grinning and rubbing high up on my thigh. Shug! I say. Oh, she say. God love all them feelings. That's some of the best stuff God did. And when you know God loves 'em you enjoys 'em a lot more. You can just relax, go with everything that's going, and praise God by liking what you like. God don't think it dirty? I ast. Naw, she say. God made it. Listen, God love everything you love - and a mess of stuff you don't. But more that anything else, God love admiration. You saying God vain? I ast. Naw, she say. Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. Note: 1) Reconnecting with God begins with connecting to nature, then self, others, etc. 2) Images for God are metaphors, symbols, not the reality! 3) A new image offers a new door to personal transformation and growth. Alongside the call to action on behalf of the Earth we also need to remember and reconnect with the spiritual groundings that beckons us into communion. In spite of all the havoc and devastation human activity has wrecked upon the Earth, we are still here, we are still a part of nature. God and Gaia haven't given up on us yet. There must be some inherent power for healing and protecting the earth community that we still possess and have yet to offer. There is still hope and we must not stop believing in ourselves. In the words of Manitongquat; Life is the Sacred Mystery singing to itself, dancing to its drum, telling tales, improvising, playing, and we are all that Spirit, our stories all but one cosmic story that we are love indeed, that perfect love in me seeks the love in you, and if our eyes could ever meet without fear we would recognize each other and rejoice, for love is life believing in itself. Amen! Manitongquat was a medicine man and story teller of the Wampanoag nation. The following prayer came to him at the first Rainbow Gathering in 1971. Prayer of Manitongquat Hear, O Humankind, the prayer of my heart. For are we not one, have we not one desire, to heal our Mother Earth and bind her wounds, to hear again from dark forests and flashing rivers the varied ever-changing Song of Creation? O Humankind, are we not all brothers and sisters, are we not the grandchildren of the Great Mystery? Do we not all want to love and be loved, to work and to play, to sing and dance together? But we live with fear. Fear that is hate, fear that is mistrust, envy, greed, vanity, fear that is ambition, competition, aggression, fear that is loneliness, anger, bitterness, cruelty . . . and yet, fear is only twisted love, love turned back on itself, love that was denied, love that was rejected . . . and love . . . Love is life - creation, seed and leaf and blossom and fruit and seed, love is growth and search and reach and touch and dance. Love is nurture and succor and pleasure, love is delighting in ourselves delighting in each other, love is life believing in itself. And life . . . Life is the Sacred Mystery singing to itself, dancing to its drum, telling tales, improvising, playing, and we are all that Spirit, our stories all but one cosmic story that we are love indeed, that perfect love in me seeks the love in you, and if our eyes could ever meet without fear we would recognize each other and rejoice, for love is life believing in itself. |
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