RECTOR’S REFLECTION:
Use; do not misuse; so, too, Paul teaches you. Find your rest in temperate relaxation. Do not indulge in a frenzy of pleasures. Don’t make yourself a destroyer of absolutely all living things, whether they be four-footed and large or four-footed and small, birds, fish, exotic or common a good bargain or expensive. The sweat of the hunter ought not to fill your stomach like a bottomless well that many men digging cannot fill.
- St. Gregory of Nyssa (335-395)
The above was written by St. Gregory of Nyssa in the 4th century, and the anthem below was written by Melanie Hackett in this 21st century. I hear the resonance of the one in the other, echoing across the generations. The Spirit of God continues to move, raising up people throughout history to give thanks and marvel at the created world but also to confront us with the ways in which we have injured our fellow creatures. May all of us be blessed and challenged by both of these beautiful, spiritual writings this day.
Thanks be to God
CG+
Fireweed Blooms by Melanie Hackett
The sorrows of the nations wrought by the powerful
The loss of creation through disrespect of Earth
It leads to isolation and brokenness of soul
No ecojustice for those most deserving
But I can still be found,
In the rocks in the trees, on the eagle’s wings and the ocean’s breeze
In the sun in the waves, in the orca’s leap and in lightless caves
I’m in the storm that forms the rainbow
In the ashes of the volcano, in the wasteland and empty crater
I will fill it with cobalt spirits, deep blue mirror of Earth’s healing tears
When the lava flows burn burn burn
I’ll make fertile soil and the fireweed blooms
When you gaze in the cobalt crater what does it reflect?
Who are the powerful? Who can the earth, protect?
Are you the beneficiary of Earth’s tears of pain?
Who from wealth can gain, when water’s needed by all?
I can be found,
In the rivers in the glaciers in the crimson clouds in the dancing mist
In the music of red maples in the heart of the brave young activist
I’m in the storm that forms the rainbow
In the darkness I’m in the stars, in the laughing face of the moon
You can find me after the deluge, when I set the desert aflame
When the wildfires burn burn burn
I’ll pop the pinecones alive, and the fireweed blooms
When loss and grief find you, like lava through your veins
When your heart is an empty crater, when your cobalt spirit rains
Remember transformation, the dichotomy
In mourning and in misery, heartbreak and tragedy
You can find me,
In the moss on the mountain, in the silence of sailing snow
In the song of the bee, in the thundering gale, I am Earth’s esprit
In the echo of the canyon, scent of sage, pinyon pine and banyon
In the echo of time past, in the echo of time to come
Earth’s esprit
I’m in the storm that forms the rainbow
In the husky sky of winter, I’m the sundog howling at the moon
In the eye of the squall, there is clarity and peace
When the icy winds burn burn burn
Part of you will have to char, for you to glow
For fireweed blooms, for the fireweed blooms