Opening reflection
We remember the dry land that rose from waters in the
beginning, the plants that emerged from the soil to cover the land with
vegetation, and the rich diversity of animal life. We remember the gardens and
the fields of our childhood, the places where we played in the sand, when we
felt close to the round, to magic flowers, and to baby animals.
Jesus Christ, once buried in Earth, hear our cry: We regret
that we have become alienated from Earth, and treated this garden planet as a
beast to be tamed, as a domain to be dominated, and as a place to be ruled for
our gain.
We remember and confess how we have violated and polluted
the lands of our garden planet. We are sorry. We have killed living soils with
chemicals, we have turned fertile fields into lifeless plains, we have cleared
rich lands of wildlife. We are sorry. We are sorry.
Let Us Pray;
God, our Creator, whose glory fills all things, help us to
discern your presence among us and our kin in creation, especially in the soil,
in the fields, and on the land. Help us to empathize with your creatures who
are suffering and to serve you as agents for healing the land. In the name of
Christ, who reconciles and restores all things in creation. Amen.
SERMON
Mathew 12:38-40
Tehra Cox shares her experience of the land in the secret language of earth
speak ; “When I moved from the noisy concrete and steel canyons of New York
City to a small Hudson Valley village with its serenely-forested highlands, I
was stunned by the radical change of scenery. As late summer turned into
fall, my favorite season, nature’s magic began its work on me. From one of my
first autumn walks along the wooded mountain path behind the old Victorian
house that was my new home, I was introduced to the uncanny voices of the natural
world.
My first encounter with what I
call “Earth-Speak” was nothing less than phenomenal for its impact on my
life and sensibility. As I came around a bend at the top of the mountain, the
lush goldenness of maples along the trail nearly took my breath away. They
colored the very air around them. As I stood transfixed, it seemed that all the
flora of the woods began to sway toward me. The dramatic red-orange-gold hues
in all shapes and sizes were pulsating with light, sounds and scents so
intoxicating that I wasn’t sure if I was breathing or drinking. Suddenly, I
“heard” a whispering of words that I will never forget: “Ah yes, the very
things you humans love about us – our different colors and shapes and smells
and languages – are the things you often hate about each other. Alas, you have
lost touch with your beauties because you have lost touch with us.”
Having just moved out of a city
teeming with the tensions that densely-populated diversities of culture, creed,
economy – and yes, race – too often provoke, this message was stunning and
timely for me. During that first year of “life in the country,” I became
unusually acquainted with this sentient world. In my daily walks with pen and
paper, the presences of nature enfolded me in their lushness while I chronicled
their wisdom-teachings. As these “inner tuitions” invited me to consider some
of life’s most paradoxical mysteries, they required only one thing of me – to
be utterly present and receptive. I didn’t know to call it that at the time – I
was only aware that I felt light and free, as if all the space around the trees
and the flowers and blades of grass was also around, and even inside, me.”[1]
In today’s Gospel Jesus speaks of
Going to the heart of the earth. One may
say the very soul of the land. As we sit here on this land I know of some of
its History. I know there was a great
Oak out here at one time. I Know a gentleman who recalled spreading blankets
out here on this land to watch the fourth of July Fireworks. I know that
annually there has been an outdoor service here but for how long can any one
say?
The heart of the earth the heart
of this land, this area around us is rich and diverse. “Sonoma County
encompasses more than 1 million acres of land and water, rich in scenic beauty,
and with an array of parks, recreational facilities, campsites and lakes. Open
space and agricultural land accounts for a great majority of Sonoma County
acreage. The county has approximately 123,070 acres of surface water area, of
which 8,580 are bay waters.”[2]
So Much happens on this land, this land for which we can see for miles, this
land called Sonoma county alone the land is rich and diverse. We have wine trails and cheese trails and
farm trails. The land is gently
cultivated, probably much more so now than last century. Many of our farms and dairies are organic and
people care for the land knowing the land cares for them.
Right here we preserve land and
set it aside because we know the value of our environment and it needs to be
preserved. If one would ask what is the
heart of the earth, what is the heart of this land where we are now I wonder if
it isn’t our parks.
Regional Parks
Number of Parks 52
Developed Acreage 777
Undeveloped Acreage 57,203
Trails (Miles) 175
Park Users (Annual) 5,603,743
Vet/Community Buildings 8
Events (Annual) 4,788
Attendance 312,570[3]
There is something almost
mystical about being in a park sharing community space in a peaceful area all
connected to the land.
There is a spirituality that just
naturally accompanies the land. I would
encourage anyone come up here for a picnic day or night sit on this hill,
listen and see you will get that spiritual connection to the land.
One of our most famous
naturalist, John Muir, spoke spiritually of the land and nature around
him. He saw God in nature and connected
the respect that our planet deserved to that for instance
One bright October night in
1871, John Muir camped the Yosemite high country by Lake Nevada and watched the
reflection of the trees and mountains in the still water. He Jotted notes about
how the reflection showed every line, “every shadow in fine neutral tint,
clear, intensely pure” in the “rayless, beamless light.” Moonlit Yosemite domes
shown on the surface of the lake.[4]
The Glacier-polish of rounded brows [is] brighter than
any mirror, like windows of a house shining with light from the throne of
God-to the very top a pure vision in terrestrial beauty…. It is as if lake, mountain,
trees had souls, formed one soul, which had died and gone before the throne of
god, the great first Soul, and by direct creative act of God had all earthly
purity deepened, refined, brightness brightened, spirituality spiritualized,
countenance, gestures made wholly Godful! . . . I spring to my Feet
crying: Heavens and earth! Rock is not
light, not heavy, not transparent, not opaque, but every pore gushes, glows
like a thought with immortal life.[5]
To see such majesty in the land and be awestruck it is not
unique to John Muir heck it is not unique to Yosemite. I am amazed and bless for every morning I
pull out of my complex and I look to the Mountains and am amazed. When we travel this area I never take or
rarely take the freeway because the back roads and side roads have so much to
offer us. So many her in northern California get just how precious our land
is. We often forget our own history of
our abuses of the land and it is easy to shelter ourselves form the abuses that
go on to this day.
But lets talk about the Gold rush “Some 80,000 immigrants
poured into California during 1849. They came overland on the California Trail
and by ship around Cape Horn or through the Panama shortcut. The majority of
them came in one immense wave during mid-summer, as covered wagons reached the
end of the California trail. At the same time, sailing ships were docking in
San Francisco, only to be deserted by sailors as well as passengers.
Competition for the gold grew fierce. New methods were invented to wash more
pay dirt in less time. At the same time, merchants raised the prices of mining
tools, clothing, and food to astronomical levels. A miner had to find an ounce
of gold a day just to break even.”[6] It was a cruel and harsh time. But the outcomes seems hardly worth the rush.
Many miners grew tired of the work and the luck. But they liked California and sent for their
families which eventually led to the agriculture boom.
“For others, however, the gold rush was a catastrophe. The
peaceful indigenous people were decimated. They perished in great numbers from
starvation, disease, abuse, and massacre. Their society, habitat,
infrastructure and culture were utterly destroyed. Other minorities suffered
severe discrimination as well.
As miners continued to invent faster, more destructive
methods of finding gold, the land was ravaged. Hillsides were washed away in
torrents of water, and towns downstream were inundated by immense floods of
mud. Water supplies were poisoned with mercury, arsenic, cyanide, and other
toxins. Grand forests of oak and pine were leveled for mining timbers.”[7]
As Humans, first we dug out and washed away the heart of the
earth pulling out Gold, silver, copper, coal, oil salt even. The heart of the earth where Jesus said he
was to go for three days. If Jesus was
in the heart of the earth then that earth is sacred and yet we violate the
sacred with no thought or concern. So we have violated the earth by drilling,
digging, washing away, using dynamite to blow the top off of mountains and we
are not done yet.
Just as we seem to not to be able to harm the land any more
we inject poisons into her. “Fracking fluid is a toxic brew that consists of
multiple chemicals. Industry can pick from a menu of up to 600 different kinds.
Typically, 5 to 10 chemicals are used in a single frack job, but a well can be
fracked multiple times, and each gas play consists of tens to hundreds of
thousands of wells - driving up the number of chemicals ultimately used. Many
fracking chemicals are protected from disclosure under trade secret exemptions.
Studies of fracking waste have identified formaldehyde, acetic acids, and boric
acids, among hundreds of others.
For each frack, 80-300 tons of chemicals may be used,
selected from a menu of up to 600 *different* chemicals. Though the composition
of most fracking chemicals remains protected from disclosure through various
"trade secret" exemptions under state or federal law, scientists
analyzing fracked fluid have identified volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such
as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene - all of which pose significant
dangers to human health and welfare.
Industry experts say it's misleading to suggest 600+
chemicals are used in a fracking operation since only a small percentage of
this number of chemicals is used per well. But this "one-well" model
is the biggest misrepresentation of all: fracking operations in a gas play
typically consist of thousands of wells. Cumulative impacts are what matter.”[8]
where is this fracking and land abuse occurring? Well you can bet it is not in most of our
back yards.
“An analysis by the nonprofit FracTracker Alliance conducted
for In These Times found that the 5 million California residents who live
within a mile of an oil or gas well have a poverty rate 32.5 percent higher
than that of the general population. Overall, FracTracker found that almost 20
percent of Californians who live below the poverty line—more than 700,000
people—also live within a mile of a well.
A related FracTracker analysis for an October report by the
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found that of the Californians who
live within a mile of a well, 69 percent are people of color. In addition,
almost 2 million people who live within a mile of a well are classified as
among the “most vulnerable” to the effects of pollution by CalEnviroScreen, a
tool developed by the California EPA. That means that they not only reside in
some of the most polluted areas of the state, close to industrial facilities,
transportation corridors, hazardous waste facilities and toxic cleanup sites,
but are especially sensitive to pollution because of factors like poverty,
asthma, youth or old age. Nearly 92 percent of these most vulnerable 2
million are people of color.”[9]
Woodie Guthrie wrote that great song this land is your land
this land is my land and yet white privileged culture says this land is my land
and the rest can lump it. Even Woodie
asked the question in his song;
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?[10]
We are blessed ot have this land that we sit upon
today. We are blessed that we live in a
good educated area where people do what they can to preserve this land, top
treat it fairly and, many of us do the best we can to share it fairly and
equally but there is still work to be done.
We have to work to stop coal mining, fracking and reduce our
dependency on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels
a nice way of saying we are burning dead creatures to survive. In 2013 the
united Church of Christ announced a resolution to divest from fossil fuels and
in 2014 “On the anniversary of the United Church of Christ's historic vote to
take action to lessen the impact of fossil fuels on climate change, United
Church Funds announced the launch date of a new fossil-fuel-free investment
fund. The Beyond Fossil Fuels Fund is a domestic core equity fund that will be
free of investments in U.S. companies extracting or producing fossil fuels”[11]
I believe the challenge to each of us is too look at our
investments and how we use our energy and the land. How do we honor the earth that housed our
lord in her heart and truly find ways to make this land your land and my land
or in other words our land in equity and equality. amen
[1] Terah Cox, The
Secret language of Earth-Speak, April 22, 2016, accessed September 7, 2017,
http://www.terahcox.com/blog/the-secret-language-of-earth-speak-by-terah-cox.
[2] County of Sonoma,
Land Use, 2017, accessed September 7, 2017, http://sonomacounty.ca.gov/CAO/Public-Reports/About-Sonoma-County/Land-Use/.
[3] County of Sonoma,
Land Use, 2017, accessed September 7, 2017,
http://sonomacounty.ca.gov/CAO/Public-Reports/About-Sonoma-County/Land-Use/.
[4] Richard
Cartwright Austin, Environmental Theology: (Originally published as Atlanta,
Ga..J. Knox Press, Abingdon, Va: Creekside Press, 1987–c1990), 23.
[5] Linnie Marsh
Wolfe, ed., John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir
(Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979 c1938).
[6] Coloma, “The
California Goldrush of 1849,” Coloma, 2015-2017, accessed September 7, 2017, .”
https://www.coloma.com/california-gold-discovery/history/california-gold-rush/.
[7] Coloma, “The
California Goldrush of 1849,” Coloma, 2015-2017, accessed September 7, 2017, .”
https://www.coloma.com/california-gold-discovery/history/california-gold-rush/.
[8] Gasland the
movie, “Fracking FAQ's,” Gasland the Movie, 2010, accessed September 7, 0217,
http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/whats-fracking/faq/fracking-fluid.
[9] Hannah Guzik,
“Fracking the Poor,” inthesetimes, November 9, 2014, accessed September 7,
2017, http://inthesetimes.com/article/17355/fracking_the_poor.
[10] woody Guthrie,
“This land is your Land,” woody Guthrie Publications inc., 2001, accessed 09/070/17,
http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/This_Land.htm.
[11] Emily
Schappacher, “United Church Funds announces fossil-fuel-free investment fund,”
United Church of Christ, July 2, 2014, accessed 0907/2017,
http://www.ucc.org/news/UCF-fossil-fuel-free-investment-fund-07012014.html.
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