Earth Day - Squawking like a Mama Duck

Plus a Cration playlist

Yesterday morning, I was on my normal walk with Scout in the morning and came around the corner on a path and heard noises unlike any other I’d heard before. There was a mama duck with a group of tiny ducklings. She saw Scout and me and she was making it darn clear to us to stay away from her little ones. Her wings were up and she was making sounds unlike any I’d heard from a duck before. The ducklings were all cuddled together in a tight bunch. The little ones were making tiny cheep noises and mama’s noises weren’t quite hisses and they definitely were not quacks. Regardless of what they sounded like, the message was clear… “Stay away!” And stay away we did. I moved Scout to my side opposite the ducks and we walked as far away from them as we could.

She was going to do everything she could to protect those little ones. On this Earth Day, I feel a bit similarly about the Creation from which we all eat and drink and breathe and in which we all live. Are we as protective of this creation that we are stewards of (according to Genesis) as this mama duck was of her little ones? Are we as vocal as she was about sounding the alarm of changes that have to happen? Are we taking the actions that we are each able to in what we do, where we give our monies, how we vote? I would love to say that I am doing as much as I can. I do believe that I am doing a lot, but there’s so much more that I can do.

I am so grateful for the congregation that I serve as we have covenanted as a Creation Justice Congregation with the UCC and that our Green Team was at the Ft Thomas Earth Day Festival yesterday sharing about our recycling station and ways that people can take action both individually and collectively. I am grateful for the hard work of four men at the church who spent hours changing well over 150 lightbulbs in chandeliers in our sanctuary as we switched over to LED bulbs that use far less energy.

And most of all I’m grateful for this beautiful creation all around us. Scout and I went out to Rowe Woods this morning for a 4-mile hike and took in the absolute beauty of this creation that we have around us here.

Finally, here are some words about Creation that have spoken to my soul the last few days:

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This from Craig Foster in the New York Times. Mr Foster was the human in the film “My Octopus Teacher”. Thank you to my sister for sharing this!

“Saving the Planet is the Wrong Goal”

But each of us has a role to play, too; it starts with challenging ourselves to reconnect with the wild. So much of our modern world seems designed to tame us: to dull our minds, to separate us from the natural world, to convince us that what will help us survive is more consumption.

Like my octopus friends, we fill our houses with shiny new things. But our piles of stuff are much bigger, and the cost of acquisition much greater.

We can break free of this tame conditioning. When we dedicate even just a few minutes per day to observing wild creatures on their own terms, in their own homes — regardless of where we live — we connect with the concept of biodiversity not simply on an intellectual level but also on an emotional level. We see the world differently — and ourselves, too.

How strange it is that one silly primate can see itself as separate from all those it shares this world with. What might happen if we remembered we are a part of this wild world — and let that understanding and humility guide every choice we make?¹

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This was our page for our Daily Thoughts of Dog Calendar

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Father Richard Rohr

Fr. Richard Rohr shared yesterday morning about St Francis and creation spirituality:

Stories of the life of Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) describe him talking to animals and natural elements. He doesn’t speak to them just as birds or wolves, but as mutual spiritual beings who are worthy of being addressed. He was always telling them who they are, why they should be happy, and why they make him happy. One of his early biographers wrote, “We who were with him saw him always in such joy, inwardly and outwardly, over all creatures, touching and looking at them, so that it seemed his spirit was no longer on earth but in heaven.” [1] That may sound sentimental to our modern ears, but perhaps that’s what a saint looks like—completely attuned to God’s presence everywhere and at all times…

Creation itself—not ritual or spaces constructed by human hands—was Francis’ primary cathedral. His love for creation drove him back into the needs of the city, a pattern very similar to Jesus’ own movement between desert solitude (contemplation) and small-town healing ministry (action). The gospel transforms us by putting us in touch with that which is much more constant and satisfying, literally the “ground of our being,” which has much more “reality” to it, rather than theological concepts or ritualization of reality. Daily cosmic events in the sky and on the earth are the Reality above our heads and beneath our feet every minute of our lives: a continuous sacrament, signs of God’s universal presence in all things.²

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Interfaith Power and Light shared this prayer this morning:

We Hold the Earth

We hold brothers and sisters who suffer from storms and droughts intensified by climate change.
We hold all species that suffer.
We hold world leaders delegated to make decisions for life.
We pray that the web of life may be mended through courageous actions to limit carbon emissions. We pray for right actions for adaptation and mitigation to help our already suffering earth community. We pray that love and wisdom might inspire my actions and our actions as communities. . .

so that we may, with integrity, look into the eyes of brothers and sisters and all beings and truthfully say, we are doing our part to care for them and the future of the children. May love transform us and our world with new steps toward life.³

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And then I started creating a playlist on Friday about songs that have spoken to me of Creation. Here’s the Apple Music link and then the Spotify embed:

And then finally a Psalm that will be the focus of our summer experience for all ages with the congregation I serve - Psalm 104. A great rendition can be heard from Poor Bishop Hooper on the playlist above or in the video below.

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

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1. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/22/opinion/earth-day-octopus-teacher.html?unlocked_article_code=1.mU0.SCUO.Y2vseJ_MswNC&smid=url-share

2. https://cac.org/daily-meditations/an-ongoing-conversation/

3. https://interfaithpowerandlight.org/faithclimateactionweek/join-the-nationwide-climate-prayer/