Blog by Rev Susan ~ Wednesday, April 22nd we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. What a wonderful time for us to celebrate the greening of our lawns, the springing forth of flowers and the warm weather upon us. What a wonderful opportunity for us to reflect on Creation. The story of creation and the evolution of the earth has always activated my imagination and curiosity. As a child I had a telescope and would spend hours up late at night star gazing and pondering the vastness of the universe and creation itself. This world is a wonder; its grand beauty, its wild weather, and the rawness in nature. It leaves me in awe of Creation and our Creator. The words from the Book of Genesis from the Hebrew translation of The Chumash come to me, "Let us make humankind in Our image, according to Our likeness. They shall rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and over the animal, the whole earth, and everything creeping that creeps upon the earth." (Gen 1:26) This does not mean that humanity has a right to 'take over', 'rule over' or 'abuse' all of the above, but rather that God created humankind with great deliberation and wisdom. According to the commentary of The Chumash, "we were brought into being with the deepest involvement in Divine Providence and wisdom." So the Truth is, we -- collective humanity -- are to insure the care, order and love our Creator has for all of It's Creation. We are the ones called to be God's hands on this earth, and therefore, the stewards and caretakers of our planet. We are called to Co-Create with God, not be God. Ponder this idea that God created humankind to be 'earth angles' for It's creation. To use our wisdom to protect. And what have we done? We have not heeded our role in this world. We have not heeded the our call to love all of God's creations; man/woman, animal, fish, birds, creeping things, oceans, mountains, plains and valleys. For if we so loved creation as the Creator loves, we could do no harm to any part of it. My prayer is that through this world COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, we listen again to our call to be Earth Angels. That we heal the damage done and change the patterns of our ways so that we 'walk upon the earth with compassion, respect and love'. Namaste'
