Note: Reading attached, which you might like to read first. 
 

      In this sermon, I will mention the word “God” often. I hope that you feel free to interpret ‘God’ to describe your own perception of the ‘creative force of the Universe.’ A central belief in Unitarian Universalism is that we are all prophets who bear responsibility to raise a prophetic voice when the well being of humankind is threatened. Today, I claim my own prophetic voice and the freedom of the pulpit to offer to you certain perspectives for your consideration. In the church where every mind is free, you are free to form your own perspectives.

      Most people I have spoken to this summer have relished the wonderful weather that has allowed them to soak up inspiring beauty and to play in nature. I notice that they are refreshed and renewed. And so am I! It is also wonderful to live in vacation land, isn’t it?!?

      Leo and I camped in Acadia National Park in Maine for five days and reveled in the beauty and history of Bar Harbor, Cadillac Mountain, and seemingly endless forests and mountain lakes and trails. The only negative was the evangelical, conservative sermons about the end of the world that were piped into the bathrooms and showers at the camp site day and night! I do so hope you go to this National Park for it surely must be one of the best in the nation. One truly impressive thing is the extent to which the park encourages taking free busses and walks on trails or bike riding to reduce car travel.

      The main city is called Bar Harbor (or as Mainers say, “Bah Hah-ba”), so named for its naturally occurring sand bar that is revealed when the tide is out. You can walk across that sand bar from the city to Bar Harbor Island and you will be walking on billions of shells and barnacle-covered rocks. It is a most amazing experience and like a massive tide-pool for the children. There is a wonderful college devoted to the study of ecology there.

      Just a week after coming home from Acadia National Park, we returned again to Maine, further south this time to Ferry Beach Unitarian Universalist Camp and Conference Center. I was their minister of the week and in exchange Leo and I had a free stay at the Family and Friends week. Going to Ferry Beach is an annual tradition for many. And I met two families that had four generations together. We heard stories that some of the kids preferred to go to Ferry Beach instead of on a fancy vacation. Ferry Beach is a group of lovely large New England houses on the beach. The beds are bunk beds with nice firm mattresses. You bring your own linens but the food is healthy (for the most part) and gourmet and the wait staff were UU youth and everyone bound for an Ivy League school (at least they were this year)! We sang camp songs after dinner at night. Across the road and in the forest is a camp site that also belongs to Ferry Beach and there are walking trails. In the mornings, there are lots of workshops to attend and events for children and youth and the afternoons are free except for optional ecology trips and though they are intended for children and youth, half of us were adults, including Leo and me. For these trips we had to pass through some towns whose mills had left their waterways polluted. But Ferry Beach has remained in pristine condition. There is an ecology school on the premises. A skilled musician played the bagpipes on the beach at 7 am for those who cared to listen, like me.  The weather was perfect and rather hot for Maine. The water was warm enough to splash around in. You probably have observed that there are two kinds of people in this world: those that dive right into sea water and those who edge in little by little with some pesky person saying, “Oh, come on, it’s warm when you’re in.” You can probably guess which category I’m in—yes, I’m an “edger.” But once in the water, oh and oooi, it was glorious, so glorious in fact that I lost track of time and floated and swam and jogged up and down along the shore. The waves were gentle. I felt so much a part of it all. It was a surprise to me when I discovered that I’d been in the water 45 minutes. I can feel how it was even now.

      Ferry Beach loses two feet of beach each year. People remember when the water was way in the distance when the tide was out. That’s no longer true. They believe that this is caused partially by global warming and partially by the dyke that the Army Corps of Engineers built to halt the silt and sand deposits from the river that empties into the bay. The intent was to keep the harbor deep enough for the fishing boats to dock. But altering the natural flow of water has caused damage to the shoreline. Further south, some streets of homes have been lost; some houses are now empty. We cannot alter one thing in nature without causing many other undesirable changes.

      I cannot help thinking that nature and its eco-systems are very much like the human body. When we exercise and eat right, our bodies respond quite well. The opposite is true when we don’t exercise and don’t eat right. Medication intended to cure us can have many side effects. Sometimes it is a trade-off for better health.

      Speaking of human bodies, how’s yours? Our bodies are remarkable really, aren’t they? Do you love your body? I’ve learned to love and appreciate mine only in the last decade. I well remember some seven years ago when I went for an annual checkup and the doctor asked me if all was well. I said yes except for one thing: after I have been sitting reading for about, say, an hour, and then I get up, I ache! The young, beautiful doctor looked at me with pity and said “Oh, it’s your age!” I was shocked and asked what I could do. She said, “Exercise will cure that.” So I did exercise regularly and found she was right. I’ll probably have to do it for the rest of my life if I want to remain ache free! Fortunately, I enjoy the activity and my awareness of my body is greatly improved. 

      Like the body, our earth also needs to be treated well if we want it to be healthy and supportive of our needs. The earth, too, can be remarkably resilient when we stop mistreating it. Fish are coming back to formerly polluted bays and rivers and even the air of Los Angeles is far better than it was, thanks to stringent air pollution laws. But many eco systems are sick and dying. We need a massive mind change to bring about a different way of living so that the earth can be renewed and we must do it before it is too late.

      Theologian Sallie McFague has written a deeply thoughtful book called The Body of God; she calls the book a “meditation” and she invites to us to consider with her our dire situation. She believes that it is not enough to just begin dialog across communities and nations. She believes that to be really effective, we have to change the way we think of nature and the earth. If we have a spiritual grounding for our thinking, our creative solutions and actions will be informed by our understanding of the interrelatedness of all creatures and the earth.

      She suggests we use the Body of God as a model or metaphor for our thinking about the earth. This is not to limit us in our thinking about God but to expand and glorify our thinking about the earth. She reminds us that we human beings are “embodied” and in the western world with our culture being imbued with our particular creation myth of the earth and of human beings that all things being in God can be a natural leap for us.

      We cannot deny our dependence upon the earth. Through our knowledge of biology and chemistry, we also cannot deny the interrelatedness and interdependence of the earth’s eco-systems. Our bodies, the bodies of the earth’s creatures, the rocks and plants and waters of the earth, even the heavenly bodies as we look out to the universe feel related and interrelated. Seeing all things as interrelated bodies helps us to form a larger picture, one in which all the parts fit and belong together. If one body, or system in the body, needs help, it feels natural that those of us who can will try to help. And for us Unitarian Universalists, it speaks so directly to our seventh principle—the interdependent web of all existence of which we are all a part. If you want to educate yourself about what you can do about the state of the planet, there will be a Bioneers Conference at UMass Dartmouth the weekend of October 21^st where we can hear many leading edge speakers and scholars of the ecological state of the planet.

      We might not be able to fix the part of God’s body that is at the other side of the world, but we are being “called” to “act locally while thinking globally,” a slogan with which we are all familiar. Many of us are already doing this by living our “UU’s reduce, recycle, and reuse” slogan. Sallie McFague is doing her bit by writing the “meditation” on her Body of God theme. I am doing my bit by talking to you about it.

      What can you do? Can you pass on the message about the Body of God? Spiritually and theologically, this way of thinking falls into the category of pan-en-theism, meaning all things are in God. (This is in contrast to pantheism, where God is limited to the physical universe.) Panentheism acknowledges the mystery of the divine in all things seen and unseen and that is yet beyond.

      I visited my daughter in San Francisco some weeks ago. Her neighbor told me that she had invited a woman called Miss Snail Pail to come to visit her. Miss Snail Pail is actually Colleen Flannigan, who “promotes environmentally friendly snail removal at its most basic; she'll come to your yard, dressed in character [like Little Bo Peep], and pluck the snails from the garden by flashlight or the light of the moon.” She actually shows you how to hunt for snails. She will give you the snails she collects or she will take them away. She might supply them to restaurants or cook them herself. She has many recipes on line for cooking escargot. Apparently the French brought these particular snails over in the nineteenth century and that’s how San Francisco gardens are being gobbled up by them today. This is Miss Snail Pail’s contribution to having people not use pesticides and having another protein source, if you can stomach it! She charges only $20 per hour so she’s also not terribly expensive. My daughter’s neighbor was very happy indeed to have the snails gone. And since she was a writer, she wrote an article about it.

      Many of you are probably doing things towards living in a less wasteful way, I’m sure. And if we all think of the earth as God’s Body (as well as our own body), perhaps we’ll be more determined to do whatever we can for the earth and perhaps even redouble our efforts.

      Today, we lit our chalice in celebration for our Statement of Conscience for global warming passed at our General Assembly this summer. You might already know that our Social Action Committee has been studying the Green Sanctuary program for some time in hopes that we may become a Green Sanctuary and get certification. It would mean that we would change some of the ways of doing things at church. One of them might be to no longer use paper and plastic cups, plates, and utensils. How exciting it will be to help care for and heal God’s body together, as a community. (I have put copies of the Statement of Conscience on the Information Table in the hallway.)

      I could hardly give this sermon and then provide paper goods at coffee hour! So! Today, we will have our coffee out of china cups!  But we will need your help in stacking the dish-washing machine! In closing, here are some Beatitude-like words by author Alice Walker from her book The Temple of My Familiar:

      “Helped are those who love the Earth, their mother, and who willingly suffer that she may not die; in their grief over her pain they will weep rivers of blood, and in their joy in her lively response to love, they will converse with trees…

      Helped are those who find the courage to do at least one small thing each day to help the existence of another—plant, animal, river, human being. They shall be joined by a multitude of the timid.

      Helped are those who lose their fear of death; there is the power to envision the future in a blade of grass.

      Helped are those who love and actively support the diversity of life; they shall be secure in their differentness.

      Helped are those who know.”

      We do know and we ask for help. (p. 212, McFague) 
 
 
 

      References

The following have informed and inspired this sermon:

McFague, . The Body of God: an Ecological Theology, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993.

www.misssnailpail.org Website for Miss Snail Pail

 
 

 

Reading: from The Body of God: An Ecological Theology  
by Sallie McFague 
 

      Ecological theologian, Sallie McFague, asks whether future generations “…will not expect shade trees in the cities or forests in the country any more than they will expect a better future for their children. They will, among other things, learn to live with ‘much beauty irrevocably lost,’ but by then they may not even miss it. They will have grown used to a hotter, drier planet with many more people and many fewer trees, flowers, and other animals….

      One of the ways to deal with ecological despair, the despair we feel when we think about the future we are willing to the next generation, is to refuse the role of victim, to become active, to participate in the vocation of the planetary agenda. In different ways each of us has a calling, is being summoned, to put our talents, passion, and insights into planetary well-being. Ecology is not an extracurricular activity; rather, it must be the focus of one’s work, the central hours of one’s day, however that is spent. 

      The planetary agenda involves everything and everyone. It involves everything because we now know that all things, all beings and processes on the planet, are interrelated, and that the well-being of each is connected to the well-being of the whole….The planetary agenda, then, takes the long view: …as Native American traditions insist, ‘for seven generations’ or for as long as we can imagine….As the pictures of planet earth from space vividly show us, we are all inhabitants of one space, one home, one finite, enclosed system. Our fate and our future are also one.”  (pp. 8-9, McFague)