Slideshow image

         Oikologie:  Wisdom from our home planet

Out in the open wisdom calls aloud,
she raises her voice in the public square;
on top of the wall she cries out,
at the city gate she makes her speech:
‘How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
And fools hate knowledge?
Repent at my rebuke!
Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
I will make know to you my teachings.”
Proverbs 1:20-23

This past week I had the opportunity to spend time at Seal Bay Nature Park, located just past Comox.  I learned that the K’omoks First Nation refer to the area as Xwee Xwhya Luq  (pronounced Zway Why Luck), meaning “a place that has beauty, beauty that is not only seen but also felt.”  This was so true with Amish (my dog) and I as we walked the trails, beauty filling our souls.  I use a plural because Amish also settled into a serenity well beyond his normal exuberance.  The rustling beauty of the wind high in the trees, the deep quiet beauty of the forest; and, after we had sat quietly long enough in a bird observation platform, the resumed afternoon conversational beauty of frogs, birds, and squirrels.

We know intuitively when we are in the presence of spirit and beauty, words are not needed to know when we are in communion with God’s creation in our common home, in Greek oikos (the root of the word oikoumene, or ecumenical.) God’s home.

To quote my favourite poet, Mary Oliver, “I would say that there exist a thousand unbreakable links between each of us and everything else, and that our dignity and our chances are one.  The farthest star and the mud at our feet are a family; and there is no decency or sense in honoring one thing, or a few things, and then closing the list.  The pine tree, the leopard [cougar], the Platte River [Qualicum River], and ourselves---we are at risk together, or we are on our way to a sustainable world together.  We are each other’s destiny.”

As Amish and I sat quietly looking out over the marsh my heart reached out in gratitude to be a part of this beloved community, oikos, knowing that our destinies are intertwined.  My heart also raced because the marsh was bone dry, grass wilting, not the way a healthy marsh should be.  I wondered about the future of this little place and its creatures. ‘Oikos’ is also the root word for ‘ecology’, the science of relationships of organisms (including us) to each other and their surroundings. Our destinies are intertwined spiritually and at deep cellular level. 

Is wisdom calling out, unheeded, throat raw, from the universe, the marshes, the very soil under our feet to listen to God’s call to take our true place in creation as care givers and protectors?

In Proverbs, Wisdom is personified as a woman, present at and involved in creation (8:22-31). Theologians differ as to whether Wisdom is simply a literary device, or represents the Holy Spirit, or possibly even the pre-incarnate Christ. 
Whichever view we take, Wisdom is clearly from God, and accessed both through study of nature / God’s world (eg. 1 Kings 4:29-33) and of scripture / God’s word.  Psalm 19 beautifully outlines God’s ‘two books’: nature (vs.1-6) and scripture (vs.7-11). How can we ensure we gain wisdom by studying both of these means of God’s self-revelation? 

In this Season of Creation as world leaders, faith communities, societies, and people globally prepare for COP26 at the end of October, let us pray for action and ears to hear Wisdom calling, God’s self-revelation. 
 
Prayer:
Creator God, look upon the creatures gathered here together and send us where you would have us go, so that we may embody the ministry of justice for your Creation through our being and acts. Walk with us so that we may face the winds of change and walk the good road. Protect and renew our common home. Enlighten us. Sustain us. May God our Creator be with us this day and always. Amen. 
(Adapted from Celebrating Creation: Honoring Indigenous People, Kelly Sherman-Conroy, ELCA)