Sabbath Days in a time of pandemic:
Special devotions in response to COVID-19 (Continued)
†
A Greeting
I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
(Psalm 146:2)
A Reading
And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.’ So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
(Genesis 1:20-23)
Music
Meditative Verse
They shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and the covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it.
(Numbers 4:25)
A Poem
God will enter into your night,
as the ray of sun enters
into the dark, hard earth,
driving right down
to the roots of the tree,
and there, unseen, unknown,
unfelt in the darkness,
filling the tree with life,
a sap of fire
will suddenly break out,
high above that darkness,
into living leaf and flame.
- by Caryll Houselander, found in Little Pieces of Light: Darkness and Personal Growth, by Joyce Rupp, OSM
Verses for the Day
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever.
(Psalm 146:5-6)
A whole week has passed since these special pages for the pandemic began and we are once again at the sabbath weekend days. As the routine of self-isolation and social-distancing begins to set in, ’sabbath days’ may start to feel not much different from all of the other days of the week. When there is much less for us to do than usual, how can we find ways to make the days of rest distinct and therefore sacred? One way might be to intentionally look for how God’s Creation is always preparing itself to be renewed. As we pass over the first days of spring, we might find ourselves looking forward to the ways in which we can safely take part in nature again, through a walk in the woods or sitting quietly by a river or lake. During the time that some European and Asian countries have been locked down, Creation itself has been experiencing a momentary sabbath from the onslaught of human activity; it has had a sliver of a chance to breathe. Into that ‘breath’ in some places has come new life. In the video below, we see how the canals of Venice have begun to teem with tiny schools of fish, and how along the port shores in the island of Sardegna, dolphins have come. These signs of life emerge even as Italy experiences the worst devastation of COVID-19 of any country in the world. This tension between life and death has always been a part of our biblical story. In the despair of the desert, there are manna and quails. After weeks at sea, a dove returns an olive branch into cradling human hands. Even dolphins have been a part of that story. ‘Porpoises’ appear a dozen times in the Old Testament, most often in relation to the way in which their skins were used in the making of a covering for the holy tabernacle in Exodus and Numbers. In the New Revised Standard Version of the bible it is most often translated as “fine leather”, so those porpoises disappear under the veils of language, but many other bible translations refer to ‘badgers’ or ‘porpoise’ skins. Dolphins and porpoises were known to populate the waters of the Sinai peninsula: the Hebrew word ‘tachash’ refers to a sea creature whose leathery skin was both durable and light for transport. Even in the wilderness days of worship, the hides of animals, including creatures of the sea, formed a boundary between the secular and the sacred. How can we, in our self-isolation, trust that God’s abundant life is always waiting in the shadows of despair and fear for a moment to surface in our lives? From the backyard birdfeeder to the small pots of seeds that have been lying in winter and are now gently producing sprouts, where is it in our own lives? As we make space for sabbath rest today, where will you see God's promise of new life to come?
A STORY OF LIFE RETURNING
†
LC† Reimagining Justice is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. Join us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and on Twitter.
A Greeting
O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
(Psalm 63:1)
A Reading
Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
(Luke 21:29-33)
Music
Meditative Verse
Heal me, O God, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for you are my praise.
(Jeremiah 17:14)
A Reflection
What I heard and continue to hear, is a voice that can crack
religious and political convictions open, that advocates for the least
qualified, least official, least likely; that upsets the established
order and makes a joke of certainty. It proclaims against reason that
the hungry will be fed, that those cast down will be raised up, and
that all things, including my own failures, are being made new...
And it insists that by opening ourselves to strangers, the despised or
frightening or unintelligible other, we will see more and more of the
holy, since, without exception, all people are one body: God's. from Take this Bread: A Radical Conversion, by Sara Miles Verse for the Day
May there be abundance of grain in the land; may it wave on the tops of the mountains; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field.
(Psalm 72:16)
†
Image by Konrad Summers
†
In today’s reading, Jesus compares a budding fruit tree to the realm of God. The flowering of fruit trees is a sign of a new season, a time of new life, he tells us. Prior to the passage, Jesus has been describing the catastrophic state that the world will be in when the "Son of Man" returns. And following the parable is the exhortation to keep watch so that we will be able to know both the time of trouble and also the moments when the first fruits of human kindness and compassion flowering in our communities and lives is a sign that we have transformed ourselves. These are dramatic concepts that might feel abstract within our own lives. What does Jesus mean? The Central Valley area of California is home to some of the poorest Latino communities in the whole state. The impact of climate change on this fruit-growing region has seen rising heat in the growing season, which causes the flowering of trees earlier and later than expected and also causes a significant decline of the water table. The families and migrants who do the work of the orchards do not have running water in their own homes, because the water that is available has been diverted to agriculture. When Jesus speaks of a flowering tree, he is suggesting that the realm of God cannot take place where there is not an abundant wellbeing of all people. In the deadly cycles of climate impact, we are more likely to steer away from building the realm of God, such as when dwindling water reserves are prioritized for crops, leaving those who do the work of tending to them driving for miles to buy bottled water. This kind of injustice is what choreographer KT Nelson describes, in the video below, as “dead reckoning”: when our normal sense of how we navigate has been disturbed or dramatically altered. When we are “driving blind”. ‘Dead Reckoning’ is the name of her ballet, in which dancers personify, and also respond to, a climate-panicked reality. How do we move from “dead reckoning” our climate crisis into a season of working toward abundant life for all? How can we help make a world where human beings come before profit, and water flows in nourishing abundance for all? One way is to remember how Jesus himself cared for people and how he cares for us. When we are focused on our own love for our neighbours who tend to our food, and on our neighbour Creation, we discover that we ourselves need to make changes in our own lives. We accept that we may not have the fruits and nuts we enjoy available to us all year long: we willingly sacrifice that availability so that farmers do not thirst. We disturb our own routines, educate ourselves and find ways to uphold those who live with injustice. Perhaps you are already trying to live this way. Even one step toward reviewing our expectations of comfort, and educating ourselves further, can affect the lives of others, and is one step toward building the realm of God. What is the step you might take today?
A CREATIVE PROJECT
†
LC† Reimagining Justice is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. Join us on Facebook and follow us @LutConnect
