We Are Breathing Earth

Blackwater Falls, WV (2015)

Scripture

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵ when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; ⁶ but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— ⁷ then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. ⁸ And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 

⁹ Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil...  ¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

Devotion

Did you know that the name Adam is a play on words?  In Hebrew,  אָדָם (Adam) means "man" or "human." It comes from אֲדָמָה (Adamah), which means "ground" or "earth."  This means that Adam--and by extension all of humanity--was named after the very dust that God used to form his body.  From the very beginning, the Holy One has made it clear that we are vessels of Earth containing God's living breath within us.   

Our deep connection with Creation is reinforced when God places Adam in the Garden of Eden so that he can till and keep it.  Unlike Genesis 1 (which talks about God giving us dominion over the Earth's abundance), Genesis 2 teaches us that as Creation's caretakers, we are treat the earth with the same kindness that God bestows upon us.  Like Adam in the Garden, we are to protect Creation and help it bear fruit.  Because we are living dirt, it is understood that when Creation flourishes, we so do we. When it hurts, we hurt.

This Earth Day, I'm reminded of how easy it is to take advantage of the dominion God granted us in Genesis 1 while ignoring the heavy responsibilities God tasked us with just a few verses later.  All too often, we act like we have the right to use and abuse Creation without any consequences.  Forgetting that human life is intimately bound to the nonhuman Creation that surrounds us, we blacken the air we breathe, tear up the earth we stand upon, and pour toxic chemicals into the water we drink.  It is only when the deep pain felt by Creation gets back to us in the form of flash floods, physical and mental ailments linked pollution, and the like that we begin to appreciate the heavy cost of our short-sightedness.  Creation weeps.  We weep.  And God, whose breath lives inside of us, weeps with us.

Right now, our abuse of God's good Creation is resulting in poisoned landscapes, mass extinctions, and other events.   Still, it is not to late to make a change.  After all, God appointed us as the Earth's caretakers for a reason.  Filled as we are with the breath of the Holy Spirit, and wisdom of our Creator, we have the power to help our hurting world.  We cannot undo everything we've done, but we can all take steps to begin healing our planet so that it may flourish again.  Because we remain deeply connected to the earth at our most intimate level, we can be assured that the sacrifices we make to help Creation will ultimately help us as well. 

Let's all commit to taking better care of this beautiful yet battered garden that God has set us in.  Let's take steps cut down on our pollution and practice more sustainable lifestyles.  Let us plant life and keep the Earth and till it.  For when we care for the ground from we were formed, we care for ourselves.  And all Creation sings.

Prayer

A setting of the Dakota hymn  "Wa­kan­tan­ka ta­ku ni­ta­wa" ("Many and Great") is our prayer for today.