Proper 21 (August 25) 2024
You have the words of eternal life.
There are lots of words being written and spoken today in response to what is undeniably a global climate crisis. There are words of warning from scientists monitoring one unprecedented heatwave after yet another, reporting on yet one more unprecedented intense tropical storm or volume of rain here in southwestern Ontario. There are words of caution from economists about impending rising insurance rates. There are words of industry leaders about the attractiveness of moving towards greener economies. There are words of politicians setting new targets for emissions reductions. And there are words of those for whom the effects of this climate disaster have meant lost homes, lost physical and mental health, and lost jobs. There are words from those who find nowhere to turn but to despair.
We need to take in these words. And if we truly believe not only that Jesus has the words of eternal life, but that Jesus is God’s Word of Eternal Life, we need to ask ourselves what that Word of God is both offering us and compelling us to do and to be. What words of eternal life are being given to us?
I’ve spend a few weeks this summer immersed in biblical words, working with a small group of representatives of other churches – Methodist, United, Lutheran, Roman Catholic – as we consider together what readings should be selected to be the lectionary readings for a new Feast being proposed for the Christian churches worldwide. In March of this year, Pope Francis and the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch together hosted a conference in Assisi, Italy – the old home of St. Francis of Assisi – and invited representatives from the worldwide Anglican Communion, the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation and other world denominational leaders. The invitation was principally that of the Orthodox leadership who since the 1980s have held within their liturgical calendar a special Feast Day set aside as a Feast of Creation each year on September 1. They first approached the Vatican, whose own normally glacially slow pace to adopt any change whatsoever has, metaphorically and just like real glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic, has in this instance melted, and together the Pope and the leader of the Eastern Orthodox Churches gathered together the various Protestants and Anglicans to convince us of the desirability of adopting this Feast of Creation. It appears we don’t need much convincing, and consensus was celebrated easily. Now is the time of work to make it ‘real’ within our churches.
What does this mean for the Anglican Church of Canada? In 2019, we adopted as a special season of prayer and devotional focus the Season of Creation – also something that has been a global movement. This one originated amongst the Churches in Southern Africa and the idea is that Christians are invited from early September through to St. Francis Day on October 4, or for us Harvest Thanksgiving, to reflect on God’s gifts in creation around and within us, to pray for all aspects of the created world, and to work to better tend the vulnerable plants, animals, air, waters and all that is. And next year, in July, when our national governance body, the General Synod, meets in London Ontario, it is the plan and hope of the committee I serve to bring a motion to adopt this special day of Feast of Creation to be held on a Sunday closest to September 1. We’re working up the biblical texts that will be the focus for each of the three year cycle of the lectionary. Whether we are in church that Sunday or out at cottages or camping or otherwise enjoying nature on the Labour Day weekend, we hope that Canadian Anglicans will pause and reflect and pray and sing to God the Creator of all that is.
As a Feast of Creation it’s not intended to be a time to celebrate the stuff of the created world alone, the objects of creation, but to focus on God the Creator. The timing is particularly fitting, as next year 2025 will also be the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed. Some view it as a good way to honour the first clause of the Nicene and Apostles’ creeds. It’s not about honouring the first person of the Trinity – as though the other two Persons, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, have their special Feasts and God the Father doesn’t have one. The whole Trinity was present and involved as God in the activities of the creation of the world. When we say “we believe in God, creator of heaven and earth,” the God whom we honour as Creator when we recite these creeds includes the Son and the Holy Spirit. And that’s in fact what Simon Peter’s confession that we hear today is all about: recognizing that Christ has the words of eternal life, who is the Holy One of God, in whom we abide, just as the Father abides in him, is an act of trust in the true and real presence of the whole Mystery of the Trinity, Father, Christ, and Holy Spirit, all together as Creator of the Universe. Jesus Christ has the words of eternal life because he is the incarnate Word of eternity come present in creation. The world is – as the Psalmist sings, God’s home.
We are called to this prayer and this action for the sake of the world that is God’s home. Many of the words going into business deals and production contracts and insurance policies and so on, even those that purport to be ‘green’ offer us that assurance – if we just buy an electric vehicle, we’re doing our part for the planet. If I eat less meat and more legumes it’s not just healthy for the planet, but good for me, too! It may appear easy to assume a green agenda with altruism, but it’s also easy to stick with the easy actions. The scale and scope of the disaster is all too difficult, at times too anxiety-provoking, to be able to consider more. What more can we do? Where do we turn? Lord, to whom can we go?
Relative to all the words being penned and put into compelling speeches and directing practical and concrete actions that we can take, the words of liturgy seem utterly useless, folly, even. How on earth can raising our voices in “Alleluia, Sing to Jesus, his the scepter, his the throne!” do a darned thing to alleviate suffering from wildfires and sinking islands? Let’s take a point from St. Paul. Yes, we have battles to be fought in the political sphere, and we have choices and commitments to make in the economic sphere, including sharing what we have with those who have been made vulnerable. But we do ourselves ill if we forget that the struggle is fundamentally against “the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” The climate crisis is a spiritual crisis. Even enlightened and well informed human self-interest in preserving the world aren’t going to be enough to really sustain us; we need to grow a profound spirituality that roots us in the humility we need to see that we are only one tiny bit within the vast expanse of God’s creation that both includes interstellar space and those who now have nowhere to turn for drug addiction harm reduction.
The One who is in the Alpha and is in the Omega, in the beginning and into eternity, is this Jesus of Nazareth, this one we’ve been watching as he gathers followers and befriends them, listens to women and so-called foreigners and plays with children, this one who pays unbroken attention to those who are cast aside from the protection and shelter of family and home, to those who are shunted off and away from the care that might be offered by a supportive community around them. This one, this Jesus of Nazareth who cares for the sick, the addicted, the lonely, the rejected, is the Holy One who was present in the beginning as the Word of God speaking in to the darkness to create light. This is Jesus’ majesty: that the beauty and riskiness of the sort of love into which he gives himself is the same Love that created the universe and enfolds all of creation.
What words of eternal life are being given to us? That we love as God loves, that we care with the risk-taking that Jesus lived, that we trust the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide our way. There is in these words of eternal life no simple puzzle-fix solution to wildfires and sinking islands or to the crisis in mental health and addictions, but there is the eternal, living love that, when we nurture it here in community and learn from it in the flow of this eucharist, offers the only sustainable way to be in the world. Where else can we go, when the most compelling human option is to close off my heart and set about to buy as much insurance, financial and psychological, to shut myself off from the sufferings of the planet? Where else can we go but to the trustworthy love of the Creator of the universe, whose love in us is like the ever-expanding universe.
What is the word of eternal life that we can bring to our neighbourhoods, including to this neighbourhood? The world and the neighbourhood await our love.
Eileen Scully+
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.
As our parish musician, he provides both support and leadership so that a variety of parish programs can find musical expression and attract participation. When our handbell choir is in season, he is one of our ringers. At parish dinners, he provides popular piano music for the guests to dine by. For both worship services and concerts, he will rehearse and accompany vocal and instrumental soloists from our congregation on piano, organ, or even accordion.
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.