A Prayer for the Gulf

Infinite Spirit of Life and Love, our hearts are heavy and our souls are troubled by the oil spill in the Gulf. All of us have felt a host of emotions these past weeks as we have watched the tragedy unfold over day after day. We have felt sorrow for those killed and injured and their families. We have felt heartache at the peril of the waters and wetlands, the beaches and marshes, and all the creatures of the Gulf. We have felt concern and compassion for all those whose livelihoods are dependent on the Gulf, many of whom are just now recovering from other disasters. We have felt anger that this happened and anger and frustration at the seeming inability to contain the spill and ameliorate the damage caused. We have felt helpless to do anything. And we have felt concern for those we know who work for BP, who are under such stress and scrutiny, who carry the weight of this tragedy more than we can know, and who feel all that we feel and more.

 We pray for comfort and healing for those who are mourning losses and for those who are hurting. We pray for strength and resiliency, for ability and wisdom, for those working tirelessly to contain the spill and to protect the beaches, wetlands and marshes, to rescue the birds and other wildlife. We hold in our hearts all of this beautiful creation now despoiled.

 And we pray also to acknowledge our complicity in this disaster. Though the threads be long and even obscure, we are all linked - all of us - in some way or another to this tragedy. We pray for all of us to find the wisdom and courage to live in ways that truly cherish our beautiful planet.

 And we pray that, no matter our feelings of the moment, we will remember these feelings and use them to good ends - toward doing what we can to walk in right relationship with the earth, in right relationship with our fellow creatures, in right relationship with one another. As we are all linked with the earth, so all humanity is linked with one another.

 Shalom. Blessed Be. Amen. -The Revs Becky and Mark Edmiston Lange

Earth, Our Deep-Home-Place

by Judy Moores, UU Church of Davis, California We live in perilous times. The news from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change becomes increasingly dire with every scientific report that it issues. (1) Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is already over 385 ppm and rising about 2 ppm per year. In June of 2008, Dr. James Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies predicted that unless global emissions are reduced to 350ppm soon that we can expect a sea level rise of at least two meters within a century. Millions around the world will be displaced and increasing numbers of animal and plant species will go extinct. (2) As Claudia Kern, of the UU Ministry for Earth, writes, “If we are to heal our suffering planet and respond justly and compassionately to the inevitable chaos that climate change is bringing, it seems very clear that we need a rapid evolutionary leap in consciousness.” (3) Such a leap requires that we rethink our relationship to Earth. We need to develop a sense of gratitude so deep that we are willing to consider our every action – large or small – every day – and make critical positive decisions for the health of our planet. We need to understand our direct dependence on Earth. If we continue on our current path, Descartes’ words, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” take on profound implications for our continued presence as a species on earth. Van Jones suggests in his article, “In Need of A Good Word” in Orion Magazine (Jan-Feb, 2008) the words environment, ecology, sustainability, conservation and green, neither help us understand that our grandchildren are more important than the bottom line and our personal comfort nor include people of all political persuasions, ethnicities, and nationalities. He says we need a terminology that invites everyone into the effort to transform the way we live on the planet.” To address these concerns, I would like to suggest that we begin to refer to our planet as “Earth, Our Deep-Home-Place” to mean the unique location in the Universe that is our ancestral home, our current home, and the only home that we will ever have – a place deserving of reverence, gratitude, wonder, love and care. Deep – home – place – all simple words that we have used for centuries and perhaps, millennia. To send a comment on this essay, register with your email address and a password. We will not use the information for any purpose. In addition, if you would like to submit your own essay or photograph, we invite you to email it to office@uuministryforearth.org.