Good Earth Unitarian Church of All Souls, NYC September 14, 2014 Rev. Lissa Anne Gundlach This morning, we will dedicate a new life that has emerged from amongst us. In our ceremony of dedication, we proclaim that this new life is good, that creation is good and blessed, one more redeemer. As a congregation, we dedicate ourselves nurturing little Lucia Valentina. We bless her two mothers, Theresa and Stephanie, and we pledge to join them in the responsibility of their sacred task. Over the ages, the image of mother endures as a symbol for nurturing life. Mothers carry life from seed to birth. Mothers guide life to its potential, both on an intimate scale, through small daily acts of care, and the ultimate scale of giving- self, body and soul. In ancient Greek mythology, Gaia was the mother of the world, primeval creator goddess. From her descended the heavenly Gods, the sea gods, the giants and all earthly creatures. In Greek cosmology, Gaia supported the sea and mountains upon her breast. Her name was both the word for Earth and creator of Earth alike, worthy of praise and reverence. Visually, Gaia was often represented as a beautiful, abundant woman, half submerged in the Earth, defending her offspring. Homeric Hymns to Gaia were written down in 500 BCE but most likely had much earlier origins from an oral tradition. Here are a few of its verses: Gaia, mother of all, The oldest one, the foundation, I shall sing to Earth. She feeds everyone in the world. Whoever you are, Whether you walk upon her sacred ground Or move through the paths of the sea You who fly, It is she who nourishes you From her treasure-store. Queen of Earth, Through you Beautiful children, Beautiful harvests come. You give life and you take life away.
This image of Gaia as mother of all helps us to understand the vast dimensions that this sacred task of nurturing. Like Gaia, not only do we pledge ourselves to care for the individual life of the child in front of us, but to the larger task of nurturing the health and well-being of all dimensions of life into which this child is born. Our seventh Unitarian Universalist principle affirms respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. The congregation is one part of this web of existence. As we invite Lucia Valentina into community, we take up our part in the responsibility to make this congregation a welcoming and nurturing part of her life. It is a small microcosm of how we understand the web of existence. To make All Souls a healthy community of beloveds, we must have diversity of life and generations, plenty of spiritual nourishment and ways to continue to grow in right relationship, with ourselves and with the world. We also pledge to Lucia Valentina that we will help preserve a planet that supports her needs and the needs of all life: clean air and water, healthy food to eat, access to medical care, safe places to live and thrive. Earth s well-being is essential to the future flourishing of Lucia Valentina s world and ours as well. Earth s health is in danger. Of course, this isn t news. Since the 1960s, consciousness was just beginning to emerge about potential hazards that would greet the future of the planet: extinction of species, global warming and human exploitation of natural resources. James Lovelock was one of those early voices in the scientific and environmental communities. To illustrate the urgency Earth s crisis, uses the powerful image of an alarm clock for over 40 years, he proclaims that an alarm clock has been sounding. We have, time after time, ignored its irritating sound, not wanting to disturb our dreams of a limitless earth. We have woven the alarm clock into our dreams and deluded ourselves into believing that the planet we love and cherish will be able to sustain itself for generations to come without serious intervention. Lovelock s most well-known contribution to environmental justice is his Gaia hypothesis, named for none other than the ancient Greek goddess, mother of all. Gaia is how Lovelock chooses to describe the intricate web of existence. According to Lovelock s blend of science as and poetic vision, as Gaia, Earth is a complex, selfregulating system of living organisms. With the exploitation of natural resources at an all-time high, Gaia is in trouble and out of balance. He extends the metaphor of Gaia s despair at her mistreatment, lashing out at humankind to punish using means she has to defend herself -- acts of violent destruction, from Superstorm Sandy here in New York City to the devastating earthquakes, tsunamis and tornados worldwide. Gaia is resilient, but angry, pushed past her limit. Lovelock believes that Gaia has her own powers to recalibrate, if humans were to simply give her the right tools to do so. At 95, Lovelock remains one of the most controversial voices in the environmental justice movement. Much of his work remains geared internally towards liberals like us,
those who have in many ways already been converted to the movement. He believes liberals within the environmental movement have placated our selves and diminished our power to make change with an emphasis on small individual actions often based on consumption. He writes in his 2009 book The Vanishing Face of Gaia: a Final Warning: It is time to wake up and realize that Gaia is no cozy mother that nurtures humans and can be propitiated by gestures such as carbon trading or sustainable development. Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess has an interesting theory about how this trend has developed within the environmental justice movement. He pointed out what he saw as a fatal philosophical flaw that needed to be corrected in order to truly change not only the minds, but the hearts of those powerful enough to effect the future of the earth, which I believe we are. He saw the environmental movement focusing on individual moral duty to motivate individual change and failing to ignite a truly deep ecology. He writes: the extensive moralizing within the ecological movement has given the public the false impression that they are being asked to make a sacrifice to show more responsibility, more concern, and a nicer moral standard. For us, as liberal people of faith, I wonder how this sounds to your ears. I m sure it is true that for most of us, environmentalism is in some way woven into our daily lives. For myself, growing up with a father who is an environmental consultant, there was most definitely a heightened focus on individual action in my household. Turn off the lights in a room when you leave. Recycle. Conserve water. Over the past twenty years, a massive economy has developed to encourage these private household choices, a green lifestyle including compact fluorescent light bulbs, cleaning products, reusable shopping bags, organic food and the ubiquitous Toyota Prius. For Lovelock and Naess, these small actions are important, no doubt. However, they can be superficial if not connected to a larger vision beyond our own sense of moral virtue. Buying green cleaning products may make us feel morally superior if we choose to purchase them, and guilty if we don t bring our own shopping bags to Whole Foods when we grocery shop. But the moral dimension of our choices, even if we make more good choices than bad, fail to transform neither our consciousness nor do the way our lives and our society are ordered. Naomi Klein, Canadian author who will be speaking on a fabulous panel here next Saturday night with Bill McKibbin and other pillars of the progressive environmental justice movement puts it this way in a 2011 article on climate change entitled Capitalism and the Climate:
The abundance of scientific research showing we have pushed nature beyond its limits does not just demand green products and market-based solutions; it demands a new civilizational paradigm, one grounded not in dominance over nature but in respect for natural cycles of renewal and acutely sensitive to natural limits, including the limits of human intelligence. James Lovelock says it another way: Until we all feel intuitively that the Earth is a living system, and know that we are a part of it, we will fail to react automatically for its and ultimately our own protection. Echoing Lovelock, Arne Naess warned that transformation of our planet is possible only if our sense of self were widened and deepened so that the protection of nature was felt and perceived as protection of our very selves. What these leaders suggest is a profound spiritual change that originates from human beings feeling truly connected to the earth, not set apart from it. Indigenous and Pagan spiritual traditions have this understanding deeply woven into the fabric of their every day life. Engaged Buddhist and activist Joanna Macy calls this imperative the greening of the self. For Western traditions, it is can be a harder shift to make, though not impossible with a burgeoning movement for creation-centered spirituality. For us as Unitarian Universalists, we might find inspiration from these world religious traditions, with grounding in our 7 th principle as our covenant with the Earth. To fulfill our covenant, we must work to shift our own consciousness to one of interconnectedness with earth. We must also transform the systems that threaten the well-being of our planet and diminish life. We know the effects of climate justice effect the poorest and most vulnerable. While we crank up our air conditioner in the hot summers, our neighbors in India are desperately trying to survive on land parched by draught, exhausted by monoculture crops and pillaged for resources. While we may be able to head for higher ground and recovery quickly when natural disasters strike, our neighbors in New Orleans, Red Hook and the Far Rockaways lose their homes forever. When we consider the earth first as essential for our collective well-being our actions gain power and authenticity. As members of our Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, we have both precedent and support. In a 2006 statement of conscience, our Unitarian Universalist General Assembly affirmed that we accept with humility and determination our responsibility to remedy and mitigate global warming/climate change through innovation, cooperation, and self-discipline. We undertake this work for the preservation of life on Earth. So too we have faithful allies in our path ahead. Last summer, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the World Council of Churches, the United Church of Christ all voted to divest our endowment and assets from fossil fuel economies, a bold move to secure a swift transition to clean and renewable sources of energy, following the lead of
churches, seminaries, universities and other civic institutions. With our allies, faith and secular, we have an opportunity to continue to raise our voices and claim our power to help bring Gaia back into balance. Next weekend, thousands of people will join in what we hope will be the largest climate march in our nation s history. United Nations leaders will gather just days later, global leaders who have the power to truly transform our systems on a global scale. Can we question the future of fossil fuels and promote renewable energy sources? Can we demand that our leaders widen the public spheres of access: to clean water, secure sources of food, shelter and medical care? We can and we must. Today we pledge to Lucia Valentina that we will nurture her precious life. We join Stephanie, Theresa and Gaia, in the sacred task of mothering and the care for all creation. We look to Lucia for our inspiration and guidance, fulfilling our covenant to nurture this good earth for her young life and for all generations to come. Blessed be and Amen