The First Sunday of Lent : All Creatures of our God and King
Genesis 9:8-17
There is a concept
found in many cultures and traditions that has always attracted me. Put simply,
it is the idea of the interconnectedness of all things. The ant that crawls on
the stem of some forgotten leaf scratches some light itch of the universe. We
are all permutations of stardust, from whence we come and shall return. This
“we”, as God reminds us in the story of Noah, is not limited to just humanity.
Birds, livestock, wild, domesticated, all living things were touched by the
flood, just as all living things are affected by the actions of each member
within the ecosystem.
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour
(Wm. Blake, Auguries of Innocence)
(An icon of the Creation of the Universe)
We can see in the Scriptures and the
tradition that a similar kind of connecting of all creation is accomplished.
This is done through the covenants, and expressed in the letter of 1st
Peter. The water of Noah touches the water of baptism. Moreover, this touching
of images is not merely limited to the conversation (or kiss of peace) between
the Old and New Testament. Inspired by the concept of holy play, and
remembering the mystagogy of the early Church Fathers, we may be so bold as to
interconnect scripture, tradition, and life with the guidance of the Holy
Spirit. See how the ashen cross which marked our foreheads on Ash Wednesday
becomes the ashes of Job in his deepest sorrow, the dust which the Ninevites
poured liberally to mark their repentance. Stretch out, and see the ashes
become the desert sands on which our Savior treads. See now how the ash, sand,
dust becomes the quintessence of us.
This play and touching of all things
is particularly important to remember as we encounter Lent, a time devoted to
the practices of charity, prayer, and fasting. In charity, we recall that we
are to touch one another, to be in the hands of Christ. We are to recall, as God
did before Noah, that the other is not simply the other human, but that all
creatures concern our Lord. In prayer, we remember that our power to act and
move and have such being in this world is contingent wholly upon the God who
connects to us. We are to remember that our life comes from the true vine, and
if we are to produce any fruit, it is through that connection we bring the sap
of life into our lives. In fasting,
we are to remember that the aches of one member in creation is cause for the
collective sigh of the whole body; a stubbed toe causes the back to stiffen and
the eyes to water. May our fasting remind us of the aches of others, and keep
us keenly progressing towards holiness.
("The Trinity, or the Hospitality of Abraham" by Andrei Rublev, 15th century. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares" Heb 13:2)
In
all and through all we do, may God be glorified, the Church edified, and the
world given a foretaste of redemption this Lenten season. Amen.
E.R. Underbrink
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