Health in the Lord and the Blessing of the Holy Spirit..[Rule of Saint Albert]

JPIC 76 - JUNE 2018 Saudavel iha Maromak no grasa Spirtu Santo Nian .. [Regula Sto Alberto]

contemplating our care for creation ... a reflection by Rev. Linda Chapman

presented to Jamberoo Lay Carmelites and friends recently and included a workshop on the Laudato Si Study Guide

The ecological crisis is a spiritual crisis of humanity as we are living in a way that degrades our environment.

Pope Francis’ encyclical addresses this urgent need to confront the reality that social and ecological justices are increasingly linked.

This reflection explores a possible way of recovering a sense of our human vocation as creatures gifted with life. It recognizes the need for contemplative prayer or meditation such that we might grow in our consciousness of the earth and all of life within the cosmic community. The human vocation as keepers of the space means that we are meant to live as part of the whole earth community in a way that secures spaces for both human and other-than-human life to flourish. The Judeo-Christian ‘dreaming’ or creation story of Genesis is a story of God opening these spaces for life. All creatures are given habitat. The human being is born into this Garden of Life but we are now encroaching on the space of others and are causing serious harm. Contemplative practice is a way of hope as it opens the space of cosmic consciousness such that we might recognize our identity as creatures interdependent with all creation and in need of balance. Meditation enables a way of life that restores harmony and balance; the balance necessary for

all to live. Much of our contemporary culture is about growing the ‘space’ of the economy. The Genesis narrative tells us that the oikos, the household of God, from which the word economy is derived, is about the balancing of ecology and economy. When our focus is heavily weighted on economy we become split and unbalanced. We veer in the direction of harm, rather than securing space for life to flourish. The understanding that the human vocation is to ‘keep the space’ derives from the earliest activity of the Creator in the Genesis story, who opened the various spaces for particular creatures to enjoy their particular habitats. God opened the spaces of night and day, of the waters that would teem with living things; the sky with every winged bird according to its kind, and the dry ground; the space where vegetation could come forth. And God saw that all was good and desired an abundance of the various life forms within their spaces. And then the human being, the Adam, was formed from the same elements as the earth, the Adamah. And God saw that it was all very good and on the seventh day rested. Our vocation according to the creation story is to be keepers of the spaces and the whole space of the earth community. And the direction of creation is to come to the wholeness of God’s indwelling, to be a resting place, to rest with God. This is peace.

This peace is significantly challenged in our environment by our current ecological crises. It’s a spiritual crisis; a crisis of human identity. We have forgotten who we are. And when we forget who we are we forget how to live. Yet in this age it may be that we are waking up to that consciousness that re-members creation. We are realizing our co-creative vocation. Our original gifting with the responsibility to be keepers of the space sees the need for us to collaborate with the whole earth community through the vivifying activity of the Spirit. A contemplative way can inform our action for justice. Meditation provides the basis for action which is contemplative. It reminds us of who we are and how to live in a way that may preserve the interconnected community of creation. It heals our aggression and exploitative tendencies. It is a contemplative practice of deep listening and it bears the fruit of real humility. The truth of humility is that we are humans, grounded and embodied beings whose habitat is within the sheltering space of the earth. We don’t live on the earth but rather we are part of earth. Humility is the knowledge and experience of who we are and where we fit in the order of things. The depth of our listening will be according to the extent of our relationship with the other. Indigenous woman Miriam Rose Ungunmerr -Baumann from Daly River in the Northern

Territory describes such relational listening as dadirri which she says is like our understanding of contemplation.

Dadirri is inner, deep listening and quiet, still awareness. “When I experience dadirri, I am made whole again. ’Miriam Rose says that dadirri is the gift that Australia is thirsting for and she encourages us to adopt silence so that

we can engage in deep listening to the earth. I suggest that the healing of our spiritual crisis is the opportunity to grow through the practice of silence such that the focus of our attention shifts from self-referential to the other. The other includes the other-than-human with whom we are meant to live in relationship. The practice of meditation is a path of self- knowledge. Through it we understand ourselves as spiritual beings in need of more than material wealth to live fully. In some forms of Christian meditation we begin by saying the mantra and eventually we listen to it. Our practice becomes one of listening in the space that the mantra keeps us in. We keep the space of consciousness through our practice and it keeps us grounded in Reality and rooted in the Love that keeps all space. Over time we re-member who we are as our fragmented self becomes integrated in the Self who holds us in being. The ‘household of God’, the created reality, is one space consisting of a diversity of life. The over-emphasis on the economy, measured in material wealth, denies the space of the various ecologies that make up the whole earth system. Meditation can be a bridge between economy and ecology. Through regular practice our consciousness becomes healed of the split. We come to realize that economy and ecology must exist together in harmony derived as they are from the one Source. Meditation reminds us that our prosperity is to be found in the spiritual capital of knowing who we really are and how we might live in balance for the whole earth community. As we become more conscious, so we live out our human vocation as keepers of the space. Ultimately, we become that space in which God finds rest as we rest in God who sees all creation as ‘very good’.

Linda is an Anglican priest and presently Rector of the Parish of

Moruya on the south coast. She is also a spiritual director,

meditation teacher, speaker and retreat leader. An oblate of the

Benedictine World Community of Christian Meditation and founder of Open Sanctuary at Tilba Tilba, a

contemplative community with a focus on social and ecological justice.

WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY - 5th June 2018

FOR YOUR CALENDAR - JUNE

27 May-3rd June Reconciliation Week continues 5 June - World Environment Day 8 June - World Oceans Day 10 June - 1838: Massacre of up to 30 Aboriginal

people at Myall Creek, NSW 12 June - World Day against Child Labour 17 June - beginning of National Refugee Week 19 June - International Day for the Elimination of

Sexual Violence in Conflict 21 June - Pope Francis will visit WCC in Geneva 26 June - International Day in Support of Victims

of Torture 26 June - International Day Against Drug abuse

and Illicit Trafficking

RECONCILIATION WEEK CONTINUES ... This year together with our Indigenous brothers and sisters, we commemorate: 20 years since the first National Sorry Day 10 years since the public apology to the Stolen Generation by ex Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (13 February)

1 year since the First Nations people gathered for the National Constitutional Convention and issued the Uluru Statement From the Heart. Delegates invited all of us "to walk with [them] in a movement of the Australian people for a better future".

This YEAR World Environment Day will raise awareness

on the indiscriminate global issue caused by plastic pollution

with the theme “Beat Plastic Pollution”

Our throwaway lifestyle and overconsumption has endangered biodiversity both on land and in the ocean with plastic pollution spiralling out of control. Appallingly, every minute, a truckload of plastic finds its way into our oceans. A million plastic bottles are purchased around the world every minute. And this number is expected to increase by another 20% by 2021.

Did you know that a plastic bag from Western Australia was found on a beach in South Africa? Oceans don't divide us, they connect us all, and without healthy oceans, there simply can’t be a healthy planet. After enormous public pressure and community organising efforts, supermarket giants Woolworths, Coles and Harris Farm have all committed to ban single-use plastic bags. Eliminating single-use plastic bags from supermarkets means helping to cut back on more than 3000 tonnes of plastic litter that ends up in our oceans each year.

Pope Francis will travel to Geneva on June 21st to

mark the 70th anniversary of the World Council of

Churches. The WCC was founded in 1948 with a

membership of 147 Christian Churches, largely in

Europe and North America. Today it brings together

348 members in countries across the globe, including

most of the world's Orthodox, Anglican, Baptist,

Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed churches, as well

as many United and Independent churches. This visit is

an historic occasion and a big step forward for

Ecumenism. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-03/pope-to-

visit-geneva-for-world-council-of-churches-anniversary.html

The Creator Spirit empowers, lures, prods and dances on ahead of us calling us to be prophets of our own time.

In solidarity with the prophets of old may this same Spirit be poured into our hearts so that kinship, justice and care for creation take root within us.