1 All earth is waiting to see the Promised One,
and open furrows await the seed of God.
All the world, bound and struggling, seeks true liberty;
it cries out for justice and searches for the truth.
2 Thus says the prophet to those of Israel,
'A virgin mother will bear Emmanuel.'
One whose name is 'God with us', our Saviour shall be,
through whom hope will blossom once more
within our hearts.
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow[a] out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see
or decide by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor
and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
The wolf shall live with the lamb;
the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed[b] together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:1-9 NRSVue
It was hard not to be aware of the recent COP27, an international climate change conference held annually under the auspices of the United Nations. Unfortunately this 27th Conference of the Parties was more fizzle than sizzle in terms of outcome. There is the familiar pattern of tens of thousands of delegates coming together while fossil fuel representatives hover on the margins like foxes invited to be "observers" in the hen house. Some important things were said, there was finally talk about a fund to compensate nations most affected by climate change, but little that was concrete and binding about addressing the root causes.
There is another, lesser known Conference of the Parties, COP15, which is taking place in Montreal beginning this Wednesday, December 7th and concluding nearly two weeks later on December 19th. The focus is biodiversity, the intricate, marvellous palette of interdependent creatures on this planet. The goal of COP15 is to sign a new agreement to address the loss of wildlife globally.
There is irrefutable evident that this diversity is in such serious decline we might say that it is in freefall. The destruction of habitat and climate change are two of the significant causes and we humans are responsible. Here in Canada hundreds, if not thousands of species are in serious decline even though we are a country of vast forests, innumerable lakes and rivers, and bordered by three oceans. One of those species is the caribou -- reindeer by another name -- which has graced our 25 cent piece for decades.
The other morning CBC Radio's The Current interviewed Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, a lawyer from Tanzania and the executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. In the conversation with Matt Galloway they discussed how we can heal our relationship with nature.She described her rural upbringing in a community which had abundant water flowing from Mount Kilimanjaro which is now drying up. The famous snows of the mountain are no longer visible at times and the aridity is affecting farms and wildlife. Galloway commented on the fact Maruma Mrema still expresses hope and she said that despite all the dire evidence she has to believe that positive change is possible.
On this 2nd Sunday of Advent when "all earth is waiting to see the Promised One" we can pray, perhaps every day during COP15, for the breakthrough necessary to sustain Creation in all its glorious diversity. Ya, I know I recently shared a verse from this hymn, but maybe it needs to be our Advent theme song!
3 Mountains and valleys will have to be made plain,
open new highways, new highways for our God,
who is now coming closer, so come all and see,
and open the doorways as wide as wide can be.
4 In lowly stable the Promised One appeared.
Yet, feel that presence throughout the earth today,
for Christ lives in all Christians and is with us now;
again, on arriving, Christ brings us liberty.
Will we listen to Indigenous voices during the COP15 Biodiversity Conference which begins this week in Montreal? I pray that we do. My Groundling blog today groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.com/2022/12/prayin
No comments:
Post a Comment