Cultivating Peace (Cultivating Hope in the Climate Crisis- Advent 2)

Post Author: Rev. Corey Turnpenny

Prayer of the Day
Maker of All That Is, thank you. You are our Source of life and hope. Forgive us for all the ways we sin against you and the Earth. Restore our connection to you and all of Creation, that we might be a part of your great Restoration of the world. Reconnect us to our fellow creatures. Help us tread lightly on your holy ground. Cultivate your deep peace within us that we might trust you and live in The Way of Christ. Amen.

Commentary on Isaiah 40:1-11 & Mark 1:1-8
John is the person in the Gospel story most connected to nature, and not surprisingly this makes him the outsider. He dressed differently, ate strange food, and let’s be honest, he probably smelled. I am fascinated by the few details we get about this wild character. We know from Jesus’ birth narrative in the Gospel of Luke that John is his second cousin, born to an elderly Elizabeth. John’s father Zachariah was struck speechless by the angel who foretold his birth in the temple. I can see how these factors in childhood could lead to the eccentric adult John we meet at the beginning of Mark’s gospel: “John wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist.” OK, he used what he could to make his own clothes and didn’t seem to care what others thought. “He ate locusts and wild honey.” That’s a sparse diet! Sounds like a rugged survivalist. “He announced, ‘One stronger than I am is coming after me.’” Wait, he’s not the toughest guy around? John was clearly a loner and clearly felt at home out in the desert, in the wild. He lived in harmony with nature which made him seem strange, but he is also the one in this story that knows something no one else knows- that Jesus is the long awaited Christ. 

In 1800’s rural Europe and the United States, whenever there was a death in the family someone had to go out to the beehives and tell the bees of the loss. This old tradition of “telling the bees” made headlines last year when Queen Elizabeth died and someone went to inform the royal bees. It’s said failing to do so often resulted in further calamities such as the bees leaving the hive, or not producing enough honey, or even dying. Traditionally, the bees were kept informed of not only deaths, but of all important family matters including births, marriages, and long absence due to journeys. If the bees were not told, all sorts of tragedies were thought to transpire. The cherished relationship between bees and their keepers has provided flowery fodder for folklore. But the relationship between bees and humans goes beyond this tradition. The fact is bees help humans survive. Seventy of the top 100 crop species that feed 90 percent of the human population rely on bees for pollination. Without them, these plants would cease to exist, and all the animals that eat those plants, causing a cascading effect that would ripple catastrophically up the food chain. The act of telling the bees emphasizes this deep connection humans share with the insect and all of nature.

John would not have been familiar with this tradition of course but he was likely familiar with Job. Rather than “telling the bees” Job instructed we listen to them. “Ask the animals what they think—let them teach you; let the birds tell you what’s going on. Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.  Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories. Isn’t it clear that they all know and agree that God is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand— Every living soul, yes, every breathing creature?” (Job 12:7-10 The Message) I wonder if John first told the bees about Jesus as he gathered their honey. Or was it the bees who first told John? And I wonder, if we were to do as Job suggests and go out to listen to the bees or the birds today, what might they tell us? Their declining numbers alone should tell us our world is not at peace. We are not living in harmony with Creation. 

As we seek to cultivate hope and peace this Advent season, we would do well to focus on the Hebrew word for peace: Shalom. Shalom is much more than calm or quiet, this idea of peace encompasses harmony, wholeness, completeness, welfare, and tranquility. The aspect of wholeness speaks loudest for me as we await the coming Christ in a climate crisis. There is no peace without justice. And any peace we may have is incomplete if there is suffering elsewhere. But we can help cultivate Shalom in our world. And I think our beloved Mary Oliver has a perfect place to start in her poem, Making the House Ready for the Lord:

“Dear Lord, I have swept and I have washed but
still nothing is as shining as it should be
for you. Under the sink, for example, is an
uproar of mice — it is the season of their
many children. What shall I do? And under the eaves
and through the walls the squirrels
have gnawed their ragged entrances — but it is the season
when they need shelter, so what shall I do? And
the raccoon limps into the kitchen and opens the cupboard
while the dog snores, the cat hugs the pillow;
what shall I do? Beautiful is the new snow falling
in the yard and the fox who is staring boldly
up the path, to the door. And still I believe you will
come, Lord: you will, when I speak to the fox,
the sparrow, the lost dog, the shivering sea-goose, know
that really I am speaking to you whenever I say,
as I do all morning and afternoon: Come in, Come in.”

As we welcome in, care for, and listen to our animal kin, we also do so unto Christ. And we follow in The Way of the who Isaiah foretold would, “tend the flock like a shepherd and gather lambs in his arms and lift them onto his lap. He will gently guide the nursing ewes.” (Isaiah 40:11 CEB) May we cultivate the peace of Christ in our relationship with our more-than-human neighbors this Advent.

Female shepherd holding a little lamb.

Hymn Suggestions
The Friendly Beasts
People Look East
Blessed Be the God of Israel
All Creatures of Our God and King

Where We’ve Been: 

Advent 1: Cultivating Hope – Isaiah 64:1-9 & Mark 13:24-37 by Rev. Elizabeth S. Ivell

What Comes Next:

Advent 3: Cultivating Joy – Luke 1:46b-55 by Rev. Merianna Harrelson
Advent 4: Cultivating Love – Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26 by Rev. Talitha Amadea Aho
Christmas Eve/Day: Cultivating Light – Isaiah 9:2-7 & Psalm 97 by Rev. Kara  Wiechmann