Happy Monday, Friends!
Continuing my theme of using the Nicene Creed as my starting point, the next lines of the Creed read: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.”
The Holy Spirit in many ways is the most mysterious and hardest to understand member of the Trinity. Never personified in human likeness, those of us from liturgical traditions grew up thinking of the Holy Spirit as a dove. If we accept the formulation that God the Mother is creator, God the Son is redeemer, then God the Holy Spirit is sustainer. That sustainment can come in many ways whether personal, communal, or earthly.
Today our world is gripped by the beginnings of a climate disaster. The fact that we have not descended further into that disaster may very well be due to the intervention of the Holy Spirit. But we cannot rely solely on divine intervention, the need for a comprehensive suite of solutions to climate change is desperately needed. People of faith must be involved in responding to climate change. Unitarian Universalism speaks to having a “respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” It is in this interdependent web that our response to climate issues must begin.
How can you respect the interdependent web of the environment? What small change can you make this week to affect climate justice?
Let us pray: God, creator, redeemer, and sustainer, help us to respond to our planet’s dire need for climate justice. Let us respond to climate issues both in terms of sustaining the earth and intervening in climate disasters. In all things may your creation be praised because you made it and you saw that it was good. We ask this in union with your Holy Spirit, our sustainer and advocate. Amen.
Blessings, friends, on your week! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.
Faithfully,
Ben