Join the Hymn of All Creation – Tom Mundahl reflects on ministering to creation as priests of God.
Care for Creation Commentary on the Common LectionaryĀ
Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year B (2014, 2017, 2020, 2023)
Isaiah 61:10 – 62:3
Psalm 148
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:22-40
The Coming of God in Christ at Christmas changes everything.Ā Ā It should be no surprise, then, that the psalmody for Christmas Eve echoes the joy of all creation:
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and everything that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the Lord….Ā Ā (Psalm 96: 11-13)
In a greeting to the 20th International Ecumenical Conference on Orthodox Spirituality focusing on ecology, former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, wrote, āIf humanity is in Godās image, and if that image is fully realized in the coming of the Word in the flesh, humanityās calling is to love and nourish the true meaning and form of every aspect of the creation, not to try and subordinate it to some passing version of what seems to be the interest of humanity in isolation.ā (Monasterio di BoseĀ Blog, September, 2012)
That is, far from being a āfree passā to dominate non-human creation, to live out the āimage of Godā must mean to begin a long listening session. Perhaps āimaging Godā is an apprenticeship for learning servanthood to the rest of creation, a lifetime of being opened up āto multiple avenues of reciprocal interaction between human beings and other speciesā (Elizabeth Johnson,Ā Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love, London: Bloomsbury, 2014, p. 267). We may even come to understand that, during this season of Christmas, it is we humans who are the latecomers in joiningĀ Ā natureās chorus.
We certainly hear āheaven and nature singā in Psalm 148. As the centerpiece of the final five āHallelujah psalmsā (Psalm 146-150), it divides the chorus of praise into āthe heavensā (vv. 1-6) and āthe earthā (vv. 7-14). Given this division, the psalmist seems intent on providing the greatest variety of voices from each sphere. Angels, sun and moon, and even the waters above the firmament, comprise the heavenly choir. In the earthly chorus, sea monsters from the deep lead the voices of āmountains and hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!ā (Psalm 148:8-10). To these are added, finally, the human voices ranging from royalty to men and women, young and old.
Why? As appropriate as this psalm is for the Christmas Season, it certainly predates its celebration and points to a continuing melody.Ā Ā Elizabeth Johnson suggests a simple answer to this question: āBecause God commanded and they were createdā (Psalm 148:5). All exist as the fruit of the powerful good will of the Giver whose name is exalted beyond heaven and earthā (Johnson, p. 276).
This āchoir festivalā is echoed in todayās First Lesson from Isaiah. The prophet, drawing on the earlier Isaiah, revisits the marriage imagery from Isaiah 52:1-2. When creation is spiced with this celebration, ārighteousness and praise spring up before all nationsā as naturally as the seeds in a garden sprout (Isaiah 61: 11).
Yet, as Paul D. Hanson suggests, āThe optimism conveyed in the reaffirmation of Second Isaiahās vision of restoration in chapters 60 and 61 is tempered in chapter 62 by another motif. Somber intimations of impending crises begin to lead the prophet to a different posture, a more aggressive stance vis-a-vis those perceived as doubting Godās purposesā (Isaiah 40-66, Louisville: John Knox, 1995, p. 228). The prophet vows not to āshut upā until āvindicationā and āsalvationā are completely expressed by the giving of a ānew nameā (Isaiah 62:1-2). To fully appreciate this change of mood and prophetic response, it is necessary to consider Isaiah 62:4-5.
āThird Isaiah follows Hosea, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel in utilizing the marriage metaphor to express the new name, that is, the new status of the people in relation to Godā (Hanson, p. 229).
You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married (Isaiah 62:4).
Even though they have completed the return from Babylon, the people have a long way to go. This new journey finds its climax as the people appropriate their new name, a name that pronounces renewed blessing on both people and land. With the new name, not only is the past forgotten, but the bloom of life spreads before them. Despite past exile and an uncertain present, the future is as hopeful as that of a newly married couple, or of a new CSA gardener planting her first crop of kale.
Like the Isaiah prophet, Paul also writes to a community that needs the terms of itsĀ Ā freedom and hope reinforced. Not only does this weekās Galatians text provide one of the earliest textual references to the nativity, it continues Paulās argument for unity between Jewish and Gentile believers. It is preceded by his reminder that before faith came (āwhen we were minors,ā all were āenslaved to the elemental spirits of the worldā (Galatians 4:3). These āelemental spiritsā are no shaggy Druidic forces to seek woodland harmony with. Instead, they were widely thought to be ādemonic entities of cosmic proportions and astral powers which were hostile towards manā (Hans Dieter Betz, Galatians, Hermeneia Series, Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979, p. 205)
But because in the fullness of time, āGod sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as childrenā (Galatians 4:4-5), the situation has changed. The first purpose clause (āin order to redeem those who were under the lawā) clearly refers to Jewish members of the community. Since Paul commonly uses the formula āJew first and then Greek,ā it is likely that the second purpose clause (āso that we might receive adoption as childrenā) encompasses allĀ in the early Galatian community (Betz, p. 208). Not only does this incarnation provide unity for the group through the Spirit, but it affirms that slavery for a Christian of Jewish or Gentile origin is over.
Surely this liberation must include freedom from being āenslaved to the elemental spirits of the world.ā Instead of desperately trying to alter the course of āfateā through a laundry list of sacrifices, astrology, and magicāall part of the old and widely syncretistic worldviewānow it is possible to live in freedom. Once more, humankind is freed to deal with the whole creation with the respect and service that is fitting.
Just as our readings from Isaiah and Galatians demonstrate the wholeness God intends for creation, so the new freedom brought by the incarnation is demonstrated dramatically in the life and lyric of Simeon. That Simeonās entry onstage is vital is signaled by the opening words āAnd beholdā (και Ī¹Ī“ĪæĻ ). While there is no evidence that Simeon was an older man, he is described as ārighteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israelā (Luke 2: 25b). This āconsolationā (ĻαĻακληĻιĻ) is related both to the ācomfortā of Isaiah 40:1-2 and to the Spirit of God (cf. Acts 9:31), which we learn ārested on himā (Luke 2:25b). The Spirit had assured Simeon that āhe would not see death before he had seen the Lordās Messiah.ā (Luke 2: 26)
That Simeon is painted in the prophetic tradition inspired by the Spirit is clear. Now, in the tradition of Jeremiahās āsymbolic actions,ā he takes the child into his arms and praises God in the final āsongā of Lukeās birth and infancy narrative, ātheĀ Nunc Dimittisā (from the Latin translation of the first words, āNow dismiss….ā). In fact, Simeon is celebrating his āmanumission,ā being released from his patient service as a āslaveā (Ī“ĪæĻ Ī»ĪæĻ) by the divine āmasterā (ΓεĻĻĪæĻĪ·Ļ) after a long wait. As prophesied by Isaiah, this celebration takes place āin the presence of all peoplesā (Luke 2:31, Isaiah 40:5). Just as Paul wrote to bring unity to Jew and Gentile, so Luke ensures full inclusion: āa light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israelā (Luke 2:32).
If God is fully present in the child in the lap of Mary, this One is also present in the arms of Simeon. Similarly, āthis child is also fully present in the waters of Baptism and in the bread and wine of the Eucharist, and so known by the faithful, whenever these sacraments are shared according to the cosmic Wordā (Paul Santmire,Ā Nature Reborn: the Ecological and Cosmic Promise of Christian Theology, Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000, p. 84). Certainly it is just that ācosmic Wordā that faithful Anna shares with the faithful people coming to the temple.
But there is more to Lukeās narrative. Following the blessing, the prophet Simeon shares a hard truth with Mary.
Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against, (and a sword will run through your life also)so that the calculations of many hearts may be exposed (Luke 2: 34-35, authorās translation).
At first, this warning seems to echo Maryās own song, the Magnificat, which describes a reversal that includes the fall of the powerful and the lifting up of the lowly (Luke 1:52-53). But it moves beyond this sense of reversal by identifying āthis child,ā in the words of Isaiah 8:14-15, as a āstone of stumblingā which breaks to pieces everyone who falls on it. Whatās more, this one is also āThe stone that the builders rejected (who) has become the cornerstoneā (Psalm 118:22). Both senses of meaning are used to interpret Lukeās crucial parable of the landlord and the tenants (Luke 20:17-18). When Jesusā opponents hear the parable and its interpretation, immediately they seekā to lay hands on him . . . .ā (Luke 20:19). Simeonās warning, then, exposes the ācalculationsā of the āscribes and chief priestsā and prepares us for Jesusā passion. No wonder Luke comments parenthetically to Mary, āand a sword will run through your life also.ā
Have we lost the celebratory tone of Psalm 148 and our Christmas carols entirely? Of course not, but neither are we so naive as to claim that the age of wonders and fulfillment has completely arrived. In fact, we know that the incarnation of the Servant of Creation still exposes āthe calculations of many hearts.ā
A recent e-mail from the people who put together the fine short film about consumption, āThe Story of Stuff ā reminded me of this. The message referred to the so-called Pacific Garbage Patch created by the interaction of the North Pacific Gyre currents and gross human plastic dumping. The size of this āpatchā outstrips the very word used to describe it: estimated to be anywhere from the size of the state of Texas, on the small side, to the size of the continent of Africa (cf. Alan Weisman,Ā The World Without Us, New York: St. Martinās, 2007, pp. 121-128).
While the vast majority of this atrocious mess comes from marine vessels, the problem of disposing of plastics is global, but most intense in so-called developed countries. However, since plastic containers have a long life and can be reused many times, there is an opportunity simply to return empty shampoo bottles or olive oil containers to co-ops to be refilled. Unfortunately, refilling options are not always available and, āto expose the calculations of many hearts,ā this often requires personal effort. But to move this ācardiac exposureā to the public level, are there not public policies that would both educate and regulate to confront this problem? But what is the level of political contributions of plastic manufacturers in the U.S., so intimately connected with the petroleum industry?
We continue to sing Psalm 148. All creation sings the song of Godās praise together. But we also are called to remember our priestly role in mediating the vision of the intention of Godās creation, priests who both imagine and serve (Norman Wirzba,Ā The Paradise of God, Oxford, 2003, p. 135). But, in a way, that continues our listening to God and the whole creation.
Tom Mundahl, Saint Paul, MN
tmundahl@gmail.com
Originally written by Tom Mundahl in 2014.