For some reason, perhaps known only to the archangels, we humans were given the gift of Choice. Free Will. It’s hot-wired into us at birth. When overlook or undervalue our choices, it’s easy to imagine we’re victims. Our mouths are quick to form questions such as, “Why me?” “Why this?” “Why now?”
In times of crisis—and planet Earth IS in crisis—we look around for something to hang on to. And when grab for it, we notice other people reaching out to us. We hear voices saying, “How can I help?” “What do you need?”
I wrote eight essays and assembled the quotations in this little collection as an offering of needed respite and inspiration as we contemplate our earth’s changes. You’ll find 350 active “quotation/prayers” (plus 16 more in case readers want one for each day—including leap year) for a reason. Scientists now tell us that 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide is a magic planet-saving number. It’s all our fevered planet can take before extraordinarily irreversible damage is done. We’ve already passed that threshold. Right now, it’s at 385; but together we can try to repair the damage. This book brings hope and encouragement as we responsibly wrap our hearts and minds around our endangered home. The chapters are organized like this:
1. Earth
2. Air
3. Fire
4. Water
5. Time
6. Space
7. Essence
8. Sixteen Closing Prayers
Recommended Further Reading
The book begins with one of my favorite Hildegard of Bingen quotations:
~ Hildegard of Bingen
This collection of “350 grace notes,” of “green plainsongs,” seeks to value all shades of green. Just as green ripples from yellowy-chartreuse to deep jade, each of us views our planet on a spectrum. For some, Earth is still a paradise. For others, a garden. A home. A kindergarten. A gift. A way station to something better. A test-pad or proving ground. And for far too many of us, it’s a rich supply of “goodies” to use, waste or horde.
As we “green up” together, we sense many shades of our communal spirituality blowing through. We ponder who the “I” is in Hildegard of Bingen’s words that begin this book. “I am the breeze that nurtures all things green.” It doesn’t matter how we describe and hold our individual beliefs, because the important thing is that the same breeze wafts over us all. We hear voices in concert, but our “spirituality” takes many forms; the active prayers you find within these pages may not always fit your own definition prayer. Lucinda Vardey, in God in All Worlds puts it this way: “spiritual truth requires deep commitment to the divine in ourselves and others and can lead to transcended states of awareness, of consciousness that unites the mind, the heart and the soul. Spirituality is about being open to different realities of existence, about being guided by our intuition, which is nothing less than the truth within us.“ (p. xv)
No one is sure if we can bring Earth’s fever down. Soon we will likely reach the point of no return. Unless. Unless we act with great concerted effort. But to do that, governments will have to cooperate.
Bill McKibben, the prolific author, professor, activist and fellow Vermonter’s voice you’ll often find The Green Devotional, once quipped: “You’re going to fix global warming by changing light bulbs? Try changing your politicians instead. Screw in a new Congressperson.”
But, as our president often points out, government cannot do this alone. Corporations will have to figure out how to reduce their carbon footprints through offsets/paybacks/barters. And each of us needs to seriously think about how we live here and how much carbon dioxide we’re individually pumping out. Even though most of us don’t think much about chemistry, carbon dioxide is one chemical term we all need to understand. Therefore, 350 is a number that Bill McKibben and many others think should be engrained onto our collective psyches. Church bells should ring out 350 times to remind people how important three-five-oh is to our very survival.
Arne Naess, the mountain-climbing Norwegian philosopher who gave us the term “deep ecology,” threw another word into our vocabulary mix: ecosophy. It melds ecology, the study of relationships, with sophia the Greek word for wisdom. This, then, could be called a little book of ecosophy since it contains a selection of today’s wisdom about Earth. Secular and sacred. Ancient and now. It speaks to numerous topics related to climate change and the care of our planet and everything that lives here. These voices in concert were selected and organized to inspire, to enrich, to support and sometimes to challenge us as we face the future together. Kermit told us “It’s not easy bein’ green.” That old puppet’s right, of course. But Hildegard of Bingen, the Rhineland mystic, reminded us that greening may well be the very reason we’re here—Veriditas, she called it.
A Green Book of Hours
This collection of voices is a “green book of devotional hours,” reminiscent of the Books of Hours medieval people used to hold in their palms as “a cathedral in your hands.” It reminded them they were connected to something broader and wiser than themselves. Those gold calligraphed and lavishly illustrated books were organized according to the church’s eight canonical hours which many monastic communities still use to measure out prayers in, roughly, three hour increments: Lauds, the dawn praise, followed by Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, Compline and finally at darkest midnight, Matins. Some claim the early monks broke up their days into eight because they were influenced by earlier Vikings who measured their time by the eight tides: Midnight, Dawn, Morning, Vaporlessness, Noon, Rest, Evening, and Shadow. For whatever reason, eight seems right.
This eight-part book mirrors is “a planet in your hands.” And as the voices, most of them very contemporary, began to harmonize together they seemed to call out for their own canonical structure—one bounded by the ancient elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water. To those four we offer four more less tangible: Time, Space, Ether (Soul, Essence). And finally, as many Book of Hours end, we have Closing Prayers—prayers that prepare us, not just to go to sleep, but to rest up for another day of passionate action. For the voices you hear within these pages, call you, not just to prayer, but to action. They form an eight-part polyphonic chorus for our green planet. They’re a “shout out,” and a call to “step up.” They’re “Rhythm ‘n Greens”… not a requiem, but a glorious eclectic chant for our collective future. Bella Vocé! Their beautiful voices invite you to join their chorus.
As a global culture, we’re heading into a time when some of our “historic pews” might have to go. We may have to sacrifice long-held beliefs about our precious earth and how we perceive our place in it. Like those tireless 9/11 rescuers, we smell the ash, we realize our planet’s crisis is very real and, like them, we can’t postpone our response. Each of us is responsible for easing the pain of others. We are called to help put things right. We must be more courageous, more innovative, more understanding and above all, more flexible. We are the ones to open the windows and let the winds blow through.
It is in that spirit, I implore you to add your own voice to the voices gathered here. Open it anywhere and hear what the voices are saying to God’s people. Choose one of the 350 devotional thoughts to think about, alone or with friends, meditate on and act upon, for when we are devoted to something, we cannot help but fervently live it. That may be the only way Josie and all our grandchildren will be able to carry on their own joy-filled earth-green devotions on a healthier planet.
Blessed be the precious and preserving air, by which we are given life.
Blessed be the precious and preserving fire, by which we re warmed.
Blessed be the precious and preserving water, by which we are cleansed.
Blessed be the precious and preserving earth, by which we are sustained.
~ Caitlin and John Matthews, Walkers Between the Worlds
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