From My Nature Journal: A Via Dolorosa for All Creation, OR, A Creation Care Lenten Lament

As our Lenten journey continues this year, I’ve come across a resource that has captured my spirit a good bit. It’s called Stations of the Cross with All of Creation, an expansive prayer experience of the long traditional Stations of the Cross. And though I do not know that this resource is completely original to this particular group, the 2010 copy I have in my possession is attributed to an organization called the Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center (www.ipjc.org), an extensive coalition of Catholic organizations in the Pacific Northwest, largely female.

Lent, of course, can appropriately be a season of lament, as one considers the sacrifices and sufferings of Jesus Christ on our behalf. The traditional Stations of the Cross themselves are a spiritual practice of prayer that follow the actual experiences of Jesus in the Gospels from the moment he is condemned by Pontius Pilate to his burial in the tomb. These Stations can differ slightly from tradition to tradition, and can be from twelve to fifteen in number; some even end with Jesus’ resurrection rather than his burial. In any way that it is prayed, however, it is meant to be something of a vicarious pilgrimage of the actual holy sites in Jerusalem along what is called Jesus’ Via Dolorosa, his Journey of Sorrows. Perhaps some of you have been there, as have I, beginning at what is called the Ecce Homo Arch, the traditional site of Pilate’s spoken words, “Behold, the man…” (John 19:5).

Over the last thirty years or so, I have found the Stations a very meaningful spiritual practice. So imagine my delight this Lent, as one who finds nature an important spiritual pathway, to come across Stations of the Cross with All of Creation. Basically, it’s a resource that parallels the lament of the Stations of the Cross with a lament for the environmental devastation being experienced in our modern day.  Some may say, “Well, THAT sure sounds political.” But for all of us who are deeply concerned about Creation Care, and about our responsibilities as Christ followers to steward the good gift that God has given us, it is not political at all. There is indeed much to lament when it comes to earth’s degradation, yet, indeed, much also that God’s people can do to steward the earth more carefully than they historically have. Filled with Scripture, quotes and questions for reflection, this resource attends to both aspects of this issue, lament and hope.

The parallels are very interesting to me. Let me see if I can summarize them as briefly as I can:

·      Station 1 couples the traditional station depicting Jesus’ condemnation by Pilate -- to the simple issue of environmental condemnation.

·      Station 2 couples the traditional station depicting Jesus taking up the cross -- with our being willing to ‘take up the cross’ of a role in better creation care, while understanding our complicity in the problem.

·      Station 3 couples the traditional station depicting Jesus’ first fall -- with the need for our concern for those most vulnerable and likely to be most quickly impacted by earth’s degradation. 

·      Station 4 couples the traditional station depicting Jesus meeting his mother along the way – to our need for a better understanding of the Earth as mother of all God’s creation.

·      Station 5 couples the traditional station depicting Simon of Cyrene’s forced recruitment to help Jesus carry his cross – with the admonition, again, that we might bear this cross, that we might live more simply so that others may simply live.

·      Station 6 couples the traditional station depicting St. Veronica’s wiping the face of Jesus – to ways in which we can work toward a cleaner environment.

·      Station 7 couples the traditional station depicting Jesus’ second fall – with concerns regarding the recent dramatic increase in the extinction of our home’s species.

·      Station 8 couples the traditional station depicting the women of Jerusalem weeping – with the degradation of the earth’s waters.

·      Station 9 couples the traditional station depicting Jesus’ third fall – to the degradation of the earth’s air.

·      Station 10 couples the traditional station depicting Jesus being stripped of his garments – with issues of global deforestation.

·      Station 11 couples the traditional station depicting Jesus being nailed to the cross – to our overdependence on fossil fuels and the environmental devastation and political turmoil that ensues.

·      Station 12 couples the traditional station depicting Jesus’ death on the cross – to the invitation to greater activism by all God’s people in creation care.

Once again, I can imagine some readers rolling their eyes in repugnance at some of these parallels, or others wondering if they may be irreverent or sacrilegious. But as I’ve reflected on them, I see all kinds of appropriate correlations, connections and admonitions. God’s redemptive plan is for God’s entire creation, and I am always eager to see more and more people drawn into environmental stewardship. If simple things like this can move some people forward, I’m all for it.

But here is another reason why I am enthusiastic about this resource. Since moving here to Western Washington, I’ve become involved with a church-based group called Greening Congregations Collaborative; it’s a team consisting of reps from seven or eight nearby churches who want to share ideas and create shared events and experiences that can draw more and more of their congregants to better creation care. Our GCC has adapted Stations of the Cross with All of Creation into a Lenten worship experience we call Way of Sorrows for All Creation, which we will present during Holy Week. I’ve taken a lead role in the revision and look forward to facilitating it on April 17, 4pm at Langley United Methodist Church. Let me know if you might be interested in receiving a copy of the liturgy we are preparing.

Meanwhile, look the list of stations over one more time, and prayerfully consider the sacrifice and generosity of Christ for you, as well as our call to be more sacrificial and generous stewards of God’s good earth.

~~ RGM, March 25 2019

P.S. Some of you will recall that I published here on my blog some time ago a resource I’ve written called Stations of Creation.  It is something that I’ve also presented extensively while leading retreats or events that highlight nature as a spiritual pathway. It can be an interesting companion experience to Stations of the Cross with All Creation. You may find Stations of Creation here.

Blowin' in the Wind: A Prayer for Earth Day -- April 22, 2013

(Blowin’ in the Wind is a regular feature on my blog consisting of an assortment of nature writings – hymns, songs, prayers, scriptures, poems or other things – pieces I may not have written but that inspire me. I trust they will do the same for you.)

With ongoing prayer also for those impacted this week by the tragedies in Boston and Texas, we proceed. Let us pray.

For the beauty of the earth,

For the glory of the skies,

For the love which, from our birth,

Over and around us lies:

Lord of all, to Thee we raise

This, our hymn of grateful praise!

For the wonder of each hour,

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale and tree and flower,

Sun and moon and stars of night:

Lord of all, to Thee we raise

This, our hymn of grateful praise!

For the joy of ear and eye,

For the heart and mind’s delight,

For the mystic harmony

Linking sense to sound and sight:

Lord of all, to Thee we raise

This, our hymn of grateful praise!

For the joy of human love –

Brother, sister, parent, child –

Friends on earth and friends above,

For all gentle thoughts and mild:

Lord of all, to Thee we raise

This, our hymn of grateful praise!

For Thy church that evermore

Lifteth holy hands above,

Offering up on every shore

Her pure sacrifice of love:

Lord of all, to Thee we raise

This, our hymn of grateful praise!

For Thyself, best Gift divine

To our race so freely giv’n,

For that great, great love of Thine,

Peace on earth and joy in heaven:

Lord of all, to Thee we raise

This, our hymn of grateful praise!

These are lyrics, of course, to the old hymn For the Beauty of the Earth. First published in a book of poetry by Englishman F.S. Pierpoint in 1864, this hymn has always been one of my favorites because it was the first hymn I ever learned.

I was about seven years old. On a spring Saturday morning, my Mom had taken my older brothers and me to our church, Grace Covenant in Chicago; they were there to practice in a children’s choir made up of 4^th-6^th graders. I was in 2^nd grade perhaps, there because I needed to be dragged along and not left home alone! Solitarily waiting in a pew in the vacant sanctuary, I listened to the kids in the choir loft singing from the old, green Covenant Hymnal. The song was being taught by rote by Janice, their ‘Trailblazers’ leader, and I began singing it with them from my seat. After a while Janice turned around to me and said, “Ricky, do you want to come up and sing with us?” It was a rich moment, the big kids glaring at me as I climbed up onto the chancel and into the loft, a place I had never been before. I sang the next day with them in church, proud as a peacock and the youngest kid in the choir by far.

“Ricky, do you want

to come up and sing

with us?”

In looking online for a recording to include here, I found a lovely and increasingly popular rendition set to a different hymn tune than the traditional tune named “Dix,” one by contemporary British composer John Rutter and often sung by boys’ or children’s choirs. Hit this link to hear it and to enjoy the accompanying photos. If you’re also interested in the traditional tune, here’s another good link, also accompanied with photography. Lastly, here is one more tune, of which I am not familiar, nicely sung by some kind of youth choir at Fourth Pres in Chicago. The prayer is worth praying multiple times, and, if you listen to all three, prepare to be blessed!

Finally, to this wonderful prayer for Earth Day I would add:

…And, Lord, let Your church, in ‘lifting holy hands above,’ not neglect to also put their hands, heads and hearts toward faithful and eager stewardship of Your creation, in all times, in all places, for Jesus’ sake, for Your creation’s sake, and for the sake of all You love, amen.

~~RGM, April 18, 2013 

(photography by Rick and Gail Mylander)

POTM...*: Earthrise

(*Photo of the Month)

Typically, I would feature a photograph of Gail’s or my own in my POTM blog entry. But in anticipation of Earth Day coming up on April 22, I thought it appropriate to highlight here one of the most iconic images of Earth ever photographed. (I sure hope your first impression was not, “How did Rick or Gail get THAT perspective?!?”)

Considered by many one of the most significant environmental photos ever taken, Astronaut William Anders of the Apollo 8 NASA mission snapped it while in lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968, and it was given the title Earthrise. The Apollo 8 mission was the first manned voyage to orbit the moon, several missions preparatory to Apollo 11’s first manned moon landing in July of 1969. Anders was later quoted as saying, “We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the earth.”

The earth is the Lord’s

and everything in it.

It is my constant prayer and life’s work that all will also discover the earth’s Creator, the one Who’s ‘got the whole world in His hands.’  And then some…

The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him. (Psalm 24:1)

The heavens declare the gory of God. The skies display His craftsmanship. (Psalm 19:1)

~~RGM, April 13, 2013