Last Sunday, EMUC hosted a wonderful evening of jazz vespers. The musical riffs on sax and bass, the beat of the drums and the melodies of the guitar and piano set our toes tapping and our hearts soaring. Woven throughout the musical offerings were readings that lifted up the theme 'Let Heaven and Nature Swing'! One of those readings was by Carl Sagan, American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist and author.
One picture that I very much wanted to take - which we finally were able to take - was a picture of the Earth from the outskirts of the solar system. And there it was, a single pixel, a pale blue dot. No continents, no national boundaries, no beings, no humans, just a dot. That's us. That's where we live. That's where everyone we know, everyone we love, everyone we ever heard of, every human being who ever lived has lived: on that pale blue dot. Every hopeful child, every couple in love, every prince and pauper, every revered religious leader, every corrupt politician, every scientist, every humble person living out his or her days - all of us - everyone of us and all the other beings, live on that pale blue dot.
To me it underscores our responsibility, because you look at that dot and you think how fragile and vulnerable it is. Our central responsibility is to cherish and care for the environment on the only home we have every known and the only home for all those other beings with whom we are so profoundly connected.
Today is Earth Day on that 'pale blue dot', and so it is fitting that today coincides with an important step forward toward the health of the Earth. In the words of the Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, On this day, representatives of more than 170 countries are gathering at UN Headquarters in New York to sign the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This landmark pact, in conjunction with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, holds the power to transform our world. The momentum achieved by so many signatures on one day sends a clear signal of solidarity and resolve. Now we must unleash the full force of human ingenuity and ensure low-emission growth and improved climate resilience.
Leadership from the top is crucial. But each of us has a role to play. We can make energy-efficient choices, stop wasting food, reduce our carbon footprints and increase our sustainable investments. Small actions, multiplied by billions, will bring about dramatic change, bolstering the Paris Agreement and setting us on a trajectory to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The theme of Earth Day 2016 - Trees for the Earth - highlights this perfectly. One tree on its own may not seem much, but the Earth Day Network plans to plant 7.8 billion trees over the next five years-each one absorbing harmful CO2 from the atmosphere, storing water and filtering pollutants for the benefit of all humanity. As each tree plays its part in the biosphere, so should we as individuals who care about our planet and every living creature on it. A new future can be ours if we respect and invest in Mother Earth.
On Sunday at EMUC, we will be celebrating Earth Day by becoming more familiar with what it means to live in a 'Blue Dot' community. This action was recently taken by the Mississauga city council and as citizens of this city; we have an important stake in supporting this decision and ensuring that we live into the commitments of a 'Blue Dot' community.
Over the years, as a congregation, we have participated in many worship services, study groups and actions that have connected our faith with the Earth. When asked about the unique role that congregations can play in caring for the Earth; particularly in advocating for the reduction of the impacts of global climate change, former United Church Moderator, Mardi Tindal remarked, Science helps us to accurately perceive our impact on the world. But as humans, we relate to narrative and image, not facts and figures. Science alone cannot carry the message of climate change to the human heart. This is why faith communities have a key role to play in transmitting the messages of climate change. Our faith asks us to turn and personally acknowledge the stories that science summarizes: to see, and to be responsible for how we relate to our neighbors and our environment. And, when we are present to the voices of those who are suffering because of the impacts of or solutions to climate change, we are invited-as Christian citizens-to "act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly."
Another former UCC Moderator, The Right Reverend Bill Phipps tells us to do four things.
1. Listen: Where is the Earth under stress or attack near you? What voices are being raised to protect those sacred places? Be alert. Open your eyes, ears, heart to the cries of the Earth.
2. Practice Gratitude: Our earthly home is amazingly fragile, complex, resilient, stunning. So regardless of how anxious or upset we feel in the face of climate change and attacks on the health of the Earth, we always begin with gratitude for the beauty, justice, and relationships we have with one another and with the Earth.
3. Pray: Develop a simple, daily prayer life which expresses gratitude for the Earth and then pray for places of devastation and damage.
4. Act: in your own home, in your local community and in cooperative action with others in the nation and world. To learn more about how you can take action with other folk in the United Church of Canada go to
For my part, I've made a decision on this Earth Day to take action in two ways. I'm going to learn more about plastics in our environment and I'm going to work to reduce my use of plastic-based products. Secondly, I'm going to read the book, American Wasteland by Jonathan Bloom, in an effort to learn more about how I can help to reduce food wastage (currently nearly half of the food produced is thrown away) in my own home and in our local food distribution systems.
Prayer for Earth Day
God, with rocks and dirt we pray;
with the pebbles at the shore
and the clay in the fields,
we sing your praises.
Great God of all creation,
as we stand on the good soil beneath our feet,
we remember our beginnings,
when the morning stars sang together
and the universe kept time to your heartbeat pulsing in all life.
Creator God, align us with your heartbeat,
unite us with your creation,
restore us to right relations
with your creatures and your peoples.
Teach us to live in harmony on the Earth,
so that we might add our voices
to the symphony of life in all your Creation. Amen.
Peace, Kathy Toivanen.
