Readings
"Accepting our kinship with all life
on earth is not only solid science,....in my view, it's also a soaring spiritual
experience."
-- Neil deGrasse Tyson
"The natural world is the larger
sacred community to which we belong. To be alienated from this community is to
become destitute in all that makes us human. To damage this community is to
diminish our own existence."
-- Thomas Berry
"When
we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in
the Universe."
-- John Muir
"We postmoderns are so focused on
our social constructions, our interpretations, and the products which we build
(such as cities), that we forget what lies behind and beyond all our
constructions, both mental and physical: it is ‘nature,’ that encompassing and
mysterious term for everything that is…that upon which we rely every moment of
our lives for air, water, food, and habitat"
-- Sallie McFague
"And the contrast between that bright blue and white Christmas tree ornament and the black sky, that infinite universe,
really comes through…the size of it, the significance of it.
It is so small and so fragile…and you
realize that on that spot, that
little blue and white thing, is everything that means anything to
you—all of history and music and poetry and art and death and birth and love,
tears, joy, games all of it on the little spot out there that you can cover
with your thumb. And you realize from that perspective that you’ve changed,
that there’s something new there, that the relationship is not longer what it
was."
--Rusty Schweickart - Apollo 9 Astronaut looking back at Earth
Prayer
of Gratitude to All of Life - Rev. Meg Riley in Quest Magazine July/August
2014
Music
Music Videos
Dare to Rise
In this music video, Dare to Rise, we see how all species are interconnected in beauty and tragedy, and how out of that knowing, we humans can dare to rise to our fullest potential to care for all life.
This video can be used in worship settings as well as a faith development resource. A discussion guide with questions can be found here. You can also learn more by reading the producer's comments on the incorporated media.
Transpecies Relationships (Bridge Over Troubled Water)
Prayer for Earth and Her Beings (The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face)
Earth's Sacred Feminine (Mary)
