 |
Environmental
Stewardship Commission
(MEESC) |
 |
Episcopal Diocese of
Minnesota
Lectionary
Reflection
Year C, Proper 24,
All Readings
For the reading, click on the link,
below:
Genesis
32:3-8,22-30
Psalm
121
2
Timothy 3:14-4:5
Luke
18:1-8a
Reflection on Genesis
32: 8, 22-30; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy: 3: 14-4-5; Luke 18: 1- 8
by the Rev Margaret W.
Thomas
Persistent is certainly the word for the widow. She was
willing to wear out the judge for justice against her opponent
The poor are often systematically oppressed, and then when they seek
justice, they are often doubly oppressed in limited access to channels
of power and influence. Persistence and the right on her side
may have been all the woman possessed. By her determination, she
was eventually given the justice she sought.
Those who strive for environmental, human rights and economic
justice can be guided and strengthened by the widows story.
While she seemed totally alone in her work, she must have relied on her
sense of relationship to God to continue. She must have had some
sense of communal and Scriptural support , yet we do not know
that. As a woman, and a widow with no male advocate she was faced
with huge challenges to justice. We have no way of knowing the
cause or object of her case. She clearly continued with the
unjust judge. He finally gave in.
From a perspective of environmental work, persistence must be
expected. Those who work for particular issues such asblocking
the exploration and oil drilling in places like the ANWR or Alaskan
National Wildlife Reserve face continual persistence work as attempts
continue to be made under various guises. Increased energy
need, loss of Arabian oil, defense, cheaper and safer oil
all are used as reasons for development which would seriously damage
the caribou breeding and safety for breeding of many species of arctic
birds and animals. The area would loose its pristine wilderness
designation and beauty. Just as one issue gets addressed and laid
to rest, another crops up to begin the assault on the fragile
ecological area again. Those indigenous folks who wish to
preserve the caribou herds for their sustainable way of Alaskan life,
are poor, live simple lives, are not always able to advocate for
themselves, and may be indeed be facing unjust judges of their rights
to live traditional lives.
Folks who live far from Alaska may visit the refuge and know of other
migrating wildlife which is not so locally involved as the
caribou. Those folks need to persist too because they can listen
to their friends, the Episcopalians of the Alaskan north, who say they
want to preserve the areas. Perhaps there can be more advocates
to support the cause. The down state Episcopalians may
respond by being locally persistent, by being well informed. and
lobbying their legislators. An additional layer of persistence
involves the sacrificial solidarity of using less oil wherever one
lives. Having visited Alaska, and having heard the advocates,
both Episcopalians and others who strive to keep the issues continually
before us, including the bishop of Alaska, The Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald
and local worker, Lucy Birch, I trust them. I am trying to
support them in using less fuel and in being a better advocate for
simpler lives that requires less oil and working toward a more locally
sustainable life style myself. We need to heed the persistant
calls for help from the Athabascan Alaskans who live with the caribou
and in the areas in contention.
Theologian Leonardo Boff in Cry of
the Earth, Cry of the Poor speaks of the power of the
permanent message of original peoples. Boff says of original
folks,And even while they take on the advantages of modernity in their
own way, they know how to hold onto the feeling of the universe and the
sense of the subjectivity of nature with which we establish
relationships of reciprocity. Boff says that original
people posses ancestral wisdom, and that they understand the
universe as it is transparent to the Divinity. (Boff Orbis
Books: Maryknoll, New York 1997 pg. 122- 125) Surely, the
persistent widow is an original person in Jesus story. We can
echo her and represent her in our modern world, by listening to the
injustice around us such as the Alaskan situation I witnessed and in
the local issues in our own parishes such as fertilizer, pesticides,
gas and oil consumption and and plastic materials in our own homes.
To Reflections on other Readings for
this
Sunday:
| Old
Testament (Hebrew Scripture)
Genesis 32:8, 22-30 |
not available |
|
not available |
| New
Testament
2 Timothy 3: 14-4-5 |
not available |
not available |
The Rev
Margaret W. Thomas, is Priest-in-Charge at St. Edward the Confessor
Episcopal
Church, Duluth, MN. She originally wrote this reflection in 2004. Margaret and we welcome
your comments. Please address your comments or additional reflections
to The Rev
Margaret W. Thomas or any MEESC
member, or mail them to:
|
|
MEESC
Holy Trinity Church
Box 65
Elk River, MN 55330-0065 USA |
|
The MEESC assumes that all correspondence
received
is for publication on this web site. If your comments are not for
publication,
please so note on your correspondence. The MEESC reserves the right to
decide which items are included on the web site.
This page maintained for the MEESC
by 
.
This page last updated
04-10-15.
