The Greening of the Spirit

In keeping with our last announcement (I think...)

Uncle Ralph (Waldo Emerson) reflected, "The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn." And we can see that in the fall and winter times... a single oak can produce thousands of acorns. They're still out there on the ground, even now.

And here's the thing: The oak is not stingy about it. The oak does not try to hoard all those acorns, growing thorns around them so no one can get to them.

The oak is gracious and generous. And IF a squirrel (or hundreds of squirrels) "steals" an acorn for its own nourishment, the oak doesn't take offense. It is generous. It is gracious. It is giving.

Nature is like that. God is like that. The Beloved Community can embrace that, as well.

And to be sure, it can be hard in these cold winter times, when the stingy and graceless try to hoard and hoard, taking for themselves and unwilling or fearful to think about sharing with others. They demand "efficiency," not grace. They push away rather than gather in.

Nonetheless, the way of sharing, abundance and grace is the right way to go. There is a place for wise use of resources and "efficiency," but that really should be as a subset of grace and abundant sharing.

As various biblical writers and wise people have long noted, what happens to the stingy and the hoarders when they push others away and try to take it all for themselves, perhaps in the name of "efficiency" and with false claims about "They're all a bunch of lazy thieves!" ...what happens to these hoarders? They end up with a bunch of rotten, useless acorns. This is because acorns were meant to be shared and spread with careless abandon.

The greedy farmer said, "This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain."

But God replied, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?"

And when the Manna ("what is it?") fell to the ground so that there was enough for everyone... what happened to those who greedily tried to store more than they needed away? It rotted.

And when the rich business people refused to pay their laborers for the work they had done? God lashed out at them...

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

May we embrace grace and grow into abundance and grow into sharing. May the season of the Greening of the Spirit begin soon and take deep roots.