Renewing the Sacred Balance
Renewing the Sacred Balance in our Spirituality & Faith
Renewing the Sacred Balance means living life with sacred awareness and an ethic of eco-sustainability Often, it seems, we are too busy to enjoy the gift of each other and the simple abundance of the Earth. Here are some suggestions to begin to rekindle our sacred relationships with the Earth & each other.
How can we begin, concretely, to renew the sacred balance in our world? How can we connect our faith with our desire to live a life that is more ecologically sustainable? To be truly fruitful, our actions need to be rooted in our spirituality and sustained by our faith community.
1. Reconnect to Awe and Beauty: Sensing the Sacred in Nature
Experience the sacred in nature at the deepest level of your being.
It is one thing to know, intellectually, that the sacred is present in creation. It is another to experience this in our heart, to feel it at the deepest level of our being.
Most of us, at some time, have experienced being in a place so beautiful that we are suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of awe. We are drawn out of ourselves into something much, much greater. We feel a profound sense of joy, peace, and reverence. We are filled with the presence of the sacred.
We cannot ourselves create such moments of grace, but we can open ourselves to the beauty of creation on a regular basis. The more often we connect to the presence of the sacred in nature, the stronger our motivation for renewing the sacred balance. Only a deep, abiding love for creation can sustain us in the long term. Here are some concrete suggestions:
Spend some time walking out of doors each day – if possible, in a natural setting. As you walk, notice the vegetation and wildlife as much as possible. Try to be as mindful as possible. Be conscious of your own footsteps and breathing. Be aware of the sacred balance that God has created.
Practice the art of gardening. Direct, physical contact with soil and plants grounds us in the experience of the sacred in all living things. (Contemplate the soil as a living community, filled with tens of thousands of microorganisms.) Cultivate native species of plants whenever possible a try to create a balanced ecosystem. Refrain from using chemical pesticides and fertilisers.
Pray or meditate in a natural setting whenever possible. In the gospels, Jesus almost always prays outdoors. Buddha obtained enlightenment sitting under a tree. It is wonderful to lean against a tree, feeling its strength, as you meditate – or to gaze out over a body of water as you pray. In winter, try bringing some symbols of nature (a rock, a small piece of greenery) into your prayer space.
At the level of your faith community – or with other faith communities in your area – organise group nature walks and hikes – perhaps in the company of a local naturalist. This could be combined with an outdoor retreat.
“Green” your faith community’s sanctuary as much as possible – bringing plants into the place of prayer, or even a small fountain with running water.
2. Reflect on our Lifestyles: Cultivating Ecological Awareness
We need to reflect on the ways we are disrupting the Sacred Balance.
Along with reconnecting to the presence of God in creation, we also need to critically reflect on the ways in which we ourselves are disrupting the sacred balance, and how we can learn to tread more lightly on the Earth.
On a practical level, we need to begin by examining our levels of consumption. If the entire world were to consume as much as North Americans do, we would need at least five planets as fruitful as Earth to sustain us in the long term. We are borrowing from other people, other creatures, and from future generations to maintain our lifestyles. This simply cannot continue forever.
Here are some suggestions for building greater ecological awareness – particularly, an awareness of how our lifestyle impacts the wider Earth community. These activities can be done individually, but they may be more effective still when done in the context of your faith community, or in a larger gathering with other faith communities in your area:
Reflect on the activities that genuinely bring you joy and satisfaction in life. How many of these cost money? How many are ecologically destructive? You may well discover that many of the things you most enjoy are very simple activities that require little consumption. Try to do these things more frequently, taking time to truly enjoy them. You might want to particularly focus on activities that bring you closer to a sense of the sacred or which help to build relationships.
Make a list of how your actions affect the wider Earth community – both positively and negatively. Which list is longer? How can you lessen your negative actions while increasing the positive actions?
Calculate you “ecological footprint” – a way to measure how much productive land and water needed to produce all the resources you consume and to take in all the waste you make. Then, look at ways to reduce your ecological footprint both individually and as a faith community.
3. Gather a Group for Education and Action
Faith communities are wonderful places for bringing people together for reflection, education, and action. Form an Ecology or Earth Committee to do some of the following:
Study your faith's scriptures as well as books on ecology and theology to deepen your understanding of the connections between your faith and ecology. Share your reflections with peoples of other faiths interested in ecological themes. A great tool for this is the Green Rule poster and study guide.
Write articles on ecology and faith for your faith community's bulletin – or develop a space on the bulletin board on ecological issues.
Work with clergy, members of the ministry team, and musicians to incorporate ecological themes and music into liturgy, prayer, and worship. Find ways to mark the seasons in your liturgical life. Use symbols from nature whenever possible, taking into account the four traditional elements of earth, water, fire, and air.
Organise and introductory event on Renewing the Sacred Balance using the study kit materials and workshop outline as a guide. If possible, gather with other faith groups in your area. See the Greening Sacred Spaces section for ideas and resources.
Plan an ecumenical or interfaith prayer service with other religious groups in your area to celebrate Earth Day (April 22). See the Earth Day website for this year's theme and the Canadian network site for events.
Incorporate ecological themes into your programme of religious education for children and into children’s liturgies and worship services.
Begin a programme of “Earth Literacy” in your faith community – perhaps in cooperation with other churches and religious temples in your area. Earth literacy aims to help us truly become “at home” in our local biological region – becoming more knowledgeable about our local plants, animals, and ecosystem. It also helps us to connect to the story of creation – often incorporating learnings from science.
Look at practical ways to become a more ecologically sustainable community based on the “five R’s :
- Reconnecting to awe and beauty: Practising reverence for creation
- Reduce consumption, waste, and energy use.
- Repairing items that no longer work instead of disposing and replacing them.
- Reusing items whenever possible.
- Recycling wastes and unwanted items.
Note: An excellent resource for Faith Communities interested in working on practical ways is the guide Renewing our Relationship with the Earth produced by the Anglican diocese of Ottawa.
- Download the guide at: http://ottawa.anglican.ca/docs/renewing.pdf
» Next: Renewing the Sacred Balance in our Homes and Religious Buildings
The material on this page was adapted from an article by Mark Hathaway originally published in the April 2004 edition of Scarboro Missions magazine's special issue on "Renewing the Sacred Balance."