Thursday 16 February 2023

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Today is Thursday the 16th of February, in the 6th week of Ordinary time.

The Porter’s Gate sing, ‘The Promise’. These lyrics speak of God’s love poured out into creation. Notice what stirs in you as you listen…

This gift you gave from the beginning

Warm light, dry land, blue water brimming

And more, from the earth there came a growing

From seed to bloom, all the while you were sowing

It was love, love given in the water

And peace, God's peace written in the letters

Of the earth, God's earth, given with a promise

Can we keep it

Can we keep it

And stars in the night to gaze on them kindly

Great light, cool moon, all aligned in the sky, see

From water came life and so from the land

To feed, not to fight, to stand hand in hand

It was love, love given in the water

And peace, God's peace, given in the sunshine

And the earth, God's earth, given with a promise

Can we keep it

Out from the silence I hear a voice, I follow it onwards

You whisper to me, I am reminded of every gift you gave

So, spirit lead me unto the waters, unto the earth you made

Teach me the secret to ever care for, to look after it

It was love, love given in the water

And peace, God's peace written in the letters

Of the earth, God's earth, given with a promise

Can we keep it

Can we keep it

Today’s reading is from the Book of Genesis.

Genesis 9: 1-13

God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Only, you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. For your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning: from every animal I will require it and from human beings, each one for the blood of another, I will require a reckoning for human life. Whoever sheds the blood of a human,

by a human shall that person’s blood be shed;

for in his own image

God made humankind.

And you, be fruitful and multiply, abound on the earth and multiply in it.’

‘I give you everything,’ God says to Noah and his family in this passage.

Can I hear God speak the same words to me today?

How do I react to such grace and generosity from God?

What is my current relationship with God’s creation?

What more could I be doing to protect the planet and its inhabitants?

As the passage continues. I think about the covenant that God has made with the whole creation, including me. What does the rainbow’s promise mean for me today?

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

As I conclude this time of prayer I rest securely in God, trusting God’s promises for Creation, and for me.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.