I am from the common earth

Sequoia National Park
Photo courtesy of the National Parks

From my friend Bishop Stephen Charleston...

I am from the common earth made, shaped by calloused hands, fashioned by a working God, whose design was to create a useful art, a mechanism mysterious but functional, a creation that could do something worthwhile, that could serve a good cause, and return value for what it cost, by making life for others just that much better. We are all from the common earth made, sisters of the soil, brothers of the ground on which we stand, varied but same shaped, built for the same goal, organic machines of love, durable in every season, set to a task shared in every part.

God's infinite creation

The planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home...


Last weekend, Lori and I went for a little urban adventure in Washington DC. We visited the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum but skipped all the airplanes. We went to see Beyond: Visions of Our Solar System, an exhibit of spectacular photographs of the planets and moons of our solar system taken in space by NASA astronauts and spacecraft. The photographs have been blown up and put in art frames.

The exhibit took my breath away.

Someone asked me if I had seen the "face of God." No, not really. But these stunning photographs were a enormous reminder to me of how endlessly beautiful God's creation is, and how only an infinitesimally tiny segment of God's creation can be seen and experienced on earth.

The canyons and mountains of Mars are deeper and grander than any on earth. The moons and rings of Saturn are as gorgeous as any rainbow on a summer day. Jupiter is so huge and spins so fast my mind can barely comprehend it. The texture of the moon Europa is better than a Jackson Pollock painting.

This exhibit was also a reminder to me of how small our earth is. The problems of our planet are, in the scheme of the universe, not so big. We ought to be able to solve our ills because our ills really aren't that large.

And we get this gorgeous, beautiful planet, with rich hues of blue and green.

Here are a few photos from NASA. To see a slide show of the photos from the exhibit, click HERE.

And here are a few prayerful words from Eucharistic Prayer C:

God of all power, Ruler of the Universe, you are worthy of glory and praise.

Glory to you for ever and ever.

At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of
interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.

By your will they were created and have their being.

This Earth, our island home

Our friend Karen sent this poem the other day. I've read it several times. Take your time with it. Savor the sabbath, enjoy the Earth, and the dance that is life in this moment ...

The Ball

by Wislawa Szymborska

As long as nothing can be known for sure
(no signals have been picked up yet),
as long as Earth is still unlike
the nearer and more distant planets,

as long as there's neither hide nor hair
of other grasses graced by other winds,
of other treetops bearing other crowns,
other animals as well-grounded as our own,

as long as only the local echo
has been known to speak in syllables,

as long as we still haven't heard word
of better or worse mozarts,
platos, edisons somewhere,

as long as our inhuman crimes
are still committed only between humans,

as long as our kindness
is still incomparable,
peerless even in its imperfection,

as long as our heads packed with illusions
still pass for the only heads so packed,

as long as the roofs of our mouths alone
still raise voices to high heavens--

let's act like very special guests of honor
at the district-firemen's ball
dance to the beat of the local oompah band,
and pretend that it's the ball
to end all balls.

I can't speak for others--
for me this is
misery and happiness enough:

just this sleepy backwater
where even the stars have time to burn
while winking at us
unintentionally.

Photo of the Earth by Apollo 17, displayed on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day.