The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers
Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox
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Ceremony of Sorrow, Hope, & Action, continuedWe are calling upon Rabbi Arthur Waskow’s teaching that addresses climate change and the extinction reality for our species and so many others in our time. Deep Ecumenism urges all peoples of all
religions to pray and act for the common good, for the good of the planet, “our common home” (Pope Francis). |
He offers the following meditation from The Shalom Center, suggesting lighting candles as you read it. Between the Fires: A Kavanah (Prayer) for Kindling Candles of Commitment | Rabbi Naamah Kelman, Dean of Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, discusses Shabbat traditions speaking to environmental themes of regeneration, responsibility, and community.
Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development |
We are the generations That stand between the fires. Behind us The burning crosses lit by hate To choke our people in the smoke of terror; Behind us the flame and smoke That rose from Auschwitz and from Hiroshima. Not yet behind us, The burning forests of the Amazon, Torched for the sake of fast hamburger and fast wealth. |
In this 2019 image by NOAA-20, the smoke from fires in the Amazon rainforest can be clearly seen (Wikimedia Commons). Deforestation in Brazil’s rainforest broke historic records between January and June 2022, as an area five times the size of New York City was destroyed. (Reuters) | Not yet behind us, the glare of gun fire exploding in our children. Not yet behind us –- the hottest years of human history That bring upon us
Melted ice fields. Flooded cities.
Scorching droughts. Murderous wildfires. |
Before us we among all life-forms
face the nightmare of a Flood of Fire,
The heat and smoke that could consume all Earth. “Here! The day is coming,” Said the Prophet Malachi, “That will flame like a furnace, Says YHWH / Yahhhh — The Infinite InterBreath of Life — when all the arrogant, all evil-doers, root and branch, will like straw be burnt to ashes in
the fires that they set. |
Yet for all who revere
My Interbreathing Name,
Yahhhh,
a sun of justice will arise
with healing in the beating of its wings,
its rays, its winds.” “Here! Before the coming
of the great and awesome day | The world ablaze: Thomas Fire, Ventura, CA, Los Padres NF and Cal Fire, 2017, Santa Ana Conditions. Photo by ELG21 on Pixabay. |
of YHWH/ the Breath of Life,
I will send you the Prophet Elijah to turn the hearts of elders to the
youth
and the hearts of youth to elders,
lest I come and smite all Earth with utter desolation.” Here! we ourselves are coming Before that great and terrible day Of smiting Earth — For we ourselves shall turn the
hearts Of youth and elders to each other. So that this day of smiting Does not fall upon us. |
Grandfather sharing a story with his son and grandson in Ukraine. Photo by Artem Kniaz on Unsplash | We ourselves are coming
To douse that
outer all-consuming fire.
We must light again in our own hearts
the inner fire of love and liberation
that burned in the Burning Bush — The fire that did not destroy the Bush it burned
in, |
For love is strong as death —
Love’s Fire must never be extinguished–
The fire in the heart of all Creation. We light these candles to make from inner fire
Not an all-consuming blaze
But the loving light in which we see more clearly
The Rainbow Covenant glowing
in the many-colored faces of all life. Blessed be You, Interbreathing Spirit of the world, creative energy, who makes us holy by connecting us with each other and with You, and at this moment connects us by kindling our inner light. Rabbi Waskow proposes ideas for communities taking action to put this prayer into history and I will speak to this in the video that accompanies today’s meditation. |
| To view today's video, please click the image. You will be taken to today's post on the Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox website, where you can see the meditation in a larger version and also view and post your Comments. In the sharing that follows, a kind of community is developing around the DM.
If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his Vimeo channel HERE.
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Queries for Contemplation
What moves you most about this prayer and poem “Between the Fires”? What other fires might you name that hold deep lessons for humankind (one might be the fire anniversary coming up on
August 6 of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan)? Is it significant that “fire” is considered yang energy and that maybe it plays too dominant a role in our patriarchal worlds? That more yin energy is needed? For Deep Ecumenism, see Matthew Fox, “The Cosmic Christ and Deep Ecumenism,” in Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, pp. 228-244. Banner Image: In the name of love: AIDS LifeCycle memorial candlelight vigil 2022. Photo by Victor Solonoy on Flickr. |
In what may be considered the most comprehensive outline of the Christian paradigm shift of our Age, Matthew Fox eloquently foreshadows the manner in which the spirit of Christ resurrects in terms of the return to an
earth-based mysticism, the expression of creativity, mystical sexuality, the respect due the young, the rebirth of effective forms of worship—all of these mirroring the ongoing blessings of Mother Earth and the recovery of Eros, the feminine aspect of the Divine.
“The eighth wonder of the world…convincing proof that our Western religious tradition does indeed have the depth of imagination to reinvent its faith.” — Brian Swimme, author or The
Universe Story and Journey of the Universe. | |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE
Join Matthew Fox for the monthly Our Lady of the Prairie virtual retreat, discussing One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths. Thursday, August
18, 4:00-6:00pm PT. Learn more HERE.
Join Matthew Fox in a 6-week virtual course on “Mystics, Mysticism and Ourselves as Mystic-Prophets,” hosted by Creation Spirituality Communities. Wednesdays, 8/24, 8/31, 9/7, 9/14,
9/21, and 9/28, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT. Register HERE.
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Creation Spirituality in Conversation.
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Victor Fuhrman of Destination Unlimited on OMTimes interviews Matthew Fox on Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality. Navigate to the podcast page by clicking the image on the left.
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Announcing Matthew Fox's Newest Book!
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Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Selected with an introduction by Charles Burack
“This collection of Fox’s most life-giving insights blesses the connection between caring for our Mother-the-Earth and lifting up marginalized voices, between waking up from the dream of separation and stepping up to mend the net of creation.”
—Mirabai Starr, author, God of Love and Wild Mercy
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