SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE:

I am not much of an Earth Day kind of guy. I think my lack of “Earth Dayness” is due to genetics. I have an amazing ability to kill plants. I have even killed plants given to me that were designated immortal. I am afraid that any Earth Day tree I planted would die before it could ever help the planet.

But this year I was shocked to discover Earth Day has been around for almost 40 years. We have planted trees, cleaned beaches, reduced emissions, made prayers and held rallies and picnics. We have even made space in our in calendars and our liturgies.

Meanwhile, the carbon emissions keep on rising. The fish in the arctic still have toxins. The size of dead zones in the ocean keep growing. And the prophets keep telling us we are killing our home.

We know they’re right — even if we don’t want to face it. We’ve known it since middle school. Everything has a cost. Everything is interrelated, even if we downplay the cost; even if we ignore the cost; even if we don’t measure the true costs. We know. Being cool has a cost. Convenience has cost. Cheap gas has a cost. Credit has a cost. Taking advantage of somebody else or of the Earth will come back at us.

But knowing isn’t enough. Knowing the truth doesn’t require us to change our lifestyle. We need something different. We need a holy space we can love and in which we know we are loved.

Just outside of West Glacier in Montana, down a road that has been mostly abandoned for 20 years or so, you can find an abandoned bridge. In this place the Yellow River did not win its battle against the rocks. There are no rapids here. No wide expanse of fast-moving water that erodes, reshapes, and changes the valley with each melting snow. Here the rocks are stronger, tougher, more resistant.

The water is ice cold. Even in summer. Here the water runs deep. Here the water runs so quiet even your heart beat is too loud. And in this place, if you give into the quiet and let go of the noise our own souls make, you will hear the wonder and delight of God. You are in a holy place. You can hear and feel and breathe God’s delight in creation and all the creatures in it.

I believe each of us must have a place that reconnects us with the Earth. Call it the garden effect. We are still connected in some deep mysterious way to the Garden that we got ourselves kicked out of. If we don’t have a place like this in our living memory, then we are in danger. Not only will we never quite appreciate the Earth or treat it with its true value, but we will ourselves be less grounded and less human than intended.

The Earth doesn’t belong to us. We are honored guests of the landlord. “Mi Casa is Su Casa,” says the Lord.

We are to care for the place, bless the creatures, and delight in the goodness of the Garden. Your mission is to remember or to discover delight in creation, a holy place of Earth, and a pace that gives us the power to change the way we live.

MARK WILEY is the pastor of Mesa Verde United Methodist Church in Costa Mesa.