You Can’t Eat Money
Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is at hand…
…Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and
sisters, you do not need to have anything written…
For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them…
THERE IS A SAYING from the Nēhiyaw (Eng – Cree) tribe from Canada, “When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money.” “Eyes of Fire”, a wise woman from the tribe, also prophesied that one day the “Warriors of the Rainbow”, braves from all the tribes, would come together to wake up all peoples of the earth and teach them how to live the “Way of the Great Spirit”. They would tell them how the powerful nations have “turned away from the Great Spirit and that is why our Earth is sick”. The elders of many tribes are saying now that the time has arrived.
Harvest for the churches of “the people of the marsh” this year seems like it’s been going on for months. Well, I guess that’s because it has been and I am happy about that. Why? Because Harvest celebrates the land and the sea, the farmers, the fishers and the cocklers and brings people of Gower together to share meals and to praise God’s creation. Harvest raises people’s consciousness about our environment and, as we give thanks to God for the fruits of the earth and sea, we rekindle awareness about how that God-given wealth is distributed. Clearly, the systems of commerce that bolster the world’s financial markets are not motivated by fairness of distribution. Nor are they particularly concerned that the “developed” world lifestyle of the past two hundred years or so has damaged the earth, the sea and the air so badly that perhaps it is already too late. The tribes of Turtle Island (N America) have never stopped warning their conquerors that their materialistic, land grabbing ways were destructive but even the recent world media coverage of the Standing Rock Sioux protest over the pipelines through the desert was more interested in the film/photo enhancing violence involved than the struggle of concern for nature versus greed for wealth.
I suppose harvest is officially over here now after Llanrhidian School came Wednesday and brought nearly 150 kg of food (enough for 350 people). We celebrated creation and took the food to Foodbank to be shared. We asked God to take what we have and break it like loaves and fishes, and make it more. Thank you, teachers, children, parents and people of the marsh, church and not church. This is Christ’s Way. May the quiet resistance of Harvest consciousness, awaken like Warriors of the Rainbow and show the way to Christ’s Peace before it really is too late.
Tonnau Duw ('God's waves') Fr Tim Ardouin 