Earth Centered, Earth Formed

We are not our own.
Earth forms us,
human leaves on nature's growing vine,
fruit of many generations,
seeds of life divine.

#317, "We Are Not Our Own,"
Words by Brian Wren,
Music by David Hurd
from Singing the Living Tradition


Ms. Kitty has written a post asking bloggers & readers to chime in with how UUism and their pagan connections intersect. Several have already done so - and I thought I'd add my perspective.

My first introduction to pagan practice was in a UU context. Women's groups which borrowed liberally (and not always appropriately) from Native American traditions, wicca and other pagan practices, and wove them into do-it-yourself rituals for their own gatherings. I've written a few such rituals myself, it's one of the things I loved doing - and it gave me the confidence to try my hand at a "real" church service. I have to say I enjoyed these rituals - still do, when my schedule allows me to join my longstanding women's circle. I even co-facilitated the "Rise Up and Call Her Name" curriculum a couple of times.

But I'm not a pagan. I found I couldn't devote myself to the worship of gods, or the practice of wicca, any more than I could have faith in a Big Daddy-Judge in the Sky. I have been touched and marked by my involvement with what is called pagan/wiccan practice though.

The anthropology section of my constructive theology paper is titled "We Are Not Our Own," from the above quoted hymn. I believe that we humans are truly creatures of this earth - this planet. Any speculation that we may have been left here by some spacefaring race from another galaxy is science fiction (or fantasy), though we are indeed made of the same stuff as the stars.

Here is where we came into being, this earth is where we evolve(d), we live, we die, we live on in those who come after us. We emerged, with other life forms, from the chaos, part of continuous creation/ongoing evolution. Holding this belief, I can view the Genesis creation stories as lovely metaphor: the first human formed "from the dust of the ground," with the breath of life breathed into its nostrils. This is at the very core of my theology. Heck, even my blogger moniker should give everyone a clue that I deeply feel bound to the earth - source of life and solace.

I have two little stories that I like to tell about my relationship to this planet. One I shared previously in another post.

The other is in a sermon I'll preach somewhere, someday. I was sure I'd posted it here, somewhere, but I can't find it (obviously there's a flaw in my labeling system!). The short version is that my family and I have visited Mt. St. Helens in Washington State twice, once about 21 years ago and again 10 years after that. The change was profound. On our first visit we only saw devastation - scorched ground, the remains of mighty trees tossed around like toothpicks, and the sturdy fireweed which would prepare the ground for new life. Our second visit, there was a new visitor center, a new lake for recreation, and the mountain was greening up again. I looked out over the lake, at the mountain, the sky, and the words to a familiar chant ran through my head: "the earth, the air, the fire, the water - returns, returns, returns, returns." New creation - the earth & elements of what felt like a sacred space, was renewed, with human cooperation.

No, I'm not a pagan - but I feel deeply connected to this earth, my home. And Unitarian Universalism affirms earth-centered traditions - which allows us, pagans and non-pagans alike, to revere our source of life.

Amen.