Sermon - Respecting Pronouns, Respecting the Earth - Preaching Environmental Issues, Fall 2023

 Scripture \

The Vine and the Branches - John 15:1-8

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight oh God, my rock and My redeemer.

One of my favorite memories of my grandmother as a child was when I would spend a week with her over the holidays and she would cook. She was an amazing cook and could make so many wonderful Ukrainian and Polish dishes. 

She was taught them by her own grandmother and mother as a young girl, and I was the lucky granddaughter who got to learn from her. She would make a number of traditional Slavik and vintage-style cookies. 

Kolaches with apricot and poppy seed jam, nut roll with walnut filling, cherry winks - which are a delicious vanilla cookie, with a maraschino cherry in the center, that has been rolled in crushed cornflakes. I won’t lie, the cherry winks were my favorite, and they did not last long when I was around. I would watch my Nana roll out the cookie dough with love, and care, in awe at her skills in baking. My Nana was in her element in her kitchen, and she taught me a love of creating delicious treats to feed my friends and family. 

You may be feeling some warm and familiar feelings - almost a kinship with both my grandmother and I as I tell you this story. Now imagine that someone who was witnessing my Nana baking these cookies looked at her and said the following:

“It’s good at baking. Look, it has gray hair”.

I hope that felt a bit jarring. To hear my grandmother referred to as “it”. 

We have all had some lessons in the power of the pronoun in recent years, and how important it is to respect people's pronouns. They have a power that maybe for too long we did not realize - using them in the wrong way is well, wrong. 

Just think for a moment about the difference between saying I am who I am and it is what it is.  We say it is what it is when we want to dismiss something and not have to think about it anymore because it's a problem too difficult to deal with. Basically we objectify the problem and then dismiss it. 

We don’t think twice though, about using Pronouns that are normally associated with inanimate objects with things that are part of the natural world though. There's a squirrel in my yard that comes up to the door, looks inside and teases the dogs. 

It's somewhat telling that Jesus repeatedly uses the I am statements in the Bible to refer to himself and compares himself to other entities in the natural world. 

In our scripture for today he says that he is the true vine. Jesus very often calls upon things in the natural world and Compares them to himself or others. Nature was very important and all of his stories and a relationship with nature is evident in the way that he spoke. 

I have no problem referring to my dogs as he and her however it's instinctual to look at the squirrel and say it. but the squirrel is also if he or she and probably at least should warrant a “they” instead of an it. 

Some of this is just the way our English language works and it's very difficult to break yourself of these habits of language.

 Language is very powerful though, and our language has arisen out of a capitalist milieu over the last several hundred years to be in the form that it is now. English now doesn't really look the way it did when they wrote the Bible or even when the King James version was translated or even really when the NRSV version that we are used to was translated.

 These days we might want to include other kinds of pronouns in our sermons and when we speak of not just God but also God's creation. God is after all the Great I Am speaking. For those who insist that the Bible doesn't have pronouns, I would beg you to please go back and read the Bible because it's full of pronouns.  you can't have a normal conversation without pronouns.

 Pronouns can be used to turn a subject such as a squirrel into an object simply by switching a word. I can say that scroll she sure is Brave which gives her some animal see and respect. or I can say look at that squirrel it's very brave. bit different. understanding that the squirrel is an entity in her own right and has a life and a little brain and has an agenda for her day affords her much more dignity as one of God's creatures. 

This idea extends to the rest of the natural world as well. In her book “Creation Crisis Preaching” Leah Schade discusses the fact that we should probably consider the plants and trees that are growing out there as our neighbors. Who is your neighbor is a very important question. Because the answer to this question determines who gets respect and who gets exploited. 

One of the biggest drivers of our environmental problems these days is greed and the exploitation of God's creation for our own personal gain. 

Cutting down trees polluting the water having little respect for how much fossil fuel we burn how much we throw away and how much we really think we need to live a good life. all of this depends upon us objectifying the natural world and considering it as something to be exploited rather than something to be cared for. 

Considering it to be just a stupid animal it or just things to be used instead all of God's children to be loved.

 We can start thinking about the natural world in a different way and we can teach our children to speak and think about the natural world in a different way and it might actually shift our mindset. 

It's amazing how much language influences how we see the world around us. and we have to start somewhere. Robin Wall Kimmerer  says that in her native language, they have a special word that they use for entities that exist in the natural world.  they are not just things they are our brothers and sisters and the word that they use as a pronoun for plants and animals of the natural world is ki,  the plural of which is kin. 

She can look up at the sky and see the geese flying and she can say look the kin are flying south for the winter. she can touch a maple tree and say ki is so generous to gift us such delicious syrup.

Scientifically speaking the world around us is not dead even the soil itself is teeming with life.

We should always remember that in the creation story, God made all of them before he made us.

And God said that it was very good.

There are many passages in the Bible in which the Earth itself exhibits some kind of sentience and animacy.  

we see hills clapping their hands, mountains leaping, and shouting praise.

another passage says that even the cooking pots will be Holy in the kingdom of God. and we have to wonder where are we?

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is Among Us. John the Baptizer went roaming the countryside telling people to repent because the kingdom of God was near!

I wonder…. if the kingdom of God is not here then where is it where else could it be and when else could it be? 

There is only now and there are only our brothers and sisters and our neighbors with whom we live on this beautiful mother earth, and who gifts us with such abundance. 

It is our job and indeed our duty to care for our brothers and sisters. Robin Wall Kimmerer, in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, refers to this as a system of reciprocity. The receiving of the gifts from our Earth establishes a relationship, in which we have a duty to care for both the gift and the giver.

 The greatest commandment is to love God and next is to love our neighbor as ourselves. We can rethink who our neighbor is, and value them as such. and this can start by changing the way we talk about them and think about them. 

We can teach our children to love and respect them too. 

Saint Francis of Assisi is famously known for his love of the natural world in fact he considered all of creation to be brother and sister and sibling. and I will leave you with this passage from some of his writings:

“Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures, especially through my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day; and you give light through him. And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars; in the heavens you have made them, precious and beautiful.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air, and clouds and storms, and all the weather, through which you give your creatures sustenance.

Be praised, My Lord, through Sister Water; she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom you brighten the night. He is beautiful and cheerful, and powerful and strong.

Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth, who feeds us and rules us, and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

Be praised, my Lord, through those who forgive for love of you; through those who endure sickness and trial. Happy those who endure in peace, for they will be crowned.”

Amen.