If Earth Had a Vote
Written by the Reverend Jemonde Taylor October 3, 2022
On the Occasion of the 2nd Annual Prayer Chain for the Earth sponsored by the Interfaith Creation Care of the Triangle and hosted by the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh, NC
If Earth had a vote, would the tall water oak trees’ leaves falling as Autumn Leaves be like hanging chads in Bush v. Gore? Would they be counted or discounted as bare leaves in winter?
If Earth had a vote, would the Alabama River flowing under the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday ‘65 give rise to a torrent of peace and justice? Would the rolling tide be the sign of “good trouble” and the work of John Lewis made valid?
If Earth had a vote, would We Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as Dr. Angelou penned? Would this once caged bird siren a prison industrial complex of incarceration creating a New Jim Crow? Or would it siren that it was free only to re-enter the Earth trapped in a landscape unrecognizable?
If Earth had a vote, would the rising sea level signal a rise in creation genocide?
If Earth had a vote, would retreating snow capped mountains recollect retreating Confederate armies and the support of human enslavement?
If Earth had a vote, would the soaring eagle be the Suffragette in search of freedom or rather the muted throat of oppressed voices?
If Earth had a vote, would its anthem be “All Creatures of Our God and King?”
If Earth had a vote, would justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream?
Earth does have a vote! Scripture tells us that we are but dust and to dust we shall return.
The Episcopal Book of Common Prayer reminds us in the Ash Wednesday liturgy that God hates nothing God created as we repent “for our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us.”
Earth has a vote because Jesus, the Agnus Dei, the Slain Lamb in Revelation “created everything that is, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
Earth has a vote because common sense tells us we cannot live in a burning house because everything and everyone will be consumed.
So vote!
Be the proxy vote for the water oak!
Be the proxy vote for the river!
Be the proxy vote for the caged bird!
Be the proxy vote for the sea!
Be the proxy vote for the snow capped mountains!
Be the proxy vote for the soaring eagle!
Vote for the earth!
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