Reflection for Easter 6 – Lemons and Carbon Dioxide
An acquaintance had told me that the rosemary in his garden had started to grow mould with all the rain we had been experiencing in ‘sunny’ Queensland.
I have a lot of rosemary in my garden! So much that I took an electric garden trimmer to it a few months ago in order to control its growth!
So I ventured out this morning, grey skies overhead, with some trepidation, to check out the state of my rosemary.
I hadn’t been out in the garden for a while. For about a month I have just looked briefly at waterlogged garden on the way from the garage to the house. Head down, noting the pooling water on the outdoor furniture covers.
My rosemary was fine – vibrant and looking like it was ready – at the first sight of sun – to spring out of control again!
Glancing to the left I gawped somewhat in shock. My lemon tree had borne fruit. Not a real surprise – it had done so before. But these were HUGE lemons. I have literally never seen such large lemons! And there were lots of them. Like the rosemary, with a bit of sun for final ripening, I’d need a wheelbarrow to cart them all away.
We know too well the devastation that rain can bring, but the flourishing lemon tree was a sharp reminder of the sheer life-giving essence and blessing of the water that falls from the skies and that thin layer of soil between rock and air and water that provides nourishment for all earth’s creatures. And I was disturbed to read that we Australians were ‘once again’ the world’s biggest coal polluters (Australia produced 4.04 tonnes of CO2 per person from coal-fired power stations last year).
Let all the peoples praise you, O God: let all the peoples praise you. Then the earth will yield its fruitfulness: and God, our God, will bless us. Ps 67:5-6
The earth’s fruitfulness is at so much risk today that I wonder if the psalm for this Sunday should be changed to a lament:
All peoples have forgotten how to praise you, O God! We have taken and taken and taken from the earth’s yield. Teach us how to care for your earth, and bless us with a deep hunger and determination to change.
Ceri
