Today in chapel, we confessed to plants. Together, we held our grief, joy, regret, hope, guilt and sorrow in prayer; offering them to the beings who sustain us but whose gift we too often fail to honor.
What do you confess to the plants in your life? pic.twitter.com/tEs3Vm8oU4
— Union Seminary (@UnionSeminary) September 17, 2019
We've had many questions about yesterday's chapel, conducted as part of @ccarvalhaes' class, "Extractivism: A Ritual/Liturgical Response." In worship, our community confessed the harm we've done to plants, speaking directly in repentance.
This is a beautiful ritual. /1
— Union Seminary (@UnionSeminary) September 18, 2019
So, if you're poking fun, we'd ask only that you also spend a couple moments asking:
Do I treat plants and animals as divinely created beings?
What harm do I cause without thinking?
How can I enter into new relationship with the natural world? /9
— Union Seminary (@UnionSeminary) September 18, 2019
We need to unlearn habits of sin and death. And part of that work must be building new bridges to the natural world.
And that means creating new spiritual and intellectual frameworks by which we understand and relate to the plants and animals with whom we share the planet. /3
— Union Seminary (@UnionSeminary) September 18, 2019
#
The reactions on Twitter were swift.
A Monty Python send up. It's gotta be….. If not then I'd say they should go talk to pope Francis and his fav. Cardinals. I'm sure they'd be very supportive, given the obsequies to the idolatrous figurines they presided over at the Anazon synod in October, 2019.
— fiorella (@BlossomSanders) November 4, 2019
Even Wiccans aren’t this dense.
— Noel (@Noel_zeek) September 18, 2019
https://twitter.com/moon__battery/status/1174313422130839552
I think you smoked one of the plants first.
— Dom (@DomCatholic) September 18, 2019
Forgive me. I have sinned. I have eaten you and …..enjoyed it
— Andrzej C. (@andrz3jc) November 9, 2019
— find tyler huckabee on bluesky (@TylerHuckabee) September 18, 2019
https://twitter.com/IndigoLea/status/1174179775566495745
#
Related Links:
‘Ecosexuality’ – Time for #MeToo for Earth?! Prof: Humans should establish erotic relationships with plants – “Lick trees, roll around in mud, and engage in sexual acts with elements of nature.”
WATCH: ‘Eco-Sexual Wedding’: College Prof Leads Students to ‘Marry the Ocean’ (NOT A JOKE) – ‘Married to the Sea: An Ecosexual Wedding’ – Professor at Santa Monica College led students in an ‘EcoSexual Sextravaganza’ in which participants ‘married the ocean.’ ‘With this ring, I bestow upon the sea the treasures of my mind heart and hands—as well as my body and soul. With the power vested in us, we now pronounce you ‘married to the sea.’
