August 29, 2005
Katrina
Lewis Thomas, philosopher-scientist-physician, likened the earth as alive and contained in its atmosphere ever so much as a living cell. All its parts, including us, are similarly connected, he believed, inseparably interdependent.
One way of imagining those living cell walls is as Holy Spirit joining us, birthing us, sustaining us from our first breath unto our last and in all the ghostly mystery in between and beyond. God calls us to be stewards of that mystery, to remember daily that it gives and sustains our lives. Global warming, a phenomenon that some foolishly deny may exist at all, is something of a measure of our stewardship, embarrassing though it may be.
Katrina, the mother of all hurricanes and servant of Spirit, reminds us of who we are, of how, indeed, we are connected, and that, as Jesus said of Holy Spirit, blows wherever she damn well pleases (Jn 3.8).