The Spirit said to Philip, “Go and join up with that chariot.” Philip ran up [to the Ethiopian] and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him... Then Philip opened his mouth and proclaimed Jesus to him. As they traveled along the road they came to some water, and the Ethiopian said, “Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?” Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and Philip and the Ethiopian both went down into the water, and he baptized him. (Acts 8: 29-31, cf. 35-38)
Easter Day #19 - Today’s word: élan (Earth Day 2010)
When I set out to choose these 50 words to represent the 50 Days of the Easter Season, I learned a few new ones... élan is a word that refers to “the force within!” It is the “hunch” that makes one want to help another. It is the “drive” that motivates success! It is the “power” to make a difference!
There is a great élan in this universe of ours. It helps us grow into the creation that God set into motion “ions” ago. On this Earth Day, let us just relax in the fact that WE ARE PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER THAN OURSELVES. The forces of life, and the struggles with death, are part of a larger élan, and this tension is what will make us whole. The power of life calls us to see those in need, and help them answer the questions that drive their search for meaning. The power of nature always seeks balance and more life. These two forces unite to drive us into our future together.
When we protect one another, or a part of nature, we are simply using a skill of care. Let’s not over politicize a thing like Earth Day, let us just relax in the fact that WE ARE PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER THAN OURSELVES.
I’ve added a link and the lyrics to a song by Sting called “I Was Brought to My Senses”. While he might not have written the song to commemorate Earth Day, or a Christian principle of faith, or even the concept of élan, the words paint a beautiful picture of just how all of these forces work together to bring US to an understanding of LOVE and LIFE and RELATIONSHIP... The ultimate end of this journey of ours, and the journey of the “Ethiopian” in the quote from Acts 8: 29-31 above, is a life rooted in discovering the love of God through Jesus Christ in every person we meet, and “inside every singing blade of grass” that has made the field come alive with that amazing burst of color that King Solomon noted so many Millennia ago. “May the élan be with you!”
I Was Brought to My Senses by Sting
Alone with my thoughts this evening
I walked on the banks of Tyne
I wondered how I could win you
Or if I could make you mine
Or if I could make you mine
The wind it was so insistent
With tales of a stormy south
But when I spied two birds in a sycamore tree
There came a dryness in my mouth
Came a dryness in my mouth
For then without rhyme or reason
The two birds did rise up to fly
And where the two birds were flying
I swear I saw you and I
I swear I saw you and I
I walked out this morning
It was like a veil had been removed from before my eyes
For the first time I saw the work of heaven
In the line where the hills had been married to the sky
And all around me
Every blade of singing grass
Was calling out your name
And that our love would always last
And inside every turning leaf
Is the pattern of an older tree
The shape of our future
The shape of all our history
And out of the confusion
Where the river meets the sea
Came things I'd never seen
Things I'd never seen
I was brought to my senses
I was blind but now that I can see
Every signpost in nature
Said you belong to me
I know it's true
It's written in a sky as blue
As blue as your eyes
As blue as your eyes
If nature's red in tooth and claw
Like winter's freeze and summer's thaw
The wounds she gave me
Were the wounds that would heal me
And we'd be like the moon and sun
And when our courtly dance had run
Its course across the sky
Then together we would lie
And out of the confusion
Where the river meets the sea
Something new would arrive
Something better would arrive
I was brought to my senses
I was blind but now that I can see
Every signpost in nature
Said you belong to me
I was brought to my senses
I was blind but now that I can see
Every signpost in nature
Said you belong to me...
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