First Friends Meeting
Psalm 19:1-4
Quaker Testimonies, Part 6: Creation
Doug Gwyn

The Wreck of the Economy
Doug Gwyn, February 2005

the good ship Economy, big as the world
sailing so majestically, all her flags unfurled
a gale of goods and services billowing her sales
and captains of industry standing at the rails
moonlight shining bright, but fog upon the sea
and looming up in the night, cold reality

now this thing called reality, we nearly all got wrong
we only knew commodities, we’d been on board so long
oh, the crash came sharp and sudden, we wondered what it was
some turned sad and sullen, some felt quite a buzz
when she listed to port, we all filled with fright
and thinking to save ourselves, we shifted to the right

the share-holding passengers all blamed the working crew
but none of them could agree what the hell to do
while down on the lower decks the wretched and the poor
those below the waterline, first to know the score
up on the bridge the President, hand on the helm
flanked by the G8, looking overwhelmed

“Well, I just can’t decide,” said the ghost of Karl Marx
“if this is epic tragedy or only grand farce.”
but the ghost of Adam Smith just waved a hidden hand
still confident in the laws of supply and demand
and Liberty the figurehead cried “full speed ahead!”
“This is what it means,” she said, “Better dead than red – or green.”

we tried all arrangements of the main deck chairs
some in small circles, for those who wished to share
but most sat facing forward, to watch what seemed
like a disaster movie on a giant screen
and the band played on so sweetly, as we sank into the sea
‘Nearer My God to Thee’ in 2023

This song clearly owes something to the story of the Titanic, nearly a century ago. The iceberg is replaced by an unspecified “cold reality” here. But again, the poor wretches in steerage, below the waterline, are first to know the score. While on upper decks, passengers are in various states of denial, dread, and confusion. The idea for this song came out of a dream a couple years ago. The year 2023 came with the dream. That’s all I know – I’m not making any predictions. But when I watched the film ‘Titanic’ when it came out a few years ago, it struck me as a parable for our time. A century ago, the world was cruising along with enormous confidence. There was a general sense that we were on an ‘escalator’ of progress that would steadily take us onward and upward. The Titanic was a symbol of that confidence – perhaps hubris. Its sinking was a foretaste of the traumatic shocks the world would soon face with WWI, the Great Depression, and then another horrendous WW.

Many of us believe that we are cruising at full speed again today, into increasingly dangerous waters, filled with “cold realities” – particularly environmental disasters, either waiting to happen or already unfolding. Global warming, resource depletion, pollution, widespread species extinction. We all know something about these, if we’re listening at all. And yet, there’s also an unreality about the whole thing. These realities are hard for us to come to terms with. These ecological questions seem distant to us much of the time – economical questions seem more real to us. Or as the song puts it, “reality was something we nearly all got wrong; we only knew commodities, we’d been on board so long.” We look at a package of ground beef – we don’t even associate it with cow. We look at a two-by-four and rarely think of a tree. These commodities keep us a step removed from the earth, which produces them. If we remain out of touch with the earth, we can only continue cruising on a collision course with the earth’s limits, our planet’s life-sustaining balances. That’s the cold reality of our time. We can debate the details of global warming and other pressing issues. But if we do that simply to avoid action, we do so at our own peril.

I’m glad that we will have a chance to look together at Al Gore’s video, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ in the weeks ahead. Ray Ontko and Paul Retherford will show the video and lead discussions on it next month. Also the ad hoc Sustainability Committee met over dinner during Commissions Night this past Wednesday to look at energy and paper use, and other issues here at First Friends. So, while our Stewardship and Finance Commission grapples with some important questions of our economical sustainability at First Friends, our Sustainability Committee will be pursuing these ecological questions. I’m glad we have willing and gifted people stepping forward to help lead us in both of these areas.

There is a growing movement among Friends today to add a new Quaker testimony, a testimony to God’s creation. Actually, you can hear this testimony throughout our 350 years of Quaker history. In the 1650s, George Fox urged people to live moderately and simply. Otherwise, our conspicuous consumption makes us “devourers of the creation,” as he put it. John Woolman even before the American Revolution was concerned about the cruelty and longterm effects of whaling. He also wrote that the high rents charged by colonial landowners forced poor tenant farmers out onto the frontier to clear more lands in a way that was plundered resources and led to war with the Native tribes. In our lifetime, Quakers Sam and Miriam Levering were key catalysts in working to establish international laws to regulate the mining of the sea bed. So today, as environmental issues become more urgent, many Friends are saying that we need a new testimony, a testimony to God’s creation, in order to focus our minds and efforts. I think they are right.

But we have to be careful that a new testimony doesn’t become just a matter of words, saying all the right things while doing nothing. That’s no better than a creed. Quaker testimonies are meant to be about the way we actually live, not just a set of opinions. But the word ‘testimony’ also implies that the way we live speaks volumes to those around us. The way we live upon this earth may, in the final analysis, say more than our letters to Congress – although letters can be a good thing too.

I think Friends have historically been in touch with the earth as God’s creation because of our use of silence. Silent worship takes us below the level of words. It helps us see one another for who we really are. Quiet contemplation in our lives can also help us see the reality of nature behind the market’s commodities. I know for myself, if I take a walk in the woods and fields with someone, I am not nearly as aware what’s around me if we talk. Our words, important as they are, remove us from the natural world. Just consider how much our pets communicate to us without words. When we tune into that, it opens doors to hearing God’s creation.

That’s why I chose the Scripture reading Laura read for us this morning. The heavens are telling the glory of God – day and night pouring forth speech, communicating knowledge of God. Yet it goes on to say that the creation does this without speech, without a voice as such. Only when we learn the ways of quiet prayer and meditation can we understand the language of God’s creation. And then we may live in better harmony with God’s creation. And then our lives begin to communicate something of God’s wisdom to others – a testimony to God’s creation. Otherwise, what are we saying with our lives about this planet?

I remember 25 years ago, Reagan’s Secretary of Interior James Watt explained that it’s OK to keep ransacking our nation’s natural resources, because Jesus is coming soon, so it won’t matter. Now, I’m accustomed to getting that message from the Watchtower magazines the Jehovah’s Witnesses give me. But the Secretary of the Interior – someone charged with the conservation and wise use of our natural resources? The Bible speaks of a new heaven and a new earth. But people like James Watt make it sound like a new roll of toilet paper. I believe God wants us to help create that new heaven and new earth out of the existing one.

I guess my song is a bit apocalyptic and doomy (with some wry humor along the way). Nobody will be happier than me if I am proved wrong. But the good thing about apocalyptic prophecies is that they can make us look where we’re going, and inspire us to change course. The good ship economy is huge – it doesn’t change course easily or quickly. If my song is some tiny contribution to that change, I’ll be glad.

So I’ll close and help us move into a time of Open Worship with the last two Advices and Queries from Britain Yearly Meeting’s Quaker Faith & Practice. #41 reads, “Try to live simply. A simple lifestyle freely chosen is a source of strength. Do not be persuaded into buying what you do not need or cannot afford. Do you keep yourself informed about the effects of your style of living is having on the global economy and environment?” #42 reads, “We do not own the world, and its riches are not ours to dispose of at will. Show a loving consideration for all creatures, and seek to maintain the beauty and variety of the world. Work to ensure that our increasing power over nature is used responsibly, with reverence for life. Rejoice in the splendour of God’s continuing creation.”