Have you ever gotten up just
before sunrise, and stood out on the porch with a steaming cup of coffee and
watched the sun rise over the horizon?
The quiet of the morning, as well as the promise of a new day. It’s an amazing experience to see the
world this way. I have to admit,
I’m not much of a morning person, but when I can experience these moments of
the day, it makes up for being up entirely too early.
In our Old Testament reading this
morning, we hear of the psalmist’s praise for God’s universal glory, from every
living creature, every living thing, for all the wonders of God’s majesty. Psalm 24 reminds us that “the earth is
the LORD’S and everything in it.”
This morning’s psalm is almost a continuation of that thought, giving
praise for creation. As people of
faith, we need to reconnect with this idea of constant praise of God for God’s
amazing gifts.
The world is an amazing
place. I have always been a lover
of the beauty and majesty of the outdoors – the opportunity to be outside and
reconnect with the God of the Universe is a spiritual moment for me. One of my favorite places on the planet
is Montreat, a very popular Presbyterian conference center in western North
Carolina. I feel like I’m
experiencing heaven every time I’m there, either in the valley or up on the
mountaintop. But there are other
places in the world where I have to ask, “what are we doing to the glory of
God’s creation?” So many people
are able to find beauty and wonder in nature, but then go back to their homes
and forget that the actions they take – simply flipping light switches, or
running the water while brushing their teeth – are impacting nature. We take for granted how we get energy
in our homes, or how many miles our food travels to get to our plates, and how
those choices despoil the natural temple we connect with God in.
The biblical concept of
redemption is the idea that Christ paid the price for our sinful nature in his
death and resurrection. In our New
Testament reading for this morning, we read that the redemption bought through
the death of Christ is not only for humanity, but for all of creation. This redemption, this return to the
full glory that God intended from the beginning, is coming – and is partially
up to us realizing our role as the children of God. In the beginning we were called to be stewards of the
garden, keepers of the kingdom, to care and cherish the creation the same way
the Creator does. But we have
strayed from this vision, we have regarded the creation as something to be
dominated, something to be used for our purposes, instead of the purpose we
read about in psalms – as a way to give praise and glory to the Creator. Our call is to work in communion with
one another and with the natural world to achieve harmony in praise and worship
to the King.
But what does it mean to be part
of the redemption bought for us in the death and resurrection of Christ? How can we be agents of change – the
hands and feet of God in the world? We have a role to play in helping to bring about the
redemption bought for us in Christ’s death and resurrection – for the whole
world. We can work towards this
redemption in three areas: our church, our homes, and our community.
My favorite fact about the church
I grew up in, outside of Atlanta, is that the city limits of Roswell were drawn
at a one-mile radius from the church when the city was incorporated back in the
1800s. The church was literally
the center of the city. Roswell
has since grown and I doubt Roswell Presbyterian is still at the dead center of
the city, but the idea of a church as a central hub of a community can still
exist. Sadly, this isn’t the case
in many places. But we can redeem
the church – or any faith community – as a central place for important work in
the community on all types of social justice issues. Back in the 1960s, the church, people of faith, were the
leaders of the civil rights movement.
People of faith like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., utilized scripture to
preach a message of equality for everyone. Dr. King’s most remembered speech talks about the promised
land – and working together to get there.
Many prominent faith leaders today say that the environmental movement
is our generation’s civil rights movement – that just like in the 60s must come
from the faith community.
We can do this in our
congregations by thinking critically about what it means to be stewards of
creation and faithful disciples of the Creator. We can preach and teach about the message of scripture that
calls us to praise the creation and the Creator, and to work to relieve the
groaning of creation. We can
consider the decisions we make in our congregations about how we use our energy,
where our energy comes from; do we source local food and farmers for our
congregational meals and gatherings; when we build or renovate our buildings,
do we consider ways to do so more sustainably? There’s a great new term of “green evangelism” for communities
of faith that use green activities – placing solar panels on the roof or even
installing waterless urinals – to bring more people into the congregation. Whether your initial decision about
doing these things is based on ways to bring in more members, or a genuine
concern in the congregation about being better stewards, we are making a
difference – based in our faith – to care for creation.
But it can’t just stop at the
congregation. After church, we
head home. I’ve heard so many
preachers talk about our Sunday lives versus our lives the rest of the
week. Preachers work really hard
to preach a good word on Sunday morning, but it only means something if our
parishioners take it home with them and live out that message throughout the
week. Similarly, if we take
measures in our church to reduce our energy consumption, reuse the glasses for
communion, and recycle our bulletins, we need to take those actions home. Sometimes it works the other way – we do
these things at home, grew up living this way – and we are the driving force
behind getting the people in our congregations to do similar things both at
church and in their homes. We can
think about how we get to church on Sunday morning – or to work or running
errands – and consider ways to embrace commute alternatives, either walking,
biking or taking transit. Are
there things we can borrow from neighbors instead of buying new just to use for
one project?
We hear stories about how crazy
environmentalists are for wanting to “live by candlelight” or eat
vegetarian. But we forget how
recently our ancestors lived like this.
The convenience of “modern convenience” turns out to not be so
convenient. We’ve tricked ourselves into thinking disposal is a good
thing, and single-use products make our lives easier. But what we’ve done in the last 60 years is created a
completely different world for our children than the one we grew up in. We are now covering over landfills and
putting playgrounds and Walmarts on top of them, neglecting the dangerous toxins
that come from decomposing trash. We’ve
blown the tops off mountains to get to small seams of coal, so we can power our
two refrigerators and five televisions, as well as all our “vampire” devices
that aren’t really powering anything, but are drawing energy nonetheless. If our grandparents were here, they would tell us we’re being
wasteful and would encourage us to live like they did, growing our own healthy
food in the backyard, interacting with our neighbors while we walked together
to church, and enjoying the breeze through a house full of open doors and
windows. We can continue to live a
comfortable life, but we need to consider, explore, and invest in new and
sustainable ways to do so. We must
remember that we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from
our children. And as we consider
choices we make in our homes, we have to consider how they impact the children
we are raising in our homes.
Finally, we have to take this
understanding of caring for creation – of working to bring about the redemption
bought for us in Christ – out into the community. Of all the people that show up here on a Sunday morning, a
very small percentage actually work here.
Most of us go to jobs in the community on Monday morning – in schools,
companies, local government, corporations, non-profits, even stay-at-home
parents! Evangelism is an
important part of the Presbyterian church, and the growth of the church universal. Evangelism is sharing the story of the
good news of the gospel – of Christ’s saving death and resurrection – and in my
mind it’s also about sharing our work as stewards of creation, working towards
redemption. The world is longing
for redemption – for relationships restored between brothers and sisters, as
well as for a renewed creation. The
best place for this to happen is within our communities. Once we’ve preached the message in
church, and embraced it in our homes, we can take it into the other areas of
the community where we interact.
As young people, we can go to school and encourage recycling of paper,
using digital books and more natural lighting (which, by the way has been shown
to increase productivity in students).
As adults, we can ask our boss about opportunities for tele-working or
purchasing decisions that reduce our carbon footprint. If we happen to have jobs where we can
make decisions for our community – maybe we can support a decision to change
all traffic lights in our town to LEDs so they use less energy considering they
are on all the time.
We can also remember our role in
the community when it comes to being part of a democracy. We’re not all cut out for public
service, but that doesn’t mean that we can disengage from what’s going on in
politics. If we are passionate
about an issue – whether it’s putting a tax on plastic bags or encouraging our
local utility to invest in renewable energy – we should be meeting with our
elected officials and letting them know about these issues and asking them to
support them. We should find ways
to keep informed about what’s going on at the General Assembly in Richmond or
even on Capitol Hill in DC, so when our critical voice needs to be heard, we
can make a call, send an email, or sign a petition. Or hey – maybe it’s even considering an opportunity to run
for office! In VA we are fortunate
– or maybe unfortunate – enough to have an election every year for a few years. The most important thing about this is
to make sure you are registered to vote and to get out there and do it. Decide for yourself what issues are a
priority for you – and then do your homework. Figure out which candidate best aligns with your priorities
– and if you don’t know their stand on an issue, ask them. Go to candidate forums, or email the
candidates, and ask those questions.
You know what matters to you – and you need to know the answers to those
questions so you can make the most informed decision.
The good news of the gospel is
that Christ has already redeemed all of creation. But we live in the in-between times of the
“already-not-yet”. We know the end
of the story, but we don’t necessarily know how we get there. We each have a role to play to bring
about the fullness of the redemption already won in Christ’s death and
resurrection. Caring for creation
is a part of our work to bring about redemption. It is a faithful response to our call to be disciples and
stewards of God’s gifts.
Dr. King shared a dream of
equality for all. I have a dream
of an environmental revolution – a redemption of all of creation. This dream starts in our faith
communities – in the church. And
like a rock hitting the flat surface of a pond, the dream ripples across the
waters, across creation – into our homes, into our communities, into the whole
world – bring about the redemption we’ve all been longing for since Christ
appeared to the twelve after his resurrection. All the world is longing for redemption – are we ready to
play our part to bring it about?
