Sorry there was no live stream of our service today, as we were Worshiping on the Farm! Here's my message, as we sat under the trees this morning.
We can’t help but appreciate God’s creation when we worship in the outdoors. It was a beautiful day to come together in worship to our Lord. And so it seems so fitting to take this time to give thanks and praise for God’s gift to us of Gods’ creation.
I don’t think we often enough consider the specialness of this gift of creation, nor do we always fully appreciate it. We treat it more like, well -- think of a practical wedding gift that you got when you got married. We got a new fridge, which was great! It had a lovely avocado green interior (that dates me doesn’t it!) We used that fridge of course day in and day out, and I’m sure you have a gift you received that you used all the time and it became just one of the things you have, one of your possessions. You’ve used it for years, maybe are still using it because it was a good gift, you appreciated getting it, but now, you just take it for granted, you don’t give it much thought, you might have even forgotten who you got it from. And unless something makes you stop to really think about it—like it breaks and needs replacing, you continue to use it and take it’s presence for granted. We have replaced our avocado green fridge of course, but our world? Well, that’s not so replaceable!
The reading we read from Job’s book (12. 7-10) reminds us to remember that creation is God’s gift to us: “Who … does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In God’s hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being.”
God’s amazing creation, given in love to humanity to live in, to use, to care for.
The psalm (36 vv 5-10) reminds us of the hugeness God’s goodness to us, all that God has given us, using creation metaphors
o God’s constant love is so vast it reaches heaven and a faithfulness as big as the sky. Wow, that’s a God we can really count on!
o God protects us, it’s like being under God’s wing,
o we feast from the abundance God’s given us
o we drink in and from God’s goodness,
o God is the source of all life.
o And it is God’s light that illuminates everything, because God is in everything.
It is God’s light that shines in us all, we all have God’s light within us, this is why, when we stop and ponder, pause to reflect on it, we can find the light of God’s in others, and in God’s world. Admittedly, it can be hard to find sometimes, we humans have a way of getting in the way, or putting things in the way of the light, hiding that spark of God that’ in each of us.
The opening verses of John’s gospel refers to Christ as “The Word of God”; interesting idea, interesting concept, Jesus being the Word of God. A word’s function is to express an idea, or a concept. And so, because words give voice to thoughts, they describe concepts and ideas we hold in our minds and souls. So words hold power. Jesus is the Word, the very expression of God, Jesus is who God is, Jesus is God and holds the power of God! Want to know what God would be like if God was a person, well, look to Jesus! John tells us that creation came into being through Jesus, the Christ, creation in all of its immensity is the expression of God, the very concept of God and it is was deemed to be very good, as it says in the first creation story in Genesis.
And we, too, are of God’s creation, we are of God, just like all of creation. Looking at it this way highlights the interrelatedness of all of creation; in all of it’s aspects—us too, humanity. I heard an interview with an indigenous person a couple of weeks ago, and she described the eagle as her relative. It sounded strange when she said it, to think of a human as a relative of a bird. But thinking of all aspects of creation being interrelated, that we are all from God, and of God, I think I’m coming to understand that. A new way of looking at ourselves, as being a part of creation, not just in charge of it. Indigenous people have a deeper or maybe closer understanding of humanity’s connection to Mother Earth, to the creatures of earth, the connectedness humanity has to all facets of creation, and to the Creator through whom all things have come.
Do you think that if everyone looked at creation as a gift from God, and respected it as such, maybe our world wouldn’t be in such a mess, maybe we’d treat it better, and not treat it as that old wedding gift? Maybe we’d even treat each other better too.
Yes, a good day, as we sit outside under the trees, hearing the birds, swatting the bugs, looking at the flowers and the corn field, a good day to remember that all that is, is God’s great creation and really is God’s gift to us. And it’s not ‘ours’, it is God who shared God’s creation with us. Good to remember!