"IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING"**
Rev. James Clubine
Sunday, April 27, 2008
(** Dialogue with Mark Cullen whose comments are in italics)
Genesis
1:26-31
Acts 17:22-31
Colossians 1:15-20
Matthew 6:35-31
Text: Acts 17:24-25, 28 24The God who made
the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in
shrines made by human hands, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he
needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.
… 28For “In him we live and move and have our being”.
Introduction
A police recruit was asked during the exam, "What would you do if
you had to arrest your own mother?" He said: "Call for backup."
I will put on the table my own
high skepticism of the current barrage of ‘environmental’ messages we are being
subjected to on every side. On the other hand, I love the world God has made for our
living – so when I come to this subject today of what the Christian faith teaches us
about living responsibly in the world, it feels a little like I am arresting my mother
– so I have called for back up – and that is why Mark Cullen is joining me.
So while on one side I applaud the fact that the
treatment of the created order is getting attention my concern is because of an underlying
narrative, that more often than not, fosters a belief that God has nothing to say or do on
the matter. I want to talk with you about
living out of a Christian narrative of the world with respect to the habitation God has
made for us.
Mary and our family
have been attending CUC since before our
first born was baptized here..
It was about that time – 24
years ago – that I looked at our little darling and began to take my
responsibilities in life a little more seriously. This
often happens, I think, when we stare our first, helpless little bundle of human life
in the eyes and realize that God has given us
a very special new job title called ‘parenthood’.
I then looked at the cadre of chemicals in the tools shed in our yard and thought, “my what a
contradiction – this bundle of life on
the one hand that we call ‘ours’ and these bottles that are, for the most part,
intended to end life of another kind.
It was then that I decided to take the path of a life in the
garden without the use of chemicals.
I didn’t have to worry that they would be wasted – no toxic waste
disposal sites at that t time – no, my Dad would make good use of them In his garden.
Now, my questions revolve around what my
responsibilities for our Mother earth are relative not just to parenthood but also as a Christian… where do these responsibilities
begin and how far should they go?
To that end, I will first offer
some theological guide posts that I believe inform our living as Christians in the world. So when we come to particulars of what should I do
– these guide posts are meant to act as principles for thinking through those
particulars. As we endeavour to be faithful to
what God has shown us
I don’t think that I am alone when I say that, as a person with concerns
about where we are heading in terms of how we leave the condition of our planet earth –
I would like to put this thing in perspective – to understand more
clearly where God intends us to fit in on the issue environmental responsibility.
1. God is
the Creator of the world so only God is to be
worshiped. In Romans the Apostle Paul
described the guilt of humankind before God;(1:25) ‘they exchanged the truth about
God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.’
Therefore life is to be organized around the worship of God – not of anything else,
not of any created thing like ourselves, not even the earth.
(Is it right to build houses of worship? Yes, indeed)
‘God made the earth and everything in it’ including us… and
made us in his image – does that give us a greater responsibility to be good stewards
of the earth than his other creatures?
2. God loves the
world. In our Genesis reading where it
says – ‘God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it way very good’
– this is akin to saying; and God saw everything he made and loved absolutely
everything about it.’ No part of creation
is outside the purview of God’s love and the world was made for human habitation.
This is to say that God’s six creative days as presented in Genesis are to be
understood as the one creative action of God – God has the whole thing in view, it
isn’t as if God does some work on day one and waits to see how that goes to decide
what else to do. What that tells us is that the concern for the environment is never for
its own sake but rather as it takes its place in the whole picture God has in mind –
day six with the humans there.
As a kid in Sunday school I remember the hymn/song
‘God sees the little sparrow fall’ and in it we sing ‘He loves me too, he
loves me too, I know he loves me too! If God can love the little things, I know he loves
me too!’
So, to God each of us is very special.
Doesn’t that mean that we have a special job to do too? That perhaps I
am more the guardian of the sparrow – the earth
worm and the tree and all that they represent. I
can hardly expect them to care for me!
3. The world is in God’s good hands. In Colossians when Paul said of Christ –in him
all things consist – the idea here is that God is intimately involved in the running
of the world. As Victor Shepherd pointed out; There’s no word in biblical Hebrew for “doubt.” We must understand why biblical Hebrew has no word for “doubt”:
for our Hebrew foreparents God was the atmosphere, the constant, immediate, intimate
atmosphere in which their life unfolded, and to doubt him would have been as nonsensical
as doubting the air they breathed and the fact of breathing itself and the necessity of
breathing.
(It
is time to leave Charles Darwin behind, the world is not self-generating, when you plant a
seed God participates with you in bringing it to life) We are in partnership with God. Further, as the creature formed to be in
relationship with God on behalf of the rest of the created order humans have commensurate
responsibility.
So God is intimately involved in the running
of the world.
I didn’t really doubt that.
But I am still
not clear…. God is involved
in the running of the world – does that
make us his foot soldiers? The worker bees?
Is He managing the shop at the back end of the store while we work the
checkout? ‘Have a nice day Mother Earth
– hope that you found what you were looking for.’
I have to add something as a Canadian. And a citizen in the most priviledged generation
ever. The United Nations has defined ‘sustainability’
as all activity that protects and maintains our world in a state that allows future
generations to continue to exist at a relative standard of living.
I think – given the resources and wealth
of this generation – our technology and knowledge -
that we can do better than that – we can actually leave our physical
world a better place. To improve it’s condition for the future use of generations.
Our job, in my opinion, is to serve future
generations, not to take from them.
What would God say to that?
4. Jesus died for the whole world, including the created
order. The Biblical story is that human
sin is the cause of death in the world that also affected the created order bringing its
decay as well. The remedy in dying for our sin
has in view the redemption of the whole business – a new heaven and a new earth.
Remember that only God can forgive sin and so only God can save the planet. However, as
surly as the death of Christ on the cross calls us to put sin from our lives to live for
Christ we are also called to put from our lives those things which contributes to the
decay that has permeated the created order as well – reaching forward for restoration
in all things. It is possible to make improvement, with God’s help.
Wait a minute – you have forgotten how much I like
compost – decay in my books is a good thing. Don’t
tell me that you believe the tooth paste commercials that have told us for years that all
bacteria is bad bacteria?
Could I put it this way – ‘…….we are also called to put
from our lives those things that which contribute to the decline of many things.’
In a one line principle of what
all this means in how to live in the world here is what I would say; Love what God loves and how God loves. Jesus said that our love for Him would be
manifest in our love for one another. We see
in this command that all other loves get ordered by holding these as supreme. Love of God and love of humankind. We see in Jesus comment about how the Farther feeds
the sparrows and will he not MUCH MORE care for you - that God’s love for the human
being if of a higher order that God’s love of the sparrow – God loves them all,
each after their own kind. We love our
spouses, our children, grandchildren with a different kind of love than we do our pets,
our homes, music etc. – each is loved according to its kind or nature. And so with God.
So what does that look like? If we love our family we do not throw garbage
piling it in rooms of the house until there no room left.
Why? As John Wesley said: cleanliness is next to godliness. So, we live in the world with our neighbours who
share it with us – if we love as God loves would we not want to accord them
(neighbours) the same sort of discipline of cleanliness?
God loves beauty – so
plant a garden! God loves people; give you
energies to innovations that promote human life.
Think of the way in which technical innovation has improved farming
practices so that so many more can be fed. I
fully understand that there is no perfection in these endeavors (i.e. bio-fuels and impact
on food prices), but to pray for wisdom and reach for what God loves seems to me to be the
way forward. Remember, Jesus was a carpenter
making things from trees for people’s lives and he seemed to enjoy helping his
fishing buddies with their commercial enterprise.
We also know that he walked softly on the earth. Didn’t seem to have to have the biggest
chariot or eat at the best establishments. I
think that he was a minimalist. I don’t even know that he owned a house or a
boat or a garden. He was more of a nomad, with
faith that he would somehow be provided for.
Do you suppose he regretted not having a lot of stuff? Stupid question.
o.k.- back to Canada. Today. Our
fossil-fuel dependant society that is now
drenched in information that tells us clearly that we can’t just keep digging holes
to remove minerals and bitumen and diverting fresh water without limit…… what do I do with all of this information? When is enough
enough?
Further the stuff of human
interaction ought to be of greater importance to us. So
with respect to things – travel light, reduction and reuse can be good strategies.
Conclusion
Author Gary Thomas in The
Beautiful Fight (Zondervan, 2007) wrote; “As our
plane ascended out of San Antonio, it passed an enclave of mansions. These homes had to
contain at least seven to ten thousand square feet of space, with immaculate lawns and
gardens, large pools, and huge garages. But from two thousand feet in the air, it's
amazing how small these homes looked. Another few thousand feet, and they became mere
playhouses.
And then it hit me: not a home
on this planet looks big to heaven; no house looks huge to God. The things that swell our
chests with pride look mighty puny from another perspective. … And so I prayed,
"Lord, help me to see this world with your eyes. Otherwise I might value what you
despise and despise what you value."”
In sending the Son into the
world God shows his love – we see what he values. I leave you with the words of
Jesus: (Matthew 6) 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap
nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value
than they? … 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will
be given to you as well.
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