Next Thursday is Earth Day, a day when we remember that Planet Earth is one of the greatest gifts given to us by God. True, love and family and friends and talents are all wonderful gifts, but the Earth is the place on which we give and receive these gifts. As the Psalmist proclaims, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas and established it on the rivers.” (Psalm 24:1)
On Sunday, the members of Christ Episcopal Church will worship outdoors at Lake Guntersville State Park. We will sing, pray, preach, and share Holy Communion. Worship will be followed by a Holy Hike and waterfall picnic for the more adventurous sort
Our hymns, scriptures, and prayers as well as
our actions on that day will focus on the God Creation and Creation itself. We
well proclaim the importance of the Earth and the responsibility and privilege
it is that God has called us to be stewards of this wonderful gift. This gift
and our place in it are set forth in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis
in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament).
“And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of
living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the
sky.’ So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that
moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every
kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful
and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the
earth.’ And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living
creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the
earth of every kind.’ And it was so. God made the wild animals of the
earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps
upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our
image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon
the earth.’
So God created humankind in his image, in the
image of God he created them; male and female he created them. And God blessed
them.” (Genesis 1:20-28)
Even with this promise and calling, life can
sometimes be more challenging than we believe we can handle. This past year the
Covid Pandemic and violence across the land and isolation have brought worry,
fear and loss to many of us. I believe Jesus calls us back with his words recorded
in the Gospel of Matthew 6:25-33. With these words, Jesus reminds us that “the
Lord is good and that his Mercy is everlasting.”
“Therefore I tell
you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will
drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food,
and the body more than clothing? Look 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? And can any of you by worrying
add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about
clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil
nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed
like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is
alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?
Therefore, do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or ‘What will we drink?’
or ‘What will we wear? indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all
these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and
his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
