Love Your Mother (Earth) She’s all We have Got

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.”