Title: Celebrating God’s Creation

Date: 2009-04-19

Reference: Amos 4:13

In the beginning, God created. God created the heavens and the earth. God said: “I command the oceans to be full of living creatures and I command birds to fly above the earth.” God looked at what He had done and it was good. God gave the living creatures His blessing. God then said: “I command the earth to give life to all kinds of tame animals and wild animals and reptiles.” God looked at what He had done and it was all good. God said: “Now I will create human beings to rule over the fish and the birds and other living creatures.” God said to His people: “I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat. I have given you green plants as food. Take care of my earth.”

Later after a great flood God promised Noah and Noah’s descendants: “As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest. Cold and heat. Winter and Summer, day and night.” And in today’s Scripture lesson from the Old Testament Book of Amos God says: “I created the world and the mountains. I created the wind. I let human beings know what I am thinking. I bring darkness and step over the hills. I am the Lord God All Powerful. This is my world, my creation.”

I have always loved this time of the year as the whole earth seems to renew itself. This world God created is good. And our task as Christians is to ensure it remains a good place to live.

I worry about our careless attitude toward God’s creation. For one thing, as the song says: “This Is My Father’s World.” We don’t own the world. As the Psalmist said: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof. The world and those who dwell therein.” This earth and everything on it belongs to the Lord. The world and it’s people belong to God.” We are called to be good stewards of God’s world. I’m afraid we have our job description mixed up. A steward is a manager of someone else’s property and not an owner. Everything we have, every earthly asset comes from a heavenly source. A wrong attitude toward nature reveals a wrong attitude towards God the Creator. Truth is, it all belongs to God. It’s God’s world, God’s time, God’s money. Everything we have belongs to God. God has placed us here to take care of things and we don’t always do such a good job with that.

We live in a throw away society. Landfills are full of what we throw away. Out of sight, out of mind. As the earth becomes crowded and there is no longer any place to throw away anything we dump trash in the air above and the sea below. The solid wastes cast off by American cities and industries adds up to millions of tons a year. Noise pollution is a huge problem causing headaches, frayed nerves and insomnia. Impure water not scarcity of water is the world’s major hazard today. A pure water supply could slash the incidence of cholera, dysentery and typhoid by 75%.

We should remember three simple words...It’s Not Ours.” This is God’s World and we are called to care for it. There is nothing worse than being out in an area that appears to be absolutely unspoiled. With a little imaginations one could think no one had ever been there before. And then there is the empty can or bottle someone carelessly dropped on the ground. We need to do better. Way back in the 70's I remember the first earth days.

We believed back then we could make a difference and reverse the damage we had done to God’s beautiful world. I’ve always had an interest in recycling. I’m always fishing paper out of trash cans at home and here at church and putting them in the Shrine recycling bin outside our church doors. I have planted bushes and trees everywhere I’ve lived.

Having said this, I must admit that I get really weary of environmental extremists who cannot give us any credit for progress we have made. The fact is we have to live. We have go get around and we have to eat and clothe ourselves. We must have homes and we need to warm and cool ourselves. God provided the resources of this world for our use. But the very best thing we can do is develop a stewardship mentality and understand we are caretakers of all God has placed at our disposal. Our time, our talents, our money, our families, our homes, possessions and our world all belong to God. God has never once offered to transfer the ownership to us. We are here for a short time. In that time we build a legacy our children will inherit. I hope we leave them a solid, good, foundation upon which to build their lives.

God alone creates. I read an article this week about someone who cloned a camel. We may experiment, but God alone creates. Have you ever taken a good look at a camel? A camel is a strange looking beast with a neck like a swan and feet like those of an elephant. Someone has said a camel looks like a racehorse put together by a committee. But no committee can make a camel. A camel was created in such a way that he is well suited to his environment. His padded feet are constructed to walk on the hot sands of the desert. A camel has an internal air conditioning system.

The camel’s special transparent eyelids can be closed during a dust storm but he can still see. He has a capacity for storing water and food. His long eye lashes protect him from the sun. A camel’s course hair keeps him cool in the Summer and warm in the Winter. Only God could have created a camel in this way. The same is true of all of God’s creation.

Engineers have proven mathematically that bumblebees cannot get off the ground and fly. The bees body is too large for its wingspan. Aerodynamically, they explain, it’s impossible for bumblebees to fly. The bumblebee was created by God and is ignorant of these scientific facts and goes ahead and flies anyway. Each and every piece of timber has its own distinctive grain.

This is God’s world and God owns everything in it. A young boy and his grandfather were out fishing and talking about many things. They were enjoying nature and the boy asked: “Does anyone ever see God?” The old man reflected a moment as he looked out across the beautiful lake and he said: “We can’t see God, but we can see where God has been.”

Again I want to do my part to protect and celebrate God’s creation. I am not motivated by act by an activist government at any level. Not because the United Methodist Book of Discipline tells me to act. I want to do my part because I understand God has trusted me and you to care for this His creation. We can all do something. I encourage people to start small by recycling Sunday’s Newspaper. By bringing aluminum to the church for our bus find. By intentionally driving a few miles slower and making one less trip somewhere.

We can conserve our water and not allow it to run off our lawns and down the street in a small river. Again we do nothing out of guilt but everything out of devotion to God the Creator, and respect for His wonderful World.

Because we are designed in God’s image, we are happiest and most fulfilled when we are serving and giving. God calls us to be Stewards over the earth. I am anything but a vegetarian. I do recognize that in order to eat meat some living creature must die.

That makes waste of food an absolute crime. To kill just to kill is not what God had in mind. Wanton cruelty to the animals God created is wrong. This week a woman was arrested for duct taping her boy friend’s puppy to the refrigerator in their house.

This was never what God had in mind when he put animals under our dominion.

In the book of Exodus God gave instructions for caring for the land. God said: “Plant and harvest your crops for six years. But let the land rest during the 7th year. The poor are to eat what they want from your fields and vineyards. Share with them. Leave some for the wild animals. Work the first six days of the week and rest and relax on the 7th day. Also allow your animals a day of rest. Celebrate the harvest each year by bringing the best part of the first harvest to the place of worship.”

Sometimes we lose our connection with the earth and nature. My wife and I are both frustrated farmers. We both love to be outside working in the yard and garden. There is nothing better than getting a little dirt from the garden under your fingernails. I’ve tried to pass this love of gardening along to my children. Neither of them enjoys the yard. They believe if God had wanted us to plant gardens He wouldn’t have created Supermarkets. Gardening is not always cost effective.

I love it because it makes me feel even closer to God the Creator. Being outside and working in the yard reminds me that this is My Father’s World. I am privileged to live for a time and to take care of my small corner of the world. I am reminded of our responsibility for caring for the earth and creation. May we be found as faithful stewards over all God has placed into our hands.