Sunday, April 22, 2007
Genesis 1:
26-31
Reverend Susan Southall
Minister of Discipleship
[The Message, Eugene Peterson: God spoke, “Let us make
human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be
responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and,
yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” God created human beings; [God] created
them godlike, reflecting God’s nature.
[God] created them male and female.
God blessed them: “Prosper!
Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for
every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.” Then God said, “I’ve given you every sort of seed-bearing plant
on Earth and every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food. To all animals and all birds, everything
that moves and breathes, I give whatever grows out of the ground for
food.” And there it was. God looked over everything [God] had made; it
was so good, so very good! ]
I
chose this particular paraphrase of our scripture this morning for a specific
reason – actually because of two words:
“Be Responsible.” Let’s take a
quick poll this morning – how many of you have ever heard that phrase from a
parent or teacher or other authority figure… “be responsible” or how about the phrase “there are
consequences for your actions.” I was
the oldest child in our family and I heard this quite frequently. When you are the oldest or one of the oldest
children, you learn that you are to “be responsible” for those younger, more
vulnerable siblings. It is a part of
growing up.
Speaking
of growing up – we get to see this happening first hand each week at our church
preschool. One of the places where you
often see the children growing up and exercising their independence is when they
reach the steps. A few of the children
continue to hold their parent’s hand and walk quietly down the steps – but that
seems to be the exception J Some will even hold their parent’s hand
until the steps and then they pull their hand away and say, “I want to do it
MYSELF!” And so, you have a couple of
scenarios at that point: a few will
carefully grab hold of the railing and carefully make their way down, a few
will run off with great joy and start out without much care or concern until
they tumble down the steps, some will walk off with all their belongings in tow
leaving a wake behind them of dropped clothes/toys/school papers, and some go
right to the middle of the stairs and slowly begin their descent blocking off
the whole stairway for anyone else trying to go up or down! What happens next is often a learning
experience offered by the parent: “Susie, you need to move over and share the
steps,” “Johnny, you need to go back
and pick up your belongings to clear the way for others” And, of course, there is comfort ready and
waiting for those who have fallen or hurt themselves.
In
case you haven’t figured out where I am going with this, let me make it
clear: We are all children – children
of God. We are all growing and
learning. And so, we all need to learn
not just how to be independent, but also how to “be responsible.” We need to learn to pick up after
ourselves. We need to learn to share
“the steps” with the others in our world who are also going up or down the
path. We need to learn what it means to
be a part of the family and “be responsible” for the more vulnerable members of
our community. If we don’t learn this
lesson and learn it soon, there will be no more “steps.” There will be no more community. God has given us a beautiful place to live
and a wonderful family with which to share this place we call Earth. But, there are consequences to not being
“responsible.”
I’m
not here this morning as someone who has figured it all out or even someone who
is doing a perfect job of being responsible.
I enjoy standing under a hot shower and letting it soak in for several
minutes as I breathe the steam. I love
getting into my car and going where I want to go when I want to go. It is so convenient to grab a bottle of
water from the case by the back door on my way out. But, I’m beginning to hear my heavenly parent saying, “Susan, you
can’t take up the whole staircase for yourself. There are others to consider.”
Some
of us may hear these words and then want to quote the famous 20th
century philosopher, Kermit the Frog, when he sang the song, “It’s Not Easy
Being Green.” It is true that, if we
want to make a difference, we will have some degree of inconvenience. But even Kermit begins to see that being
green can be beautiful. Toward the end
of the song he sings, “But green’s the color of spring; And green can be cool and
friendly-like; And green can be big
like a mountain or important like a river or tall like a tree.” Being green means we notice these things. I hope you have enjoyed viewing the pictures
on the screen this morning. They have
been playing continuously during the service so you can begin to get an idea of
what it is we may lose if we don’t take our responsibility a little more
seriously. Green is beautiful and
important and, yes, even “friendly-like.”
Are you ready to lose all of that?
Beyond
the question of beauty, there is the important question of morality. The choices we are making in this, the most
prosperous nation in the world, are affecting the lives of millions of people
and billions of other forms of life. We
have been horrified by the hundreds of thousands of people who have been
affected by the tsunamis, mudslides, hurricanes, droughts and famines that have
occurred in the last few years. Much of
this has been caused by global temperature changes and the affect on
nature. That doesn’t begin to compare
with what will happen next. Are we
ready to deal with the hundreds of millions
of people who will be killed or displaced when the ice caps continue to melt
and entire cities are drowned under water?
One of the largest cities in the world, Calcutta, India, would be wiped
out. Or, let me bring it closer to home
– are you ready to see these cities destroyed: San Francisco, Miami, New
Orleans (again and more totally!).
We
are very proud – and rightly so – by the work of our relief agency, UMCOR
(United Methodist Committee On Relief).
Do we want them to have to spend more and more money on responding to
natural disasters or would we like them to be able to spend those funds
educating children and teaching mothers how to raise healthy families. Would you rather give money to build a well
so a community can continue to sustain itself or give money for drinking water
in a relief station where thousands of refugees have fled? To a large degree the choices are ours to
make – right now TODAY.
The
Bible says we were created ”in God’s image” (Gen 1:26,27) or as Eugene Peterson
put it, we were created “godlike…reflecting God’s nature.” And so, we must ask the question – how does
God feel about ALL the people and the creatures in this world? Does God cry when God’s children are hurt
or destroyed by the violent changes in nature brought on by global
warming? Does God’s heart break when
God’s graceful birds cannot find a place to nest or a place to rest on their
migratory journey? What does God think
when God looks down on this planet and sees the green disappearing while the
bright electric lights of the cities glare out into the night? And, I can’t help but wonder how Jesus must
feel when he sees us 2,000 years later still “storing up treasures on earth”
instead of valuing heavenly things.
Before
you get too depressed or ready to give up, we must remember that we are a
people of hope. In this Easter season
we must remember that we serve a God of resurrection and new beginnings. We read in our scriptures “nothing will be
impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37) And, even though it may not always be easy,
we can claim along with the Apostle Paul, that we can “do all things through
Christ who strengthens us.”
(Philippians 4:13) There is even
good news to be found in the understanding of being “created in God’s
image.” To be created in God’s image
means not only responsibility, but it also means that we have the ability to be
creative. If we reflect God’s nature,
this means not only can we care about the world around us as God does, but we
have the ability to do something about it through the powers God has given
us! We can use the knowledge we have
gained about our world to make choices that will put things back on the right
track. In his movie, “An Inconvenient
Truth,” Al Gore shows a graph which has an alarming trend in the last few years
of exponential increases in the level of toxic omissions spreading throughout
our world. And, the predictions for the
next few years show something even more staggering. But, then he shows that we already have the technology available
today to make the changes necessary to lower those omission levels back to the
levels of the 1960’s while even reversing some of the damage already done.
All
we need to do is be creative – just like the Great Creator!! We can begin to “think outside the
box.” The United Methodist Women have
developed a catch phrase that sums it up well:
“Reduce, Reuse, then Recycle.” I
like that – it is easy to remember even if it takes a lifetime to learn –
“Reduce, Reuse, then Recycle.” We can
do this! We can be creative in finding
ways to reuse, recycle, or cut back on what we think we need. Sometimes we will even see immediate
benefits. For example, we have cut back
on the printing of the Focus newsletter here at the church by emailing many of those
copies. This will save a few trees and
cut back on toxic omissions through reduced ink, but it is also saving the
church money right now on supplies and postage. This is money we can redirect toward the work of missions. If we were to start carrying our own cloth
bags into stores and got our friends and families to do the same, this would
save the stores money, which hopefully will get passed along to us. Walking or planning our driving better will
not only save on omission fumes but will save you money at the pump and help
you get in better health – maybe even have more time to spend with your
family! We can downsize and learn what
it means to treasure the right things.
God has created a balance to this world – all we need to do is figure
out how to get back “in balance.”
This
is beginning to happen across the globe, even in some locations here in North
America. One such location is the
Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve 100 miles west of Mexico City. This village area is found right in the
area where millions of monarchs migrate each winter. “For the butterfly to live you have to have integration with
human beings,” said the president and co-founder of Alternare. They are proving that this can be done. Not only are the monarchs beginning to
thrive once again, but the villagers are also thriving. They are being taught how to heat their
homes with less smoke and less wood using wood-burning stoves instead of open
fires. This is also safer for their
children with less chance of a child crawling or rolling into an open fire. They are learning how to build a house of longer-lasting
adobe using one tree rather than a faster-decomposing home that requires 25
trees. They are now farming without
chemical fertilizers and to offset the fertilizers they are learning how to use
different natural crops to provide protection from pests. This means the people are now eating a more
varied and healthy diet. Along with the
varied crops they also grow flowers and herbs for the butterflies, which in
turn have provided herbal medicines for the villagers. They are seeing the balance of nature once
again. One might ask…Did humanity save
the butterflies or are the butterflies saving humanity??
It
is interesting to note that the butterfly is one of the symbols in the
Christian tradition for resurrection.
Maybe this story has something to teach us about re-birth and renewed
life. Maybe it is time for us to hear
this “butterfly” story and then to listen once again for the words of the
Creator God, “be responsible.”
I
want to challenge everyone here today to take up this call from God. On your insert you will see on one side a
list of Environmental Justice Principles for you to begin to include in your
prayer time. On the other side is a
list of 10 Simple Things You Can Do For This Place We Call Home. I want to challenge you to look over this
list and pick at least one thing you are not already doing that you can begin
to do before the end of the month.
Begin taking your own cloth bags to the store; Change to energy efficient light bulbs in the most often used
rooms of your house; Move away from
using so many paper products – the UMW just started yesterday using newly made
cloth napkins for all their meetings/meals;
Recycle what you can’t reuse—there are at least two major recycling
locations here in Enid. It may not be
easy at first. It may mean that your
family needs to sit down together and make some plans. It may mean being a little more creative –
but that is why you were made in the image of the Great Creator!
Bulletin Insert----
“It’s become
appallingly clear that our technology
has surpassed
our humanity.” Albert Einstein
“God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature...God said...be
responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living
thing that moves on the face of the earth…”
The Message, Eugene Peterson
“We are witnessing a collision between humanity
& the earth!”
An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore
Ten Simple Things You Can Do For
This Place We Call Home:
1. Cut down on your paper use:
Use reusable towels/napkins & save
them to include with another full load of laundry. Curtail Junk mail — go to www.ftc.gov to learn how to remove
yourself from lists. Receive
newsletters & other mail via email.
Pay bills electronically.
2. Save water: Install faucet aerators & high efficiency
showerheads. Turn off the tap while
shaving, brushing your teeth, etc.
3. Conserve energy in your
home: Install a programmable thermostat, keep heat lower & AC higher, use a
laptop computer vs. desktop, unplug electronics when not in use (many stay in stand-by mode using
electricity all the time), use toaster ovens & slow
cookers vs. full-size oven, start using low-energy light bulbs.
4. Re-use: Reuse towels, etc. more than once until they REALLY need to be
washed, wash out plastic bags/containers to reuse, carry your own water bottle
& refill it from a filter pitcher/system at home, pass on old
clothes/linens or find other uses for them [pet toys?], use both sides of
paper.
5. Recycle: take cans/papers/cardboard/bottles/glass
to recycling locations here in Enid.
Recycle ink cartridges. Use
recycled paper
6. Go natural: Use biodegradable cat litter, learn about natural
pesticides, look for alternatives to toxic cleaning supplies [email
disciple@firstchurchenid.com for suggestions from the UMW] Set up a compost in your backyard.
7. Reduce packaging: Bring your own bags to the store/market, choose concentrates
& refillable containers, don’t use separate plastic bags for fresh produce.
8. Give your car & driving habits a tune-up: Check for proper
tire pressure to get better gas mileage.
Speeding, fast accelerations, and hard braking waste gas. Plan trips to minimize driving or...
9. Why drive when you can walk or ride a bike?
10. Downsize!!
UNITED METHODIST WOMEN
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PRINCIPLES
These principles were approved in October, 1998. Following these principles in our homes, our churches, our schools, our workplaces and our communities can lead to a healthier environment for everyone!!
1.
Practice garbage prevention. This means
countering the consumer & convenience mentality by buying products that
will last, repairing broken products & not buying disposable products.
2.
Recycle and buy
re-cycled. Know what & how you can recycle in your community & area,
then recycle & encourage others to do the same. Ask managers of the stores where you shop to stock recycled goods
& thank them when they do.
3.
Maintain zero
tolerance for producing toxins. This is a two-pronged task. First, phase out use of toxic products. For example, purchase Chlorine-free paper
& find safe alternatives to use of pesticides in your home & yard. Second, work against locating toxic waste
dumps in communities of color & support efforts to cleanup existing sites.
4.
Avoid plastics. Production
& disposal of plastic products are highly toxic operations. Find alternatives to plastic wrap, plastic
decorative items or jewelry, disposable plastic items such as razors or pens.
5.
Conserve energy. This
applies to heating & cooling our buildings, lighting our homes &
driving our cars. With the increasing
popularity of Sports Utility Vehicles that get low gas mileage & are not
subject to the same air-emission standards as cars, this is a rapidly growing
area of concern.
6.
Produce and consume
locally grown food. From farm workers to consumers to animals,
living creatures in our world are at health risks from the great quantities of
pesticides used to grow our food.
Locally grown organic food is a healthy alternative. Also, compost & promote composting.
7.
Use natural, safe
materials. Natural materials usually are gentler on the environment than
synthetics. People with chemical
sensitivities find this especially important to their health.
8. Promote the total well being of all people. This starts
with looking at our own lives to see if our lifestyles include healthy eating,
sleeping, exercise, consumer practices and community patterns. United Methodist Women members spend a lot
of time in meetings. When we get
together, we need to eat healthy food, avoid over scheduling & agendas
without time to stretch & breathe fresh air, & model
environmental-friendly practices.