Tag: creation

Pastor’s Notes 6/27/2024

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.        –Romans 8:24-25

Saint Augustine is credited with saying: “Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.”

As we conclude our series about caring for creation, we will examine the cries and sufferings of the Earth and all of God’s creatures. We will explore the need to let holy anger move us toward the courage to be hopeful and active for justice. To serve God and community, by facing the challenges of our troubled world, we must do so with hope.

Hope is a verb that requires action and intentionality on our part. According to seasonofcreation.org, hope can manifest in different ways. Hope is not merely optimism nor is it a utopian illusion or waiting for a magical miracle. Hope is trust that our action makes sense, even if the results of this action are not immediately seen.

Hope doesn’t act alone. Earlier in his letter to the Romans, Paul explains the close relationship of hope as a growth process: ‘endurance produces character, and character produces hope’ (Rom 5:4). Patience and endurance are close associates of hope. These are qualities that lead to hope.

This hope through patience and endurance will enable to us groan with creation as it suffers. We must offer not only care and compassion but solutions and action to help her renew and recover. We have been called by God to as partners in serving creation and we claim accountability for the wrongs we have done and strive to do better moving forward.

On Sunday we share aloud the Green Chalice Covenant as we moved to restore hope for and with creation:

As children of God and followers of Christ Jesus, we covenant to:

Worship God with all creation and pray for the healing of the earth.

Study the climate crisis and engage others in climate solutions.

Repent and forgive for the harm we have inflicted on the earth that sustains life.

Advocate for eco-justice public policies and witness by living sustainable lifestyles.

Rest in God’s good creation and invite others to delight in nature.

Pastor’s Notes 6/21/2024

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made.
– Romans 1:20

My Grandpa Marshall wasn’t much of a church goer. He believed in God and appreciated the act of worship but sitting on wooden pews, confined indoors for an hour with a preacher “telling him what to believe” didn’t constitute a holy moment for Grandpa. Now, if we would have told him that church is sitting by a stream with a pole in hand while taking a moment to thank God for the glories of creation, he would have been a charter member out fishing every Sunday.

According to the article “Out in the Wilderness” published by the National Council of Churches Ecojustice Program (now Creation Justice Ministries), since the church’s earliest days, Christian theologians have referred to great outdoors as a source of inspiration as the Book of Nature—God’s complement to the Book of Scripture. The Book of Nature can be read anywhere, of course, but its letters can be discerned most clearly in the pristine and undisturbed quality of wilderness.

Wilderness is an essential part of the Biblical story. Wilderness areas have been home to some of the most formative events in the Bible. Moses’ call to leadership, the exodus of the Israelites, David’s character and reputation, Elijah’s prophetic vision, John the Baptist’s preparation to herald Christ, and Jesus’ testing for ministry.

Throughout time, humanity has connected with God in the wilderness. Holy encounters happen in nature. While out in God’s backyard we are not only reminded of our beloved-ness but often deepen our commitment to be in partnership as earth’s caretakers. To truly be in awe of God one simply needs to intentionally go looking for God. And as Paul notes in his letter to the church in Rome, God’s presence will be seen through all that God has made.

Join me in worship on Sunday in the chapel or on our YouTube page as we continue to explore our covenant as carers for creation. We will celebrate our wilderness stories and commit ourselves to seeing God’s handprint in all of creation with the hopes of claiming actions to become faithful stewards. 

Pastor’s Notes 6/7/2024

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

Then God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:7

We are one with the earth, or in the least we should be. The stories of creation in Genesis remind us of how deeply and intricately connected all of life is. Earth sustains and fills all of creation for we are in a symbiotic relationship with all that God has made, starting with the earth itself. During the month of June we will explore our covenant with God and creation and the importance for living sustainably as a faithful response.

In an article about learning environmental responsibility from the Old Testament, Ellen F. Davis says, “Being fully human means also understanding our unbreakable bond with the land, the material base of life. One cannot go more than a few chapters in the Old Testament without seeing some vivid reference to land and its importance for humanity, beginning with the image of adam (in Hebrew meaning “man, humankind”) formed from Adamah (“soil”) in Genesis 2:7.”

In worship on Sunday, we will explore in greater detail ancient Israel’s connection with the land and the importance it played in their understanding and faith. Davis also mentioned that living into our humanity means honoring God and those who preceded us by living within the natural limits of the world, caring for the soil, and living wisely on the earth that has been left to us.

Pastor’s Notes 5/31/2024

Posted on by Wende Gonzales

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 humans[a] in our image, according to our likeness…   – Genesis 1:25-26a

This Sunday we will begin a series reminding ourselves of our covenant with God to care for creation. Our scripture for Sunday is Genesis 1:24-27 and if we look closely at the quote above, we notice something interesting about humanity. On the day in which God created humanity, God first made cattle and wild things.

What?

I always just assumed we got our own day, ya’ know. But according to scripture humanity, made in the Holy’s likeness, was quite possibly crafted from was left after making cows… That is humbling information that I think is also telling.

Like everything else, we too are created. We have been formed and shaped and craftily knit into these complex and individually unique packages. Thank goodness God also gave us some extra parts the livestock didn’t need to be earthly companions capable of some incredible things. We do bear a role of responsibility, only we aren’t superior to creation for we too are a part of it.

We have been created. So, we are creatures, we are creations, and quite often we forget this amazing little detail in our holy DNA. Sunday we will sit with the truth that we are God’s created ones, that we are not greater than the rest of God’s making but one with it. We are formed in God’s image, crafted with other beings and so the ecological crisis the world faces is also a spiritual and religious one. We will prayerfully explore our role and responsibility as Christ’s beloved to care for God’s creation. I look forward to worshipping with you in the chapel or on livestream. 

Brett