Looking Forward to September 21, 2025 -- Creation 3

The Scripture Reading this week is Psalm 104:10-28

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The Sermon title is God's Great Web

Early Thoughts: Touch one strand and another vibrates. Tear open one section and the whole structure is weakened. 

This is not only true about the spider web, it is true of a much bigger web, a web of which we are all a part. In the masterful weaving of God's creation we are all attached, all interconnected, What we do impacts every thing else. We forget these links at our own peril.

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As I was typing that paragraph I reminded myself of something called the Butterfly effect. In Chaos theory the Butterfly effect reminds us that seemingly minor things can have massive impacts. The most well known formulation is to suggest that a butterfly flapping its wings in one area can spawn a tornado hundreds or thousands of miles away. That might seem a little outlandish but the fact remains that given the interconnectedness of life, the universe, and everything, we can not be sure what ripples our actions might have. If we take seriously our call to live with respect in creation then we have to think about all the impacts our choices might have.

It is possible to read the Creation stories in Genesis 1 and 2 and decide that creation is there to serve humanity. Form much of human history we appear to have lived with that impression, that human needs/wants are of first importance and the impacts on the world are secondary. Some cultures are more guilty of this than others, with industrialized Western European and North American arguably being the worst of the lot. I am not sure that is a good reading of the Creation accounts, particularly Genesis 1 where humanity is created last and everything created before us is called good in and of its own accord. Then a passage like Psalm 104 comes up and reminds us that is really is not about us.

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These verses from Psalm 104 remind me that God is out there caring for all of creation, the entire web. We humans are, in the grand sweep of billions of years, a tiny point on that web. We have punched above our weight so to speak. We have made an impact that has helped to reshape the earth, the climate, the creation itself. We may have forgotten that it may not actually be all about us.

AS a part of the web, and remembering that when one strand vibrates everything else feels is we may want to ask what vibrations we are creating. Remembering that the stone falling into a lake can, if the ripples are big enough, flood the far shore we might stop to ask what is at risk way over there. Remembering that if part of the web is damaged or destroyed the strength of the whole thing is impacted we might remember we have a duty to help keep the web strong and resilient.

I think it is what we mean when we say that we are called to live with respect in creation...
--Gord

Looking Forward to September 14, 2025 -- Creation 2

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Genesis 2:4-6, 10-14
• Ezekiel 47:1-12
• Revelation 22:1-2

The Sermon title is Water of Creation, Water of Life

Where the River Goes

Early Thoughts: Where there is water there is life.

Many of the world's cities are established near bodies of fresh water, even coastal cities are often along a river heading out to the sea. If you were establishing a settlement out in a dry area one of the first tasks would be to dig a well or some other reliable source of water. All land animals need to have access to water if they are to survive. And then the bodies of water themselves are teeming with life, from micro-organisms to complex animals and plants. 

Where there is water there is life.

Our faith story knows this to be true. The beginning of creation (according to Genesis 2) is the rising of a stream that would water the ground. In our other creation story (Genesis 1) water is present from the beginning and land is created from it -- interestingly many North American Indigenous stories of creation also have water at the beginning with land coming out of it, often on the back of a giant turtle.

Where there is water there is life.

All three of our passages this week remind us of this basic fact. All three talk about the river of life. So do our hymns for this Sunday. As we consider how humanity is going to share this earth with the rest of God's creation we must give consideration to water.

How do we take water for granted? How do we give it honour? How do we care for the river(s) of life?

Some predict that access to water is going to be (or is already becoming) a key issue in international relations. Remember Donald Trump ranting about the big tap that Canada could turn and send water down to the US instead of 'wastefully' letting it flow into the Pacific?  (Just to be clear there is no such tap and watersheds are complex things). As we move forward into a changing climate, where precipitation patterns are already changing, how do we support the river of life -- or at least get out of the way so it can thrive?

Life, we have long been told, first came out of the water. Both faith and science say this is so. Clean fresh water is mandatory for most plants and animals to exist (some actually live better in brackish water).As part of God's Creation, as people who claim to be called to "live with respect in Creation " (as A New Creed has said for 30 year), what is our duty to the water of life?
--Gord

Looking Forward to September 7, 2025 -- Creation 1

AS this is the first Sunday of a new month we will be celebrating Communion this week. It is also a day when we encourage people to consider making a dedicated donation to our Local Outreach Fund.

For the first 3 Sundays of September this year we will be marking Creation Time, a season where we reflect on the world around us and our place in it.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Jeremiah 18:1-6 
• Psalm 139:13-16 
•  Genesis 2:7-9

The Sermon title is Made of Clay, Shaped by God

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Early Thoughts: Lumps of mud, is that what we are? According to Genesis yes, that is what we are. We are formed from the dust of the ground. Now many people will point out that the only reason life is possible on Earth is because of particles, elements, 'stuff' that fell to the surface from the outer reaches of a forming universe that dust from which we were formed is in fact stardust but the fact remains we are, according to our faith story, bits of mud and dust with the breath of life blown into us.

At the same time the story tells us that we are shaped by God. Psalm 139 echoes this claim, this statement of faith. We are formed from the earth but formed with intention. We are linked to the rest of creation and linked to the one who forms us 

ANd also the one who continually re-forms and re-shapes us.

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The Jeremiah passage is about the nation. There is no doubt about that. In its literary setting, in its words it is talking about the nation being re-shaped and re-formed because it is not what the maker wanted it to be. However I think it works for individuals as well.

I think that we are (possibly) malleable lumps of clay, ready to be re-worked. The God who first formed and shaped us is constantly working on us (I remember t-shirts that used to read "Be Patient with Me---God Ain't Finished With Me Yet") to bring us more into harmony with God's vision for who we and the world in which we live could be.

In this Season of Creation I think there is great value in reminding ourselves that we are formed from the same stuff as the rest of Creation. It helps keep us humble and it reminds us that we are inextricably linked to the world around us. We forget that link at our own peril.

In this Season of Creation, and the rest of the year too, there is great value in remembering that we are formed by the Potter (in God's image as the other Creation story tells us). This brings a sacred aspect to our very existence. It calls us to live into that sacredness.

Living in a world the humanity has not always served well, a creation where humanity has often been a poor steward of what was placed in our care it is good to remember that the Potter continues to reshape the vessel. This can be a great source of hope.

What does it mean to you to be told that you are made of clay? What does it mean to be told you are shaped by God? How do those things change who you see yourself as a part of God's Creation?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to October 6, 2024 -- Creation 5, Worldwide Communion Sunday

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St. Francis of Assisi is often seen as having an affinity for God's Creation (particularly animals). The Scripture Readings this week were chosen from readings sometimes used on his feast day (October 4th):

• Isaiah 55:1-3, 10-13
• Psalm 148:7-14

The Sermon title is Celebrate and Praise the Creator!

Early Thoughts:  We sing our praise. We sing our praise and celebration. We have done it repeatedly over the last month. Titles like It's a  Song of Praise to the Maker or This Is God's Wondrous World or All Things Bright and Beautiful or the one we will sing this week Praise With Joy the World's Creator all move us to celebrate the world God created and God the Creator.

And there are many other hymns and songs which do the same thing. Why? Why is this such a common thing in our library of worship song?

I think it is because in our hearts, even those of us who spend most of our times in the urban jungle and inside, looking out at the world through panes of glass or the widows on our computer screen, we know that we meet God in creation. God is revealed in the world around us, particularly in the natural world. 

I have a LOT of nature pictures...

Christian theologians talk about two different types of revelation: General Revelation and Special (I prefer specific myself) Revelation. Special Revelation is what we find/see/hear/experience in the words of Scripture and especially in Jesus, the Word-Made-Flesh. General Revelation is what we find/see/hear/experience in the world around us. God's creation is God's General Revelation. Therefore we sing our praises.

IT is an easy thing to lose track of though, this idea of looking for GOd in the natural world. In a world where too often the earth is valued for how we can use it for our own benefit and many of us spend very little time in nature it can sometimes be easy to lose track of the wonders of creation. We need to be reminded sometimes.

Celebrating the Creator and singing praise for the gifts of creation can also be a bit counter-cultural. One of the reasons that Celtic Christianity was disparaged, rejected, and quelled by Roman/Latin/Imperial Christianity may well have been that the Celtic version of Christianity always upheld the sacredness of nature. When one holds up the sacredness of a thing it is much harder to turn that thing into  mere tool to be used solely for our benefit (as I typed that sentence my thoughts turned to some of the rhetoric used to support slavery and racism). Roman/Latin/Imperial Christianity had, since the time of Constantine, been pressed into service of the Empire. The Empire needed to utilize the earth's resources as "best as they could" and seeing the sacredness of the tree simply as a tree rather than as firewood or a spear shaft might get in the way of that.

We are a part of the world that God has created and is creating. We live in the midst of the creation where God is revealed. Therefore let us sing our praises and celebrate both the gift and the Giver.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 29, 2024 --Creation 4

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The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Genesis 8:1-22
• Revelation 22:1-5

The Sermon title is Paradise is a Garden?

Early Thoughts: Our story begins and ends in a garden. I read the Genesis passage this week and I find it suggestive of Noah returning to a garden. Certainly there are echos of the instructions to Adam in the instructions to Noah.

Maybe paradise (where our story starts and stops) is in fact a garden. [The hours of weeding over the years make me doubt that a bit] But then I remember something I learned a few years ago. Something etymological.

Picture on the cover of Saving Paradise

 9 years ago I read a book called Saving Paradise. Early in that book it talked about how the earliest church focused not on the crucifixion but on paradise. I remember wondering what it might mean if we chose to focus our attention in the same way. That might be another sermon, maybe for Reign of Christ Sunday some year....

Anyway, in the first part of that book I was introduced to the idea that the word 'paradise' has its roots in words relating to a walled enclosure or garden. Add that to our Genesis and Revelation accounts of Eden and the New Jerusalem and yes maybe paradise really is a garden.

What might that mean for how we live in the world?

Now I am remembering a more recently read book. This was a book on Celtic Christianity and spirituality called Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul. In this book it is suggested that one of the reasons Celtic thought was incompatible with "orthodox" Roman Imperial Christianity was because it raises up the sacredness of creation. Empire (Roman, British, American to name a few) is built and maintained largely by seeing the creation as a tool and/or raw materials to use as the structures of empire are built and maintained. To name Creation as sacred and something to be honoured and treasured for what it is rather than what we can do with it gets in the way. How do we see the world around us now? Is it gift to be celebrated or tool/raw materials to be utilized effectively? Do we sometimes like to claim one answer while our actions reveal something different?

We are invited to see the world as a garden. Or maybe we are invited to pine for the time we will return to the garden. I am now pondering what it might mean to see the world as a garden (though maybe without the wall implied by the etymology of the word paradise).
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 22, 2024 -- Creation 3

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Job 37:14-24
• Psalm 104:24-32

The Sermon title is Can We Understand It All?

Early Thoughts: Sometimes we need to be a little bit humble. Humanity, as a whole, understands a whole lot about physics, chemistry, and biology. We know a great deal about how the world works. We don't know or understand everything -- not even those people who are at the top of those scientific fields claim to know or understand everything. Those of us making do with high school science classes or maybe some post-secondary science can certainly not claim to know how the universe works.

Humility is a good thing.

Which is what led me to look at Job for this week. Job is a strange book, but one which pushes us to consider some pretty deep questions. Certainly, and for some very obvious reasons, it is often used to get into questions of justice and fairness and "why bad things happen to good people?". But I also think as the text pushes forward it raises questions about humility.

The section we are reading this week comes from the end of one of the speeches of Job's so-called friends and supporters (personally I don't find them to be all that supportive to Job). As Elihu draws his soliloquy to a close he pushes Job to consider that he can not know or comprehend the full mind of God. Job can not know how the world God has created works because God's majesty is so far beyond our existence. Interesting theology of nature perhaps, and not one I totally agree with but it raises some interesting questions, particularly given what comes next...

In the next chapters, starting literally the verse after this reading, God finally shows up to respond to Job's complaints and accusations. Speaking out of a whirlwind God asks Job a series of questions and issues a series of challenges about Job's level of knowledge and control over the way the world was created, the way the world works. (There are multiple sections from these chapters that I could have chosen to use this week instead of the words of Elihu.) By the beginning of chapter 42 Job responds in humility, humbled before the majesty of God.

In context both Elihu's words and God's response out of the whirlwind are not really about eco-theological concerns. They are about recognizing the God who is in control and in charge. However I have come to think that humility and being willing to say "we don't know how that works" or "we don't really know how to do that" or (to re-purposes some words of Hamlet) "There are more things in heaven and earth...than are dreamt of in [our] philosophy".

We want to know it all. We want to understand it all. Humans are, and I suspect have always been an inquisitive and curious species. We also tend to be a little bit proud. Sometimes a little knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing. We might start to think we have all the answers. We don't. Interestingly I find that often the people with the most knowledge and understanding are more likely to be the ones who admit there are limits to what we know and understand (and that limit keeps changing as time goes by). Some of the people most insistent that we have all the answers are the ones who have limited direct experience in the field -- take the furor over a certain Olympic boxer this summer and questions around gender as an example.

In the most recent United Church faith statement A Song of Faith God is repeatedly referred to as Holy Mystery. I remember talking to someone whose (either agnostic or atheist) son was a physicist, working at a high-level. The son told his father that beyond a certain point they could not explain how things worked, it was a mystery. Faith and science agree that there are things (they may not always agree on what things) that can not be explained. We have to be humble enough to accept the mystery (at least temporarily -- science and curiosity will continue to explore and search for answers) and trust that there is meaning in it.

HOw do we live with the reality that we don't, or possibly can't, know everything about the world? First are we willing to admit it? Then how do we live in the uncertainty? As people of faith I think part of the answer is trust. Part of the answer is trust in the God who has created and is creating both to continue to reveal the world to humanity and to be at work in the world around us. After all God loves the world that God calls good (and yes that is a faith statement, not a scientifically provable claim).
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 15, 2024 -- Creation 2

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Genesis 2:4b-22
• Psalm 104:14-23

From Hamlet Act 2,Sc. 2 Image Source

The Sermon title is How Important Are We?

Early Thoughts: Is humanity the apex of God's creation? Or are we just another part?

It is easy to read Scripture and think that humanity is indeed the apex, the pinnacle of God's creation. It the hymn to creation we find in Genesis 1 humanity is created last. In the second creation story, the one we find in Genesis 2, humanity is created first and then helps God name all the other creatures. In both stories one could get the sense that the rest of the creation, the flora and fauna in particular, are there for humanity to use.

Then there is Psalm 8 which says (in a passage a later writer would refer to in Hebrews 2):

³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have established;
⁴ what are humans that you are mindful of them,
    mortals that you care for them?

⁵ Yet you have made them a little lower than God
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
⁶ You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under their feet,
⁷ all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
⁸ the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

 That seems a clear statement about humanity's importance (at least according to humanity).

But is that a true representation? From a another point of view humanity is, at best, a mere blip in the history of the planet and the cosmos. Even if humanity manages to make the planet uninhabitable for humans life and the planet will continue. We might have a lot of ability to manage and alter the world around us but still the world would continue if we were suddenly gone. [Some might say the world would continue better if we were suddenly gone but I am not sure the equation is that simple.]

When I consider our relationship to the rest of creation I have to wonder if seeing ourselves as the pinnacle, the apex of creation has been healthy for us or for the wider world. Seeing the rest of creation as being there to serve us has maybe made us, as a species, a little arrogant. It has maybe given us a 'me first' attitude towards our brothers and sisters. If, as many cultures in history have done, we refer to earth as our Mother does our care for the earth match how we would actually care for a parent?

I don't think our relationship with the rest of creation has always been as it is now. I do think that earlier iterations of human society have had a different sense of inter-relationship than has developed since (largely) the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Western Europe. At the same time I think we can sometimes romanticize how those other understandings might have looked in practice. Human activity has always impacted the world around them. Part of the issue is that we have developed the ability to make more of an impact and not always paused to consider the ramifications of that ability.

What happens if we try to see ourselves not as the top of the pyramid but part of an inter-connected web of relationships? Does that help us be more faithful followers of God who we name as Creator? If we see those other things that God has created (particularly flora and fauna) not as our tools or servants but as siblings how might we act differently?

As a species, and certainly as individuals at times, we can get an elevated view of how important we are. That can lead us to do wonderful things. It can also lead us to be really selfish. According to our faith stories God created humanity as a part of the larger world. We are told to care for the earth, maybe to subdue it or maybe to be stewards -- caring for something placed in our care by the one whom we follow. I suspect that to be faithful to the God who has created and is creating, the God who calls us to care for the earth means we need to stop and re-evaluate how important we are (positively or negatively) in shaping the world into the Good Creation that God first called into being.

Humanity is an important part of the equation (for now at least). That does not mean we are so important we get first billing. But we are important -- so are our siblings in God's creation.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 8, 2024 -- Creation 1

 We will be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion this Sunday.  All are welcome to join us at the table.

 In recent years churches have been encouraged to take a few weeks in September (usually from just after Labour Day until Thanksgiving) to mark Creation Time. The intent of Creation Time is to reflect on how we as humans interact with the rest of God's Creation, or as the New Creed puts it "to live with respect in creation". We will be doing that this year.  Over the next few weeks we will hear most of Psalm 104, which is a hymn to creation and various other  passages that will, hopefully, help us reflect on our role as part of that which God has created.

This week's Scripture Readings are:

• Genesis 1:1-25
• Psalm 104:5-13

The Sermon title is Who Has Created and Is Creating...

Earthrise

Early Thoughts: In the United Church statement of faith we call the New Creed one of the first things we say about God is that God has created and is creating". The stories of our faith (as translation in the old King James) begin with "In the beginning God created...". God is many things in our lives and in our world but the first thing is that God is one who creates.

How does it change our relationship to the world around us to name that it is a creation of God, who then calls it good? Why is it important to say that God has created the world in which we live?

I think it is vital. Next week we will talk about humanity's place in creation (which is why this week we cut off the hymn to creation just before God says "let us make humans"). This week we pause to remind ourselves that creation is God's work. We pause to remind ourselves that creation has value just because God created it, not because of how we might be able to use it for our benefit. Certainly we will explore that deeper next week when we ask how important we really are.

Another gift that comes from reminding ourselves that the world is a creation of God and that God calls it good is that it pushes us to see the goodness of the world. Why does God call it good? In Christian tradition the Creation is one of the places where God's Word is written, one of the ways God is revealed to us. What does the world tell us about God?

There is a third point about calling God the Creator. What I like about the New Creed phrase is that it reminds us that the work of creation (and re-creation) is not actually finished. The hymn to creation that we find in Genesis 1 comes to the 7th day and rests because the work of creation is finished. But as I read the stories of Scripture I meet a God who continues, in different ways, to create (and sometimes to destroy and re-create -- looking at Noah for an example).

There is a theological position known as Deism. One of the markers of Deism is that God created the world but then stopped intervening in the world. Some have referred to the God you meet in Deism as the "Clockmaker God"; a God who set it all up, would the spring then sat back to watch it play out. It is worth noting that some of the prominent founders of the United States were Deists (despite the often repeated claims that the US was founded as a 'Christian Nation').

I find a deistic view of God to miss the point of Scripture. In my opinion if God looks at creation and calls it good and God seeks to be in relationship with that creation then God is going to remain interactive with that creation in some form. And that interaction means that God is still creating. The world is not a finished product. Where do you see God at work creating, re-creating, or renewing the world?

One final note about saying that God is the Creator. This is a faith statement, a philosophical statement. It is not a scientific statement. Genesis 1 or Psalm 104 are not science or history textbooks. Saying that God is the one who creates does not negate what we have learned about how the world was formed, about evolution, about how the world works. It does tell us about the God who is at work in the world and loves the world and calls it good. I see no reason why faith and science have to be enemies. We may delve a bit further into that topic on our third Sunday of Creation time when we ask ourselves how much we can understand about creation.

For this week we start with the affirmation that God has been at work creating the world from the beginning. We affirm that the world is God's handiwork. And we ask ourselves how that shapes what we see, how we act, how we perceive the world around us.
--Gord