Rev’d Dr Elizabeth McWhae
15th Sunday after Pentecost – Psalm 79:1-9, 1 Timothy 3:14-4:6, Luke 16:1-13.
INTRODUCTION:
As I have been thinking about this sermon, I asked myself why we need or have a Season of Creation in our church. I hope this sermon will provide you with some food for thought and leave you with questions to explore.
Whether you believe in climate change or not, or just don’t care, it is not surprising that the subject of ecology and creation is a big one these days. Probably because of all the natural disasters occuring, global warming, toxic algal blooms, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and I could go on.
Academics such as David Suzuki in Canada, Sir David Attenborough in the UK and many thousands of conservationists have alerted us to the dire state of our planet. Many indigenous cultures have also reminded us of the need to live gently on this earth. And, this may surprise you, so have a number of Christian and Jewish theologians written about our relationship with creation. They have done so since the 1970s and come from various Christian, Jewish and even Islamic traditions.
So this is not something new, but rather a collective of world voices growing louder and louder.
POINT 1:
We should listen to these voices because as Christians we believe that God created this world. In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth…..God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good. God did not just create humans, but all living things, all living beings. We depend upon the creation to sustain us. Harm done to our world will eventually catch up with us, which is why we must learn to value the creation and not abuse it.
Now this is where things get very tricky and it’s because of this verse. God blessed them and God said to them,”Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and upon every living thing that moves upon the earth.” The problem is that these verses seem to imply that humanity is to have control over creation or they have been interpreted this way. This is the reason why many ecologists are so opposed to Christianity.
So, there is a problem here. Ecotheologians have pointed it out for a while. This is how it can be summed up. Ecotheology offers a dual critique, both an ecological critique of Christianity and a Christian critique of ecological destruction. To put that more clearly, as Christians we must offer an explanation for the above verse from Genesis and any other verses in scripture that imply humans can do whatever they want to the creation simply because they are the top dogs, but we must also speak against danger to the creation which God has made. So, we need to acknowledge that we have got things wrong in the past and also be part of a new solution.
POINT 2:
Now, let’s have a look at Jeremiah. He was an Old Testament prophet who lived from 650-570 BC. Born into a priestly family he was a reluctant prophet. His ministry was very perilous and tumultuous. His life was marked by opposition, imprisonment, and personal struggles. His mission from God was to call the people of Israel back to God. You see, the people had turned to idols and their leaders both political and religious were corrupted by power. So Jeremiah was a prophet who was full of lament, and grief. His words were constantly falling on deaf ears. The verses we read today are an example of one of his oracles where he speaks of overwhelming grief. Jeremiah’s grief, God’s grief and Israel’s grief because they feel abandoned by God. Even the land is affected by this grief. The harvest is passed, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. The people are not saved because they have not listened to Jeremiah’s message from God. Because they will not listen, their temple will be destroyed and they will be deported to Babylon. All of this Jeremiah tells them, but they will not reform or believe him. Of course what he says comes to pass.
POINT 3:
My question to us this morning is who are the prophets like Jeremiah in our day? Because there will always be people with prophetic vision. These are not people who predict the future. They are people who observe the past and present and see what our future may look like. And when it comes to our planet’s wellbeing, it may be people outside the traditional church. It may also be theologians who consider how we are dealing with the world that we live in, ecotheologians. There are plenty of voices and books to read, if you are interested. Try Thomas Berry, or Sally McFague or Rachel Carson or look at the life of Saint Francis of Assisi.
As Christians we are people who should be discerning the movement of the Spirit in our lives and in the world. If we are blind or disinterested in what is happening to our planet, if we do not listen to the secular and religious prophets of our day, then will God not be grieved? Do we want to bring grief to God simply because we would not listen?
CONCLUSION:
I am fully aware that this is not your typical Sunday sermon. But I think it is the task of a preacher to challenge our theological beliefs if they are not helpful to us or to God. How we view God and our relationship with God is crucial to how we relate to the world that we live in.
Let me give you an example to show you why how we understand and relate to God matters deeply.
Here are 2 differing ways of seeing God. The hierarchical view goes
like this. God
Jesus
Holy Spirit
Man
Woman
Child
Animals
Plants
But there is another way of seeing God that is communal and circular. And it goes like this: God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Man, Woman, Child, Animals, Plants It is a circular view where everyone is connected to each other and God and our creation.
So I leave you with a question? What’s your view?