Bible Text:

“The earth is the Lords and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; for He has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.”                                               (Psalm 24:1-2)                               

Tomorrow is Earth Day. Are you excited? Are you ready? On Earth Day you and I are supposed to plant a tree, or recycle something in particular, or pick up litter—something that shows signs of our care for the earth. It’s mostly a secular emphasis, which probably began with Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, 40 years ago. 

I’d like to propose that we absorb Earth Day into our liturgical calendar. Take it out of the exclusively secular realm and put it into the sacred. I suggest that because Earth Day deals with sacred issues.

 I’ve never preached an Earth Day sermon before. I took one stab at a sermon on the environment back in 1969 in my first church. I called it “Ecological Eschatology.” I was impressed with my clever title. People left church that day shaking their heads. It made sense to me. Ecology is the science of biological organisms and the environment. Eschatology is the doctrine of last things, of final things. Thus, ecological eschatology has to do with the matter of taking care of the earth or we’ll lose everything. However, I don’t think I’ll ever foist that sermon on anyone again! 

This is not an easy subject upon which to preach. There is disagreement and political debate on both the right and the left. If you are too vocal about environmental issues, you are labeled an "environmental wacko.” If you are unsympathetic, you are labeled a “ruthless consumer or profit monger.”

 What can we say as Christian believers? Is the earth in danger or not? A child once said to his parents, “If your generation doesn’t learn to save the planet, it won’t matter if my generation can’t learn to read or write.” Are those words extreme? Or are they darkly accurate?

 What does Scripture say? How does it apply? I am not an authority on the environment, but I do believe we should say something. I believe the church must exercise some leadership.

THE EARTH BELONGS TO GOD

For one thing, we must affirm that the earth belongs to God. The first words of the Old Testament in Genesis are, “In the beginning God created…” Even more pointed are the words of Psalm 24. I can still recall my father reading these words often from our old King James Bible, when I was a child. In that version the Psalm goes something like this, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. They and all that dwell therein.” 

Our hymnody proclaims the value of the earth as God’s creation.

·         When we sang early this morning, “For the beauty of the earth…Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.” (#92)

·         “This is my Father’s World” (#144)

·         “God of the sparrow, God of the whale, God of the swirling stars, how does the creature say ‘awe’? How does the creature say ‘praise’?” (#122)

·         O God who shaped creation at earth’s chaotic dawn, your word of power was spoken, and lo, the dark was gone.” (#443)

 This is our affirmation of faith. Do you believe it? Do you believe that this world belongs to God, that it is a gift from the Creator?

 The Old Testament figure Job struggled with God mightily during his lifetime. All kinds of evil and misfortune befell Job. His friends wanted him to argue with God. His friends wanted him to abandon God. Finally, toward the very end of the book, Job demands an audience with God. He received that audience. Job received one of the longest speeches of God recorded in the entire Bible. (See chapter 38.)

 Listen to some of the words from a fresh translation.

 Where were you when I planned the earth?

Tell me, if you are so wise.

What were its pillars built on?

Who laid down its cornerstone,

while the morning stars burst out singing

and the angels shouted for joy!

Were you there when I stopped the waters,

as they issued gushing from the womb?

When I wrapped the ocean in clouds

and swaddled the sea in shadows?

When I closed it in with barriers

and set its boundaries, saying,

Here you may come, but no farther;

here shall your proud waves break.

Have you seen where the snow is stored

or visited the storehouse of hail

Where is the west wind released

and the east wind sent down to earth

Who cuts a path for the thunderstorm

and carves a road for the rain,

to water the desolate wasteland

the land where no man lives

to make the wilderness blossom

and cover the desert with grass

Who gathers up the storm clouds,

slits them and pours them out

turning dust to mud

and soaking the cracked clay?[i]

What God is saying is that human beings are one small part of a very large picture. The first and most important affirmation for us to make must be this: the earth belongs to God. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.

WE ARE INCREASINGLY ISOLATED 

Then we must recognize something. We are increasingly isolated from the earth. We live in isolated environments. We are isolated in our homes, in our cars, in our schools, in our workplaces. We are surrounded by glass and steel and plastic. We are less and less in touch with the earth. It is not our fault exactly, but it is a fact.

 You may or may not know that there is a Sunday on the calendar of the Christian year in the Methodist Church called “Rural Life Sunday.” For a long time I felt like that was an anachronism. After all, I grew up in the suburbs, I lived in the suburbs, I’ve served churches in the suburbs. But I’ve changed my mind. I believe Rural Life Sunday is more relevant than we know. Maybe Rural Life Sunday should become the church’s Earth Day celebration. 

The fact is that rural life is disappearing. For the first time in the history of the planet, the largest number of people live in cities around the globe. We are not as careful with precious soil as we ought to be. We know less and less of where our food comes from. 

Several years ago our two young grandsons were looking at my garden and noticed the broccoli plants. They studied them very carefully—asking me several questions. Finally one of my grandsons spoke up and said this, “Grandpa, next year can you plant broccoli with cheese?”

 We introduce chemicals into the food chain. We have 74,000 chemicals right now that did not exist 60 years ago. Twenty-four hundred new chemicals are introduced every year.[ii] 

Maybe my suggestion for Earth Day 2002 is this: take a short nature walk tomorrow. Go someplace where you can notice every growing thing, every variety in the soil. Watch the chipmunks and the squirrels. I was out walking one morning in the fog near where we live and came almost nose to nose with two deer. I don’t know who was more startled, me or the deer!

 We are increasingly isolated from our environment. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. 

THE BIBLICAL MANDATE 

The Biblical mandate is clear: we are to care for the earth. Somewhere I read this piece.

 If the earth were only a few feet in diameter, floating a few feet above a field somewhere, people would come from everywhere to marvel at it. People would walk around it, marveling at its big pools of water, its little pools and the water flowing between the pools. People would marvel at the bumps on it, and the holes in it, and they would marvel at the very thin layer of gas surrounding it and the water suspended in the gas. The people would marvel at all the creatures walking around the surface of the ball and at the creatures in the water. The people would declare it as sacred because it was the only one, and they would protect it so that it would not be hurt. The ball would be the greatest wonder known, and people would come to pray to it, to be healed, to gain knowledge, to know beauty and to wonder how it could be. People would love it, and defend it with their lives because they would somehow know that their lives, their own roundness, could be nothing without it. If the earth were only a few feet in diameter.”[iii]

 That’s an image that helps me a great deal. One of our young grandsons received a reminder card for him to go to the dentist. The card had on one side of it a number of graphics that said, “Make the world a little cleaner, a little brighter.” I think that’s exactly what we are called to do. It’s good counsel.

 The Book of Genesis actually has two commands. One says we are to have dominion over the earth. The other says we are to till and keep the earth. I fear we have too much dominion and not enough tilling and keeping. The conservative columnist Ann Coulter wrote recently, “God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, ‘The earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It’s yours.’”[iv] That’s not the way I read the story. 

Earth is a gift. Use it. But use it well. Do not use it up.

 One of the great debates now is around the issue of global warming. The debate rages. Is Western Civilization the cause of global warming, or not? Most of us are aware that we set new record high temperatures this past week here in Pittsburgh. Is that an indicator of global warming, or not? I am told that in 40 years Glacier National Park will have no glaciers.

A few months ago the huge Larsen-B ice shelf in Antarctica broke off. Fifty billion tons of ice sheet disintegrated in less than one month. What does that mean?

 One response is that it’s arrogant to think that human beings can cause this to happen. Another response is that it’s arrogant to think that human beings can solve it.

 Can we have economic development and environmental care? European nations seem to be saying “yes.” The United States seems to avoid the question. We long for simpler solutions. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.

 Are we responsible for each other? There’s a story in the Talmud about two men who were out in a boat. One starts to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. “What are you doing?” cries one. The second says, “This is none of your business. I’m boring under my seat.” 

Christians believe we are responsible for the world and for one another. We are also responsible to turn fear and despair into courage and hope.

 One writer put it this way: “The great issue of the 19^th century was slavery. The great issue of the 3^rd and 4^th decades of the 20^th century was the rise of Hitler. The great issue of about 30 and 40 years ago was civil rights. In our time, the morally transcendent question is whether we will take steps to preserve God’s creation as intact as is still possible.”[v]

 Can we learn enough about our environment to advocate responsible political decisions? Can we alter our own lifestyles as we learn how to protect creation? I think we can, and we must. Martin Luther King once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. We are followers of that One who revealed God to us. That’s all we really need to know.