Earth Day Reflections
Earth Day is April 22nd, and we will be hosting an Earth Day prayer service at Mallard Creek. We hope you will join us, and in the meantime, enjoy this Earth Day reflection.
“God’s Nature Revealed in Nature” by Andrea Thomas
Scripture: Psalm 65:5-13
God created this earth, and us, to reflect God’s own being. Scripture tells us that God breathed life into the world as God created it, which means that God gave a piece of Godself to all of creation. God’s nature is reflected and revealed in all of nature, both the wild and the demure, the unpredictable and the mundane, the powerful and the meek. The Scripture passage shows two different sides of nature and of God’s nature. On the one hand, we have God creating the roaring seas, raising the mountains with strength, dressing the earth in power. God’s nature is so powerful that even the people on the ends of the earth fear God’s miracles. On the other hand, this Scripture describes God nurturing the earth: watering it, sending rain, softening the ground, blessing it with crops, filling the pastures, covering the hills with happiness. At the end of both descriptions of God’s interacting with nature, the Psalmist describes everything shouting and singing for joy, praising God. We praise God for who God is, both in the wild parts that we don’t understand and the gentle parts that take care of us. Even though we may fear what we don’t understand, we can take refuge in God’s protection because we know that despite God’s strength and power, despite God being the One who could raise and crush mountains on a whim, God chooses to tend gently to us. God chooses to nurture with a loving hand, as a loving Mother, God’s creation and us. God chooses to be intimately involved in every aspect of creation.
God certainly could have created this world for a source of entertainment. God could have decided to create us then just sit back and watch how it all unfolded. But instead, God chooses us every single day. God chooses this world every single day, and God calls it good. This world is good. And yet, no matter how many times God blesses us with crops and good weather and no matter how much God tries to cover our hills with happiness, we forsake God. We abuse God’s good creation. We would be remiss to reflect on Earth Day without acknowledging the painful toll that our sin has inflicted on this earth. We must acknowledge that there are communities in this world, in this country even, who do not have daily access to clean water. There are communities who suffer from air pollution and garbage lining their streets. There are whole species of animals dying out from our abuse. There are animals in our seas choking and dying on garbage and toxic waste. There are icebergs slowly melting and threatening to take our entire world with them as they melt away, and there is a climate change coming that threatens to destroy all that we have worked for, and destroy our own descendants and loved ones.
We have caused a lot of pain in this world. We, the ones to whom God’s first commandment was the fill the earth and care for it. We, the ones whom God continues to choose as God’s own people day after day, no matter what we do. It is our turn now to fulfill God’s commandment to care for this earth and to choose God’s creation and call it good as God has chosen us. We must commit anew to restoring God’s goodness in this earth by stopping our abuse and destruction of it. We must cry out to God for mercy for our sins, and seek out justice for our earth and neighbors. We must remember that God’s nature revealed in nature is wild and unpredictable, but it is merciful and just. We should hope to be like it.
So go forth on this Earth Day in peace and in justice. Be grateful for this incredible earth we have been given, and for your place within it. Be honored and humbled that God chooses you and calls you good. Be convicted to work for environmental justice and take care of our earth. Recycle, raise awareness, volunteer, clean up trash in your communities, call your congressmen and women, gather with a community of faith for climate justice, pray to God, and believe the science. Our world is real. Climate change is real. But our God is real and our faith is real too. Go forth and change the world. Be the good that God intended us to be. Amen.