Earth Day Sunday 2001
Witnessing to the Resurrection: God's Caring for Creation
Sermon Notes

Scripture makes significant claims about God’s creation: God created it; God calls human beings to the task of stewardship; human sinfulness has hurt creation; God heals what human beings have broken; God calls people of faith to care for creation.

Act I: The Earth is the Lord's! (Psalm 24: 1)

Creation is the handiwork of a loving God who saw all that was made and pronounced it "very good." God delights in creation and creation delights in praising the creator. "Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!" (Psalm 150: 6)

Act II: Called to a ministry of care

God has given humankind a special responsibility to care for creation. Genesis 2:15 says the Lord God took the human and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and to keep it. A form of the Hebrew verb "shamar," meaning "to keep," is also used in the Aaronic blessing with which we sometimes conclude our worship services: "May the Lord bless you and keep you" (Numbers 6:24). We are to nurture, sustain and care for creation the way God nurtures, sustains and cares for us.

Act III: The land mourns

Our relationship with God, with each other and with creation are all part of the same fabric. Pull any one thread and the whole piece begins to unravel. Human selfishness, ignorance, fear and mistrust have ecological consequences. The Bible is not hesitant to make connections between human sinfulness and the degradation of creation. "The Earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant" (Isaiah 24: 5). "There is no faithfulness or loyalty, and no knowledge of God in the land. . . . Therefore the land mourns . . . even the fish of the sea are perishing" (Hosea 4: 1-3).

Act IV: God enters creation to redeem it

God became incarnate in Jesus Christ, became part of the "stuff" of creation to heal and restore the relationships broken by human sinfulness. "God was in Christ reconciling the world" (2 Co. 5: 19). An early hymn praises Jesus Christ, the firstborn of creation, the firstborn from the dead, through whom God was pleased to reconcile all things, whether on Earth or in heaven (Colossians 1: 15-20 ).

The resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s great victory over sin and death, is a pledge and sign not only of our resurrection, but also of God's promised redemption of all creation. "[The resurrection of Christ] is not an intrapsychic event; rather it appeals to the Christian's solidarity with the stuff of creation that God has destined for resurrection glory." (J. Christiaan Beker, Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought, Augsburg Fortress, 1980.)

Act V: Witnessing to the resurrection

Christians are called to witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In our words and actions we are called to reflect the love of the one whose victory over sin and death was a victory for the whole of creation. "The church is not an elite body, separated from a doomed world," writes New Testament scholar, J. Christiaan Beker, "but a community placed in the midst of the cosmic community of creation. Its task is not merely to win souls but to bear the burdens of a creation, to which it not only belongs but also to which it must also bear witness. . . . The vocation of the church is not self-preservation for eternal life, but service to the created world in the sure hope of the world's transformation at the time of God's final triumph." (Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought, Augsburg Fortress, 1980.)

1. Confronted with the growing evidence that climate change is real and that human activity is the primary cause, Trinity Episcopal Church in Iowa City, Iowa, hosted a Lenten study on a "Liturgy of Creation" with speakers on global warming and a "global warming tour" of Iowa churches in advance of the presidential caucuses in 2000. Church members have also participated in letter and postcard campaigns, writing to their state and federal officials on global warming.

(For more information on faith-based responses to global warming call 1-888-9-CLIMATE.)

2. Solana Beach Presbyterian Church, near San Diego, received one of six "2000 Energy Star for Congregations Awards" from the US EPA. Following an energy audit, the congregation invested in energy-saving measures, including new lighting fixtures and energy-efficient light bulbs. The Solana Beach Church witnesses to Christ's redeeming power every time they turn on the lights!

(For information on how to save energy in your congregation's facilities call 1-800-288-1346.)

We cannot, by our own efforts, "save the earth." Only God, who is the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer of all creation, can do that. But we can join God in that good work. In our homes, at our places of work, in our times of recreation, and in our congregations, we can begin to model the kind of love and care for the Earth that God has for us and for all creation.