November 26, 2009 — 9:59 AM
Honoring God’s Covenant
Scripture: Genesis: 9:8-17
Theme introduction
This week we continue with the sermon series based on A Social Creed for the 21st Century. We’ve been using this creed, which was adopted by the PC(USA) in June 2008, to help us as a community to explore different topics that seldom, if ever, get discussed in most churches.
I am not speaking on Rock ‘n Roll. Much to my chagrin. It really would have been run to complete the cycle since I preached on sex in August and drugs in September. But I guess since I am preaching on the topic of “For All Creation,” I am, in a way, preaching on the rocks. Just saying.
We will hear the story of God’s first covenant with creation – the covenant with Noah – and we will highlight a portion of the Creed to help us to discuss how we are to treat creation and what can we do in the face of looming environmental crises.
Sermon
When we talk about the stories of the bible, we tend to focus on the people in them and God’s interactions with those people and not so much on the rest of creation. That’s understandable. We are, after all, people. We want to see how the stories there relate to us and to our daily lives. We often look to see if God acts in similar ways towards us as God did to the people spoken of in the Scriptures.
One of the main messages of the bible is that God is steadfast and trustworthy. That point is made time and again. And each time that it is made, the explanation is given that we can know that these are truly characteristics of God because they are evident in how God treats each generation of the ancestors. Generation after generation saw God dealing with them in the same way that they had heard God had acted towards those who came before them. And this helped each generation to know that God really is steadfast and trustworthy.
Focusing mainly on the people in the bible stories is one of the main ways that we learn these same lessons for ourselves today. They help us to have and maintain faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God who was and is the God of steadfast love.
But, having said that, we have to acknowledge that humans aren’t the only creatures spoken of in the Scriptures. God created so much more.
As we begin our conversation this evening, I would like to ask you to share images or stories from the bible that come to your mind. Passages that deal with other parts of God’s creation besides human beings. What animals or other parts of nature stick out to you from the bible and the stories told there?
[Get feedback.]
- the rainbow from the story of Noah
- the animals that went on the ark with Noah
- the sea monster that was created to live in the waters of the sea (Genesis 1:21 – God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.)
- Balaam’s ass that would not let the prophet flee a hard word of prophecy
- the rocks that shout out God’s glory even if human’s won’t
- the whirlwind and fire through which God spoke to the prophets
God created a vast and highly complex world (or, as some argue, worlds). But we often become myopic when we study the bible and talk about our faith. We too easily ignore all the pieces and parts of creation that are not human.
Again. This is somewhat understandable.
The bible does say that man and woman were created in God’s image. No other part of creation was given that distinction. And this has given many the sense that humans are therefore superior.
That feeling is reinforced by the creation stories that put humans in charge of caring for the rest of creation. And they are further reinforced in the New Testament by Jesus’ admonition to not worry. In Matthew 6:28-30 Jesus says to his followers: And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will God not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
From that quick survey, I’d say that we have competing message coming to us from our Scriptures. On the one hand, our loving God created all that is and called it good. But on the other, God created humans to be special and gave them responsibilities over the rest of creation.
This reality has driven us to act in rather competing ways with regards to the rest of creation. It has us talking out of both sides of our mouths, as the old saying goes. We try to be good stewards of God’s creation, but we also act with impunity at times since God has given us dominion over all that is.
It’s fairly easy to see the ill effects of that latter behavior on the rest of creation. And that is what our selection from the creed for this evening urges us to think about. So, help me flesh this idea out a bit. What are ways that human actions have caused problems for other parts of God’s creation? I think we can all name threats or environmental issues that our world is facing today. Anyone want to offer some?
[Get feedback.]
- global warming
- drought/water rationing/water contamination
- over population
- deforestation
- loss of species
- etc.
It can get overwhelming pretty quickly to think about these things. The problems seem so huge that it often leads us to be paralyzed into inaction or to live in denial and disregard the problem all together.
But God calls us to resist those reactions. In the Hebrew Scriptures, God makes three covenants with the ancestors and the Hebrew people. They are often referred to by the name of the main person involved in the covenant with God. They are the covenants with Noah, Abraham, and finally with Moses.
The first of those is God’s covenant with Noah.
But it’s not just a covenant with Noah as our Scripture passage for today points out. It’s a covenant with Noah, Noah’s descendants, and with all of creation. God repeats six times in nine verses that the covenant is very wide reaching. God really wants to get the point across. Listen again to the wording about the covenant from these verses. God says:
1) I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you….
2) This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you….
3) …the covenant between me and the earth….
4) ….my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind….
5) …the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth….
6) …the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth….
Doesn’t that make you want to say, “Okay! Okay! I got it! Enough already!”?
God cares for all of creation. God has an everlasting covenant with all of creation. God is the creator, redeemer, and sustainer of all that God made.
That should affect how we view and treat all of creation ourselves. If God values it enough to make a covenant with it, then we should not be so quick to abuse and despoil it, should we? Knowing that God’s very first covenant was with humans as well as every other created thing should give us pause when we think about how we encounter and use the resources of our earth.
The social creed, and we through it, pledges that we will be stewards of God’s good creation by working for:
- Adoption of simpler lifestyles for those who have enough; grace over greed in economic life.
- Access for all to clean air and water and healthy food, through wise care of land and technology.
- Sustainable use of earth’s resources, promoting alternative energy sources and public transportation with binding covenants to reduce global warming and protect populations most affected.
- Equitable global trade and aid that protects local economics, cultures and livelihoods.
The middle two pledges here are easy for those of us in the Bay Area to ascent to. California, and Bay Area cities in particular, has taken the lead for years in pushing for better environmental use policies and public awareness of environmental threats. But even with the strong leadership that comes from this area, there is still a great amount of work that can and should be done to address issues of the quality of air, water ad food, and access to them as well as sustainable use of resources. We can feel good about efforts in those areas even as we continue work to improve in our response to those concerns.
But the first and fourth points will require much more work. I don’t believe that we are as good at addressing these points even in the Bay Area.
Now, that is a gross generalization I am sure. There exist pockets of people throughout the region that are highly aware of these issues and are working to address the exact points of these pledges. But on the whole, we need to do more to live into them.
Living simply goes against the American cultural norm. Recently we have begun to back off somewhat from the mantra that bigger is better. But that ideology is deeply ingrained in our psyche. It will take a lot of work to change that way of thinking.
And while globalization has become a dirty word in many circles, have you ever found yourself in a new place and been comforted by the sight of a brand name restaurant, coffee shop, or store that you recognize. Such places save us from the risk of being disappointed by the product of the unknown local shop. And what about the desire to go to the big brand store because you know the items there will be cheaper and will help your money go further? Is that such a bad thing?
These are value judgments we are all forced to make on an almost daily basis. And that is what this social creed is getting at. We, as Christ followers, are called to think and value things differently that the culture at large. We are called to value things the way that God values them, not as our fellow human beings value them.
We need o have an attitude adjustment.
That is precisely why the National Council of Churches, the Church World Service, and the PC(USA) have all adopted this Social Creed for the 21st Century – to help us adjust our attitude; to help us get our attitudes more in line with God’s attitude.
I’d like to end our time this evening by highlighting things that we are already doing or things we know we can do to treat our environment with more respect and to be good stewards of God’s good creation. What are things that you do to combat and slow the global environmental crisis?
[Get feedback.]
- recycle
- compost
- take public transportation, bike, or walk whenever possible
- buy local and organic food
- buy fair trade products
- shop at stores that sell such products
- etc.
There are lots of ways that we can begin to make a difference. And if we all start making small shifts in our every day living it will quickly add up to significant change that will benefit all of creation – including humans, us. Amen.
