Download we help our neighbors - First Presbyterian Church

Earth Stewardship Sunday, May 1, 2011
Psalm 148, Rev. 21:1-5a
Wonders of our Blue Marble
Jesus was once asked, “Who is my neighbor?”
To answer, he told a story called The Good Samaritan. The answer he gave is
simply: anyone we can help is our neighbor. And that help includes going out of our
way, and sacrificing for the good of our neighbor.
This church works hard to be a good neighbor, and it does require intentional
work, whether within our walls or within our community. Yet, Psalm 148 says that our
neighbors are not just those who look like us, people with two legs and two arms, but
also are the birds, the stars, the water, the Earth.
Today I’d like to remind us of God’s many wonders throughout our expansive
neighborhood.
The Psalmist writes, “Praise God all you flying birds.”
My dad loved bird watching, probably most farmers do, as they are very
observant people who devote so much time outdoors. He knew many characteristics
about every bird in our countryside.
So it was truly mystifying that the summer after my father passed, my mother had
a Goldfinch come to her window, peck on the glass and wait for her to tap back with
her finger.
Her looming presence in the window didn’t startle or frighten the little bird away,
in fact, this Goldfinch flew from window to window all around the house, every day for
an entire summer, pecking on the window persistently, until mother heard and came to
tap back.
We even took pictures of the two of them, communicating in their own way. This
had never happened before, nor after, but that summer this particular Goldfinch kept
company with my mother and it delighted and comforted her.
Not being one who believes in coincidences, I choose to believe the wonder of
God was in on this.
Now most of us know that wild geese fly in a V formation, rotating in and out of
the lead position. We’ve often thought this was to conserve energy, but it’s also
because collective leadership is the norm for geese.
It has been proven that geese can fly 72% further when they share the
leadership versus flying alone, and it appears that no single bird has memorized the
entire migratory route, so they truly do need each other, and thus need to share
leadership. Not a bad thing for all of us to learn.
My favorite bird is the Mourning Dove, plentiful in the Midwest. Ever since I was a
young child I loved to hear their plaintive coo in the evening or early in the morning.
But I was fascinated to learn that Mourning Doves are one of the few birds who
mate for life. They take turns sitting on their nest of eggs, usually the female during the
night and the male during the day. Rarely is the nest left unattended. They both take
turns feeding their young, and though they may not be the strongest nest builders they
are not undaunted in persisting at building a new nest whenever necessary.
Again, nature points to the benefits of working together.
Some dream of traveling in outer space and viewing the wonders of the universe.
In reality all of us are space travelers. Our spaceship is the planet Earth, traveling at
the speed of 67,000 miles per hour. Yet, even at such an extraordinary speed we don’t
have to fasten a seatbelt because of the wonder of gravity.
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, actually 93 million miles from the Sun.
Which is the perfect distance. Perfect for our survival.
Any closer and life as we know it would burn and be reduced to ashes, and any
further away all life would freeze.
Isn’t that a perfect wonder?
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and it is the largest planet in our solar
system. It is SO big that it could hold 1300 Earths inside it. With a telescope you can
see the Great Red Spot on this planet which is actually a storm that has been raging
for almost 400 years. Imagine that!
The planet Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun, is the one with all the rings,
which were first discovered by Galileo in 1610.
It’s only been in recent times that we have learned these rings are made of 35
trillion tons of rock and ice, swirling around Saturn, some as small as a pebble, others
as huge as a mountain.
“Praise God all you shining stars,” the psalmist writes.
When we look up into a clear, nighttime sky, we can see about 3000 stars with
the naked eye, but there are over 100 trillion stars in our galaxy alone.
Of course our closest star is the Sun, whose surface is 10,000 hot degrees of
plasma with a power equal to a billion tons of TNT.
Distances in the Universe are measured by Light Years. So, at 93 million miles
from Earth, it takes more than 8 minutes for the Sun’s light to reach Earth. But the next
nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is so far away that it takes more than 4 years for its
light to reach Earth.
Some naturalists say that when we stop looking at the stars, we can soon get an
exalted opinion of ourselves. That arrogant opinion can lead to forgetfulness
When we stop looking up at the stars we become forgetful of our connection to
and dependence upon creation, until some natural disaster hits, like the tornadoes that
swept across six states this last week, killing some 337 people, injuring hundreds
more, and leaving thousands homeless.
What intimidating and massive power is present in nature!
We are wise to never forget it.
Many families are grieving this week because of these tornadoes.
In such tragic times I must believe, as Revelation states, that God is not done:
Life does not end with our physical death. There are wonders yet to behold in another
dimension of life.
I hold on to that hope. It is the hope of Easter, and living as people who believe
in the resurrection means that while we are here we help our neighbors. Already
money and blankets, food and clean water have been sent to our Southern states
through our giving to One Great Hour of Sharing.
Christians, on our behalf, on Christ’s behalf, have arrived to offer comfort and
create shelters, to do what they can to help.
We do our part, offering temporary comfort, as a reminder of God’s eternal
comfort. As we heard today, “I am making all things new.”
God is coming to us from the heavens, wiping every tear from our eyes…until
one day grieving, crying and pain will be no more.
I witness signs of this promise, God’s promise near at hand. This was once a burl
on a tree…this tree. This picture frame also came from the same tree in the
photograph, and was an “almost burl.”
Dennis says that a burl is created when the tree has been injured, has suffered
from a limb being ripped off the trunk, or a machine that nicked the bark so badly the
tree would have died.
But in a wondrous way, over time, the tree begins to heal itself, by creating its
own bandage, covering the wound, growing from the outside edge into the center in a
distorted way, yet a way that saves the life of the tree.
What is an ugly reminder of suffering, can be turned into a beautiful creation.
If a tree and a man can manifest such beauty, such new life together, how
much more can our good God create?
Praise the Lord, all peoples! Praise the Lord!