Beach reflection
Instead of a sermon today, we have a series of reflections on lessons we learn from different parts of creation. Each reflection will end with some silence to reflect on those lessons. We begin with the ocean.
Psalm 24 says, “The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world and all who live in it; for God has founded it on the seas and established it on the rivers.”
When you stand and look out over the ocean, it isn't hard to believe that the earth is the Lord's, is it? The beauty and the power of the ocean remind us of how small we are and how vast creation is. And yet somehow, seeing that vastness is comforting rather than intimidating.
I have worked in several fishing villages as a minister and I have yet to meet a fisherman who doesn't believe in God. There is something about spending your life on those waves, surrounded by that beauty and grandeur that leaves no place for doubting the existence of God.
I have always loved that beauty and power of the ocean, but this past year I discovered another lesson from the sea. I discovered the lessons of low tide, when the water is out and the treasures of the sea bed are revealed. And so I filmed the ocean at low tide so I could share some of those treasures with with you.
We see the mosaic created by rocks and shells and seaweed, myriad colors and shapes coming together to create a new masterpiece with each tide.
We see the patterns created in the sand by tiny streams flowing to the sea, each day taking a slightly different path, each day creating a new design.
We see the sea creatures like crabs and starfish, that are hidden at high tide.
We have the joy of discovering the sea cucumbers when you accidentally, or not so accidentally, step on them and they create a miniature water park.
We find the peace of listening to the waves and knowing that we are part of something much greater than ourselves.
These are only some of the lessons from the Ocean.
Mountain reflection ~ Mount Washington
One of the first Bible verses I ever memorized was the opening line of Psalm 121. I lift my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
Mountains are such a symbol of strength, there is nothing wavering or uncertain about them. It's no wonder that the writer of that Psalm speaks of lifting his eyes to the hills when he is seeking help. Over and over in the Psalms God is referred to as a Rock, the sure foundation of the world and of people's lives.
Mountains are awe inspiring, they take our breath away with their beauty and grandeur. Yet unlike the ocean which is constantly changing, calm one day, stormy the next, mountains are more stable. Their surroundings may change from sunshine to storm, from snow covered to bare, but the mountains themselves remain the same.
Mountains remind us that God has that role in our lives, that God's love and support for us do not change, no matter how much our world and our lives may change. We are grounded in the rock of God's love no matter where we go or what may shake our lives.
In times of uncertainty, mountains help us to stay grounded in our faith, to know that God's presence is as steady as the rock upon which we stand.
You don't have to go to the mountains to experience that sense of grounding and inspiration. Thanks to the Canadian Shield Canada is covered in rock!
Any rocky outcropping can become a place to stand and feel yourself rooted in God's love, connected to all of creation.
Forest reflection ~ Kitty Coleman
I love these verses from Psalm 1. Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, but their delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
If there is any part of creation that all Canadians can experience, it's forest. Even if you live on the prairies, there are ravines and river valleys that are filled with trees and shrubs.
I love that image in Psalm 1 of people of faith being like trees planted by streams of water, growing and flourishing. Like the mountains, trees give us a sense of strength and stability, but it is a gentler strength. It is a strength that can bend in the wind and grow in the sun. It is a strength that adapts to change and grows through it.
There is a special sense of peace that we find in the forest. The sun shines through the branches, the breeze sighs in the leaves, the birds sing and the insects buzz. There is a sense of everything having its place and its purpose.
We can enter into the forest and become a part of it in a way that isn't possible with mountains or the ocean. When we walk in the forest, we become a living, breathing part of creation.
Theologians Jurgen Moltmann and Sallie McFague both write about panentheism, the concept that God is not just present in creation, but God is in creation and creation is in God. We experience God through creation, through the power of the ocean, the grandeur of the mountains, the peace of the forest.
When we breathe in the scent of a rose, we breathe in God. When we listen to the stream running over the rocks, we hear the voice of God. When we feel the breeze on our face, we are touched by the hand of God.
Psalm 8
This is a psalm which praises the glory of God that we see in creation.
It also speaks to humankind's role in creation in ways that are unsettling and challenging.
O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; 4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Stewardship reflection ~
Psalm 8 is both beautiful and a little unnerving. Those lines about seeing the work of God's fingers in the heavens, about the majesty of God revealed in the earth, they're inspiring. We nod in agreement when the psalmist says,
in the face of this grandeur, what are human beings
that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
But then we hit the next part, which says that we have been given dominion over the works of God's hands, that all things have been put under our feet.
That's not so comfortable, is it.
There are many ways of reading this Psalm and its use of the word “dominion.”
It's the same word used in the first chapter of Genesis, there human beings are created and given dominion over the world.
It can be seen as domination or it can be seen as stewardship, caring for creation, looking after it, nurturing it.
As we have seen today, we certainly have no right to dominate creation. It is as filled with the Spirit of God as any of us, maybe more. We learn more from creation about God than creation learns from us. We receive far more from creation than creation receives from us.
Theologian Sallie McFague, author of numerous books about creation and faith, puts it this way:
“Once the scales have fallen from one's eyes, once one has seen and believed that reality is put together in such a fashion that one is profoundly united to and interdependent with all other beings, everything is changed.
One has a sense of belonging to the earth, having a place in it along with all other creatures, and loving it more than one ever thought possible.”
It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by what it means to care for creation, but I think that Sallie McFague's words offer us guidance. When we truly feel that we belong to the earth and when we love it, then looking after it is no longer a burden, but an act of love that is deeper than we ever thought possible.
We are blessed to live in a part of the world that is incredibly beautiful, where we can experience God in creation in profound ways every day.
May we be inspired and filled by God's love as we live in creation and may we love creation with God's love and justice in return.