for Earth Day

The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it,
for he has founded it on the seas
and established it on the rivers.

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is false
and do not swear deceitfully.
They will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from the God of their salvation.
Such is the company of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in!
Who is the King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in!
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory. Selah

Psalm 24; NRSVue

The earth is God’s, entrusted to humans as its stewards (Genesis 1:26-31; 2:4b-25). Humans are therefore responsible to God for it. Unfortunately, we know all too well just how poorly we have done as a human species in the idolatrous quest for more and more. We have failed to live in the God-given harmony of earth. Yes, we await the final salvation, but in the meantime, we need to work together to do better, for the good of the poor who are most affected, for the good of all.

creation calls

The heavens are telling the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world.

In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens
and its circuit to the end of them,
and nothing is hid from its heat.

Psalm 19:1-6; NRSVue

I love the four season, though the older I get the shorter I would like winter to be. How about a long spring, a long fall/autumn, a semi-long summer and a short winter? I’d take that, though if winter didn’t exist at all, I would actually miss it. Something wonderful about the snow and the ice on the trees.

But wherever you go, in spite of what humanity has done in prioritizing the bottom line above all else, you’ll find life breaking through. I live in an urban, suburban setting. And there’s no end to having to keeping the green life in check even in our small lot. Volunteer trees in the wrong places, and trimming trees present, my main issues. But the wonder of life, of nature, yes of creation.

There is something about it which is soothing. In just another of the human catastrophes in Chernobyl, while it is no longer hospitable to humans, plant and animal life has happily taken over and seems to be thriving. If only we humans would actually steward the earth instead of trying to grasp its resources for our own supposed benefit. We’re called to take care of it, yes manage it in such a way that its life is free, which in reality is a beneficial not only to it, but also to us.

Somehow cultivating an appreciation for and practicing a nearness to nature, to creation, can help us cultivate an appreciation for and practice a nearness to God. As we learn to get lost in the wonder of creation, that can help us to begin to get lost in the wonder of God.

the devil’s playground

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written,

‘Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.’ ”

Luke 4:5-8; NRSVue

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Lord Acton

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

Abraham Lincoln

It is a rare politician indeed who has never at least been tempted to think in terms of his or her own supposed best interest and grandeur and glory, yes power. At their best and what they’re supposed to be are “public servants,” for the good of the people. And I think we’ve seen real good come from such. But what I might call the politics of this world is in a danger zone or probably more accurate, is a danger zone. And what it becomes at least as often as not, and probably more often than not is the devil’s playground.

The devil tempted or tested Jesus along this line, one of the three temptations during Jesus’s testing in the wilderness. Jesus as we see above passes that test in flying colors calling for the worship and service of God alone. And maybe that’s getting to the heart of the problem. Ultimate power resides in God, and power given is given to humans to be in harmony with that power, the power for good. Humankind made in God’s image are supposed to be stewards of God’s creation, specifically the earth. And the two great commands are love of God with all of one’s being and doing, and love of neighbor as one loves themselves.

What does all of this mean for us today? I think it most certainly suggests that we should be aware and wary of politicians who seem to be power grabbing and enmeshed in having authority over others. That is why I think at least in the culture, albeit multi-culture in which we live, democracy is best. There should be limited power given to elected officials in more ways than one. And we have to watch out for those who want to rally the masses to their own vision, be it fascist or any other kind of totalitarian, authoritarian view. We have seen clearly and not that long ago how a minority of people can be passionately swept into such, and the inevitable disaster which follows.

Especially as an Anabaptist Christian, while I want to find good in any nation and government, I am wary. The United States where I live is supposed to be a representative government for all the people. I find many aspects of it both good and considering the history, troubling. I bow the knee to only one Lord, Jesus. But I also think we should use our earthly citizenship for good, for the good of people and the earth. But not to be taken in as if our identity is wrapped in a nation or some political party or mere human being. Never. Our identity if we’re followers of Christ is only in Christ and in God’s reign in him. All else is subject to that. Remember what is lurking and too often behind the scenes.

the value of not knowing

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.

O Israel, hope in the LORD
from this time on and forevermore.

Psalm 131; NRSVue

Recently I heard a podcast on faith and science well worth an hour of listening (Hans Halvorson- God & the Cosmos). It’s a fascinating subject given quantum physics and how physicists acknowlede just how much they don’t understand. That lack of knowing came only through working through the data seriously and scientifically and with brilliant insights that were verified at least to some extent in testing. But even such verification leaves scientists with more questions than answers. So much more is known now than a century ago and overall general knowledge is greatly expanded over centuries past, we learn on the podcast.

Peter Enns, who conducted the interview in a discussion at the end with Jared Byas acknowledged his acceptance of “mystery” whereas Jared preferred “not knowing.” In no way does such knowledge either deprecate the value of science or inherently lessen the possibility of God. In fact, if anything God can seem all the more likely and when I consider a passage like Isaiah 40, the idea that the cosmos is full of things beyond present human understanding resonates with the idea of a God who while I believe in essence is through and through love yet is also full of mystery (as Halvorson himself said). There is so much we don’t know or ever will know since it surely is beyond human comprehension or ability to ever plumb the depths of God.

Knowledge as was said in the podcast is a good thing. At the same time, we do well to be humble about all that we know. I don’t believe we should question human caused climate change for one moment. The science solidly backs it. There are always deniers, but it’s quite clear that what earth is now seeing is because of the carbon emitted since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. I fully accept that myself. At the same time, although that general concept is assured, there’s lots to study around that. Although the most important thing right now is to get nations, governments, and people to awaken to the danger playing out right in front of us. So, this post is not at all a coddling of those who claim that science really knows nothing, that it’s all to some extent a mystery. Good science is always humble and ever studying the data. And the concerted observation of such over time is why there’s certainty about the cause of the current climate crisis and what must be done about it.

God surely helps us understand much, especially what is important for human stewardship of the earth. But we are left acknowledging that the depth and breadth of it all is breathtaking. And that being the case, that the God likely behind that must be all the more beyond us. By faith believing God to be love through and through and ultimately revealed in and through Christ. Known only through revelation and evident in creation. Metaphysical speak never to be belittled.

But it never hurts to acknowledge that we don’t know, and that we know nothing perfectly, even while we acknowledge a different and true knowing that is by faith.

Jesus on money and wealth (what really matters?)

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.“

Matthew 6:19-21, 24; NRSVue

Jesus’s words here are just part of his teaching on money, wealth, the poor and the rich. If we take the gospel accounts seriously (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), we’ll have to take seriously what Jesus says about wealth and money. Yes, as it says elsewhere, it’s not money that is a root of evil, but the love of money. Strictly speaking money is not the enemy. But when it occupies our thoughts day and night, and we think that if only we had more, if only we would hit the jackpot and then everything would be okay, we’ve crossed the line already. It is a ready and eager idol, waiting to control us, and make us live a lie, even if it’s a religious one.

Jesus makes it clear: We can’t serve both God and wealth. What wealth we receive from God is a part of God’s good gifts, but we’re to be stewards of such gifts. Yes, we’ve been given richly all things to enjoy, but as that passage in Timothy goes on to say, to do good, to be generous in sharing with others, in those words addressed to the rich. But back to Jesus again.

Are we willing to have less money, or do we think our future, our lives depend on money? Whatever we trust and make the priority is our god, whatever that may be. Yes, we should not be reckless with money, we ought to invest for the future. At the same time, in following Christ, we will want to make generosity the priority. To grow in that. Yes, to apply wisdom in it all. Proverbs has plenty to say about money and wealth. And as followers of Christ we major on what he said and what follows in the New Testament.

God will help us. If we are loaded with money in the end, that being our god, what good will that be? How we got there, mostly hoarding it, is how we’ll end: high and dry. Instead, yes, we give money, we meet expenses, we save some for future needs of ourselves and others, and in all of that we seek to grow in our trust in God alone. That the Father and mothering God will see us through come what may. While we thank God for the gifts God gives us, including money, we treat money as a blessed yet dangerous commodity. And we seek always to trust and serve God with our lives and what wealth we have.

Earth Day: taking care of the planet God has given us

Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

So God created humans in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Genesis 1:26-30; NRSVue

In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no vegetation of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground, but a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole face of the ground— then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17; NRSVue

Today is Earth Day. It is a day to celebrate and think about the good earth in which we live. To better understand and appreciate it, and to better take care of it.

Dominion is the word in my translation to describe the role God has given humankind. When you view that in context, just like rule is used elsewhere, it’s a matter of taking care of, being a steward of God’s good gift of earth and all the gifts on it.

Since the fall, as the story is told us in Genesis 3, life on earth is hard, the task that God has assigned to humankind. But that doesn’t mean absolve us from the responsibility. I think part of the result of the fall (Genesis 3) is the that humankind is prone to destroy what God has made.

Earth Day in part is about an acknowledgement that indeed humanity has unwittingly and wittingly caused harm to plant and animal species, and to earth as a whole. And because of that, humanity suffers as well.

Though all of creation exists in its manifold different kinds, it is also all linked in coming from the same dust, and with the life principle within. The good of the plants and animals is our good. And after all, each is a wondrous gift, or part of the wondrous gift of this good earth.

God is sovereign? What in the world does that mean??

The LORD has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.

Psalm 103:19

Call me a skeptic, or whatever, but the last thing that I believe is that God controls everything. Yes, if God exists and I believe God does, God is in control. How that is is likely getting into a realm beyond us. But looking at the world of nations and the political mess all over, I don’t believe myself that God is determining this and that and every other detail. It seems instead that God lets nations and peoples have their way with all the consequences that come with that.

I also think we’re pulling the plug on wisdom if we just look for God’s plan to unfold, as if we as humans are not to be engaged in what’s going on in the world, as if we’re passive bystanders. Of course we do well and much better when we look to God in prayers. But God’s answer won’t be to drop something out of heaven onto our lap or give us the easy answer. When we’re looking for that, we’re no longer in the realm of wisdom, but set up for deception. And that’s exactly what’s going on in the world today.

Yes, God is in control, but God rarely controls in the sense of determining precisely what will happen. Don’t we see in the biblical witness that time and time and time again God lets people have their way, not without warning, and that God lets people suffer the consequences, maybe cushioning it somewhat. When I think of the world and all the disasters and injustice, I have to think that surely much more is coming since I take the witness of scripture seriously.

God’s promise of making all things right and new stands. But in the meantime, we humans and especially followers of Jesus need to become fully engaged in the pursuit of wisdom (Proverbs 2). Not that we’ll ever have all the answers in this life, or that we’ll ever arrive to a time when we no longer need to do this. But aren’t humans meant to rule as stewards under God (Genesis 1:26-27)? And Christians really ought to be at the forefront of this. And as church in some sense already are. In and through Jesus.

true security (and the love of money)

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly, for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much, and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If, then, you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. So he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts, for what is prized by humans is an abomination in the sight of God.

Luke 16:1-15

There is probably nothing more deceptive than money. “Wealth” in the passage is the word transliterated “Mammon” from a semitic word which probably means “that in which one trusts.” In the “enigmatic story” the Lord tells, the “dishonest manager” is praised by his master for being shrewd in reducing or cutting out his own commission to get himself out of trouble and perhaps gain new friends among his master’s debtors (The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha, New Revised Standard Version).

There are few things in life more deceptive than money. Sex, money and power are often said to be what commonly grips and moves people. All are deceptive. Jesus likens money, “wealth”, actually “Mammon” into an object which takes God’s place. People gravitate towards trusting in money rather than trusting in God. And those with a lot of money seem to be at rest, but actually there is no rest, because their tendency is also to want more and more, never be satisfied with what they have, live in fear of losing it, and hoard. When all the while God wants everyone, and the rich in particular are told this elsewhere, to be generous, willing to share, thus laying up for themselves a foundation for the life to come. And told in the same passage not to put their trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who richly gives everything for human enjoyment (1 Timothy 6).

Probably one of the most difficult things for anyone in our affluent, money-driven, profit-motivated society is to see all that we have as not strictly ours, but God’s. Not to do as we see fit, but to help the poor, those in need, the oppressed, our own families, as well as supporting good works: material and spiritual.

And we do need to handle whatever money we have, seek to avoid debt, and set aside funds for retirement or old age and for worthy causes. We realize that not a penny of it strictly speaking belongs to us, but it is God’s provision so that we can give generously to others and have enough for ourselves.  Like the manager in Jesus’s story, when it comes to money we need to seek and practice wisdom.

Prayer will be necessary to help us let go of our fascination or longing or grip on money. Money itself is not the issue, but loving money is. Our trust must always be in God. Remembering the poor widow who Jesus said gave in the offering all she had to live on. A radical trust in God that sees money as a means to a greater end, something which under God we’re stewards of. Individually and together as followers of Jesus.

simple living

Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it, but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but rather on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19; NRSVue

A staple of Anabaptist, Mennonite teaching is simplicity, to live what’s called “the simple life.” Within this tradition, the Amish are at least among the ones that have this practice down the best. When you consider the American context, it’s expensive to live because there’s so much money and space in the mix. And much of the economy depends on people buying what they can’t afford and actually don’t need.

Those who don’t have to worry the rest of their lives about having enough money still can only eat so much food. Yes, they can take in all kinds of expensive entertainment or whatever and eat whatever cuisine they want. But they really can use and enjoy only so much. Oftentimes these folks have way more than they either need or will use. While so much of the rest of the world does not have sufficient food or water.

Simple living involves an enjoyment of the ordinary things, seeing everything as a gift from God. And instead of wanting more and more and never being happy with what one has, learning to gratefully receive anything and everything that is good as a gift from God. And seeing that as enough. As Paul actually put it here, if we have what we need, food and clothes, we should be content with that.

While most of us many not be wealthy according to the American dream, we indeed are compared to the rest of the world. But that doesn’t exactly include everyone in the United States. There are too many who have to work more than one job and even then, can hardly make ends meet. And whose health care coverage is dismal in a nation with the best medical know how and one of if not the worst accessibility to it of all first world nations. Of course, the rich will get all they need and more.

When we have extra, we’re to be generous and help others who don’t have enough or are struggling or could use some help.

Our lives are supposed to be lived in simplicity because the essence of life for us is relationship with God through Christ and relationships with each other. As well as receiving every good thing as a gift from God and enjoying as well as seeking to be good stewards of all such gifts.

We’re to seek to do this together. In and through Jesus.

God’s provision, or our worry?

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,^[a] your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy,^[b] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[c]?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers 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 he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:19-34

In this passage in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, Jesus ties our devotion to our trust. Whatever our god truly is ends up being what we trust in or depend on. And Jesus makes it either God or money. To be his follower we must let go of our dependence on anything less than God. As we devote ourselves to God, we learn to depend on him. Then we can learn to let go of our worry that we won’t have what we need, that one way or another we’ll lose out, trusting instead that God will take care of us.

This doesn’t mean we forget what Scripture teaches about how to handle God’s gifts to us. No, we do have responsibilities that we must look after. But it does mean that in all of that, our dependence is on God. That we want to trust the Father to take care of us, come what may. Because we want our hearts to be truly devoted to God, and therefore intent on God’s will in all of life, wanting that more than anything else.  In and through Jesus.