Genesis 1.1-5; John 1.1-5
A little boy came home from Sunday School one day, and proudly announced, “There’s baseball in the Bible.”
“Baseball in the Bible?” his Mom asked.
“You bet,” said the little boy.
“The Bible says, “In the Big Inning” …
Well, it was the Big Inning, all right … and here’s the beginning of a new sermon series, “The Three C’s” … Creation, Covenant, and Christ.
Starting at the beginning, at least for me:
I was born and baptized a Presbyterian, at the First Presbyterian Church of Sheboygan, Wisconsin … I grew up in the Dutch Reformed Church … attended public elementary schools, and then a Christian high school in Grand Rapids, Michigan … and then on to Calvin University, where I met the love of my life, a sweet lady from Minnesota … and then on to Western Theological Seminary in Holland, MI … I was ordained January 27, 1970, in the First Presbyterian Church of Holland, by Grand River Presbytery … Donna and I moved to West Virginia, the West Virginia Mountain Project, where I served two small churches in the midst of coal country, Boone County, the poorest county in West Virginia … and from there to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, and back to Michigan, and now, here I am, retired, and, by the grace of God, still working … grateful for most of it, bewildered by some it … some of it painful … all of it valuable … blessed with two marvelous children along the way, a lovely granddaughter on whom we dote … we live now in a Presbyterian retirement community, Monte Vista Grove Homes, here in Pasadena …
And where did it all begin?
I mean, really begin? The Big Inning?
It’s a question for all of us … how we answer the question makes all the difference in the world.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself …
Behind this series of sermons are some of my deepest commitments to the church of Jesus Christ …
I believe, with all my heart: our purpose is to know something of God, head knowledge, heart knowledge, soul knowledge …
To think about God is to think about life.
When we raise our theological questions, we’re also raising existential questions: Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are here? Where are we going? What’s important?
The Presbyterian tradition is a tradition of education … we train our ministers well … no guarantees - a seminary education will not automatically produce intelligence, wisdom, or ability … any more than a medical education will automatically produce a good doctor … or law school, a good attorney.
Yet who of us would visit a doctor or hire an attorney who had no education? Yet, millions of Americans gather in churches led by men, and some women, of little or no training; mostly self-appointed … often given to outlandish ideas and bad theology.
That Americans are susceptible to this ought not to surprise us. Americans are practical in their thinking, and often deeply self-centered. Too many of us prefer not think about God, or life, but want to be told what to think about God and life.
We’re easily tempted by snake-oil entrepreneurs … easily lured away from the gospel by high-powered religious entertainment … often confusing sentiments of the heart with spirituality … substituting a rousing worship service with devotion to God’s purpose.
We Presbyterians hold our ministers to high standards … we have good seminaries, well-trained professors … we require skill in the biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek … we require knowledge of doctrine and polity … before ordination, the ordination exams … they’re rigorous … all along the way, the Presbytery-of-care monitors the student, helps the student evaluate their sense of calling, supports them with counsel and prayer … helps the student better understand what it means to be a minister.
It all begins in the Beginning … the Big Inning … Creation!
God’s mandate to us: Care for the earth … care. for. the earth!
So, here we are … 2022 … what’s the greatest issue?
What do you think? For you, what’s the greatest issue?
If you ask a conservative Christian, the answer might well be “abortion” - “abortion is the issue, and we have to rid the land of its practice, and those who support it.”
A conservative Christian a few years back would have said, “Winning souls to Christ, that’s the issue … so when people die, they can go to heaven and live with Jesus for ever.”
A conservative politician might say: “It’s taxes … the need to cut taxes … limit the role of government … build a wall … keep America White!”
A liberal politician, these days, would likely talk about climate change, voting rights, a woman’s right to choose … universal health care.
If you ask a liberal Christian minister, it’s most likely to be climate change … care of the earth … things that pose a threat to God’s creation.
The poet Robert Service writes:
The waves have a story to tell me,
As I lie on the lonely beach;
Chanting aloft in the pine-tops,
The wind has a lesson to teach.
The Psalmist writes:
The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.
Jesus said: Look at the birds of the air … consider the lilies of the field …
The earth speaks to us … can we not hear?
The fires of summer … drought transforming the West … the Amazon forests … Greenland’s melting glaciers … oceans, filled with our debris … the extinction of species as human beings continue to extract and exploit the generosity of the earth …
There are those who say “climate change is cyclical” … and it is … the geological record makes that clear … for millions of years, earth’s climate has been in flux, but since the Industrial Revolution, beginning in the 18th century, coal and steam, iron and steel, changed the world … human beings have become a dominant factor in the ebb and flow of the environment …
I have a granddaughter … what kind of world do I want her to have? She has no choice right now; children never have a choice. But we have choices to make; evidence to consider; scientists and politicians who beg us to pay attention … we have the power to make a difference, to address the challenge of climate change and global warming.
We’re part of the problem, that’s for sure … which means, we’re also part of the solution …
I like that … part of the solution … that’s what it means to say, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth …
And in the LORD’s prayer, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.
With our great power over the earth, comes the great task to care for the earth …
For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies.
Dear friends in Christ, when we have left this mortal vale, when we are no more, our duties done: May it be said of us … They honored the earth, they gave ear to its cry, they strove with all their might to care all God’s creatures, great and small … may it be said of us: they followed Christ!
Amen and Amen!
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