Looking Forward to June 22, 2014 -- 2nd Sunday After Pentecost

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Genesis 1:1-31
• Psalm 8

The Sermon title is And God Said It Was Good

Early Thoughts:  And God said it was good.  The refrain echoes through the hymn.  Everything that is created God calls good.

Everything?  The mosquito?  The viruses and bacteria that cause polio or smallpox or the Bubonic plague? Poison Ivy? Everything?

Yep. That is what the story says.

Do we agree?  Do we believe it?

What would we do if we lived as if all things that were created were good?  All the plants, all the animals, all the protozoa, all the people...all good.  Not because of what they contribute, not because of what use we can make of them, just good because they exist.

I think that is what the creation hymn challenges us to do.  It isn't about "is this how things were actually created" (the presence in the next chapter of a very different creation account explicitly denies that attempt to literalize Genesis 1 as science).  It is about,"what does it mean to say that God is the Source?".

I think naming God as the Source, and naming that God calls creation good pushes us to rethink our attitudes towards life.  For a long time the environmental movement pushed us to care for the environment out of a sense of enlightened self-interest.  Care for it so we would continue to benefit.  I think God calls us to a higher standard.

We'll talk more about that on Sunday.
--Gord