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From the Pulpit of Knox Presbyterian Church…

Rev. Susan M. Fleenor, Pastor


April 22, 2007, Earth Day

EARTHCARE … CHURCH AND PEOPLE OF FAITH GOING GREEN


Genesis 2:4b-15, Daniel 4:10-12
During the spring of my freshman year at College of Idaho my roommate, Deb
Davis, organized a march that started at the science building, wound through
downtown Caldwell and back to the college baseball stadium. The date was
April 22, 1970. We were demonstrating on behalf of the environment and
picking up trash along the way. Our march was not an isolated event. We were
a part of a huge grass roots movement that day – 20 million people across the
nation, on college campuses and in town squares, protesting what was
happening to our environment, demonstrating out of a great concern for the
very life of the planet - plants and animals, rivers and streams, earth and sky.

To know that I was a part of such a momentous event, the very first Earth Day,
filled me with awe and reverence. In some sense to share in that day, that
demonstration was an act of worship. I was giving witness to what I believed -
that God has given human beings a special responsibility to love and care for
creation.

In the second chapter of the Book of Genesis we read, “The Lord God took
Adam and put him in the garden to till it and to keep it” (2:15). The very name
of Adam in Hebrew means earth, topsoil, ground. We are earth creatures,
formed by God’s breath. We are called “to till and to keep” the garden, to
wisely tend and preserve creation. In Hebrew the word “to keep” is the verb
“shamar” and it is the same word used in the blessing that God gives to Moses
to give to the people of Israel, the blessing that we use on Birthday Blessing
Sundays: “The Lord bless you and keep you” (Numbers 6:24). As Earth’s
guardians for God we are to bless, nurture, sustain, and care for creation the
way God blesses, nurtures, sustains, and cares for us.

My assumption is that we all believe that to love God our Creator is to love and
care for God’s creation. It is a central tenant of the Christian faith. And as
never before, we are being called to be more faithful in our love and care of
creation. A great moral challenge is facing humanity – a global climate crisis.
The question is – do we have the political, societal, individual, and global will
to act on behalf of planet earth and all of its life, our own and our neighbors,
every creature and eco-system, for the sake of generations to come.
The crisis is overwhelming, so much so that we may conclude that there is
nothing we can do - that one person, one church couldn’t possibly make a
difference. I am here to tell you that we can do something. As a people of
faith, as a church we can make a difference. As individuals and as a
community we can be involved in creation-care efforts. It can be a part of our
lifestyle as individuals and our ministry as a church.

I am particularly inspired by the story (from www.earthministry.org) of a small church


in the heart of Seattle’s most industrial area, in the middle of one of the most
economically challenged neighborhoods in the city. The church is Georgetown
Gospel Chapel. Its neighborhood abuts several toxic sites, as well as Boeing
Field and deals with incessant noise pollution. In this compromised context,
and in spite of financial challenges, this church is a beautiful and abundant
oasis for its own members, for its neighbors, and for other creatures.

Twenty years ago, Georgetown Gospel Chapel faced a decision of whether or


not to pay $2000 to repair their lawn’s sprinkler system. This made little sense
to the members as they considered the pressing needs of the community, as
well as their own financial needs. They decided to tear out the sprinkler
system, almost the entire lawn, and turned the church property into a large
garden that could nourish the broader community. Georgetown Gospel Chapel
now has memorial and meditation gardens that nourish the soul as well as
vegetable gardens that nourish the body. The garden’s beautiful produce is
free for the taking and helps to supplement the diets of neighbors who often
must decide between paying rent, paying for utilities, and buying food. All
these gardens serve as important habitat for birds and wildlife seldom seen in
this industrial core. As way to “to till and keep” their gardens the church has
installed a rainwater reclamation system. This saves money on utility bills and
also prevents storm water from running directly into the adjacent, salmon-
bearing Duwamish River – carrying with it chemicals from neighboring lawns
and industries. Their pastor, Leroy Hedman, is a certified master gardener and
composter. He and Chapel members provide neighbors with seeds and
garden/composting training. They host a recreation/tutoring/mentoring
program for neighborhood children and youth – one that is not only fun but
introduces hundreds of young people to basic Earthcare principles and
activities. There’s more to the church’s creation-care efforts. Inside the
Chapel, the members are responding in the church and in their homes with a
commitment to lessen their contribution to global warming through various
types of energy conservation. They are passing on the financial savings to
various mission projects, helping their neighbors in need.
Georgetown Gospel Chapel is a part of a growing network of churches called
“Greening Congregation Partners”, who are committed to fostering an
awareness of the value of God’s creation, and developing acts of care that
reflect this awareness. This partnership is about each church going “green” and
challenging their members, each person of faith, to go “green.”

Why “green”? The word green helps describe efforts to promote respect and
compassion for all creation. “Greening” connotes nourishment and healing,
new vitality and growth and longevity, which permeates all of God’s creation.
The color green springs up time and again throughout Holy Scripture. For
example, in the twenty-third Psalm the psalmist sings of “green pastures” that
offer a healing respite for the soul. There’s Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in the
book of Daniel that we read of a beautiful tree at the center of earth that feeds
all living things. A similar imagery can be found in Revelation 22:1-2 that
describes the tree of life that bears abundant fruit and whose leaves “are for the
healing of the nations.” “Greening Congregations” who are committed to
creation-honoring work are like green pastures, beautiful trees, and healing
leaves for their community.

On this Earth Day Sunday, 2007, I am here as your pastor to challenge and
encourage us as persons of faith and a community of faith, out of love of God
and God’s gift of creation, to devote ourselves to going green. First, let me
address going “green” as individual people and households. Some of us have
already taken steps and others are struggling with what we can do. To help us
all grow in awareness and action, I would like you to join me in a Thirty Day
Discipline, beginning May 1st, focused on the Stewardship of Creation. Using
a devotional guide (created by Sara Olson and Brooke Petersen. Produced for the Web of Creation
at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. www.webofcreation.org), we will commit to
reading a daily scripture, learn something important each day about what’s
happening that’s putting creation, life on our planet at risk, consider a
suggested response and commitment, and conclude this devotional time with
prayer. Over the course of thirty days, we’ll consider such things as gas
mileage, cleaning products, batteries, water heaters, inside plants, heating our
homes, junk mail, paper, and more. Then on Sunday, June 3rd, we will dress
again the sanctuary in green with liturgical banners and more, reflect on our 30
day disciple, celebrate our commitments, plant our pumpkin seedlings in our
wine barrel garden, and more, all as way to dedicate ourselves to growing in
the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and growing in love and care of
creation and one another.
Now let me address going “green” as a congregation.

Some of you may be aware that a Master Plan Task Group has been meeting
since last fall. They were charged by the Session to gather ideas and
information about developing our property and facilities for mission and
ministry. Their initial work is near completion. What has become clear in their
discussion and discernment process and in consultation with the Session is their
belief that God is not calling Knox to make our land available for affordable
housing or other residential development. Although it would have been a
significant income source for the church, houses and the necessary street
development would eat up too much land. Rather, the task group has discerned
that God is calling us to first green up the property – to plant trees and native
plants, to provide space for a community garden, to create meditative areas.
We haven’t talked about it in these terms much but this is part of what it means
to become a “green” congregation, committed to creation-honoring work. Like
Georgetown Gospel Church in Seattle, we too can be a beautiful and abundant
oasis for our own members, our neighbors, and for other creatures.

My hope is that over the course of our thirty day devotional discipline, that
several of you will hear a call from God to serve on something we might call
the “Knox Green Team”, learning and taking action here at Knox, inside and
outside, related to energy conservation and earth care. Also as we hopefully
move forward with the “greening” of our corner of God’s vineyard, I look
forward to the possibility of a future ministry that we might call, “Let’s Tend
the Garden”.

The Georgetown Gospel Church’s story has truly inspired me. I am excited
about the possibilities of something similar at Knox. What if some of us
became certified Master Gardeners? What if instead of kids in the
neighborhood climbing on our roof, tagging walls with graffiti, and breaking
windows, they were learning about God our gracious Creator and caring for
creation by helping build and tend gardens? What if our neighbors learned
from us as a church and as a people of faith the importance of going green in
honor of God and God’s glorious creation?

Friends, I believe that the earth and all of creation is God’s gift to us. It’s
sacred. It’s holy ground. We are indeed called “to till and to keep it”, to bless
it, nurture it, and sustain it. We are indeed called as people of faith and as a
church to go green. May we have the wisdom and will to do so in honor of our
gracious God.
For more information please see:

Earth Ministry Web Site

Creation Care Devotional

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