[ Our Church is Our Members ]
Home » Worship » Pastor Reflections » Shape up or Perish
Shape up or Perish
- Date: Fri, Jun 25, 2010
- Author: Paul Forman
Two images from recent newspapers caught my attention. Both revolved around the summer Solstice. The first was the gathering of thousands of Druids at Stonehenge in England. The second was a circle of Native Americans praying in the midst of Snoqualmie Falls. Both were invoking the close relationship between humanity and creation. Western Christianity has not been kind to the environment. The Protestant work ethic, while making America an industrial giant, was materialistic (material goods and accumulated wealth are evidence of God’s favor) and consumer oriented. The non-Biblical doctrine of an imminent second coming meant that conservation and preservation were not important.
Fortunately many Christians have turned a corner and view the relationship between nature and humans as not only important but critical for the survival of both. There is much that we must do to be earth friendly people. We, Puget Sounders, are great recyclers, but on a recent trip to visit family in Colorado and Arizona, I learned that even though Waste Management was the trash contractor, there were no local recycling programs in those places. Training future generations is one important key. Hats off to our Vacation Bible School! Rosi has selected a “green” curriculum called ReNew whose stated purpose is to “inspire kids and adults to grow in faith, have fun, and change the world as they practice stewardship of creation.” The Biblical message is that “all of creation is good and loved by God and that the creation God made and loves is given to us to care for.”
This is a message for us to take with us when we travel this summer to re-create ourselves by visiting places of natural beauty. How are we doing with our caring for creation at church as well as at home? How can we change our lifestyles to be more environmentally friendly? What shape will we leave this planet in for our grandchildren’s children? We do not have to do it all. Every little bit we do matters.
Have a great summer and don’t forget that the Still Speaking God “does not sleep nor slumber” nor go on vacation.
These are the scripture readings in the Revised Common Lectionary for the forthcoming Sunday:
Psalm 16
You Will Not Abandon My Soul
A Miktam of David.
16:1 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.
5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Galatians 5:1
Christ Has Set Us Free
5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:13-25
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Walk by the Spirit
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Luke 9:51-62
A Samaritan Village Rejects Jesus
51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 And they went on to another village.
The Cost of Following Jesus
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Footnotes
[1] 16:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
[2] 16:3 Or To the saints in the land, the excellent in whom is all my delight, I say:
[3] 16:4 Or who acquire
[4] 16:7 Hebrew my kidneys instruct me
[5] 16:9 Hebrew my glory
[6] 16:10 Or see the pit
[7] 5:21 Some manuscripts add murder
[8] 9:54 Some manuscripts add as Elijah did
[9] 9:55 Some manuscripts add and he said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man came not to destroy people's lives but to save them”
[10] 9:60 Greek he
