[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Trinity Sunday, Year A: "Get Your Hands Off My Dirt!"

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-------- Original message --------From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org> Date: 6/6/17  5:21 PM  (GMT-05:00) To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org> Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Trinity Sunday, Year A: "Get Your Hands Off My Dirt!" 


Dear
Friends,

 

This
Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Get Your Hands Off My Dirt!” and deals with the Old
Testament lesson (Genesis 1:1-2:4a).  Here
it is:

 

Today is Trinity Sunday, the day in the church year
when we honor God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Since we heard the story of creation from
Genesis (1:1- 2:4a) as our Old Testament lesson, we’re going to do that this
morning by focusing on the mind-blowing creation that our God has created and
our responsibility in caring for it.  So-
you know I’m a retired schoolteacher- test time: how are you doing in accepting
that responsibility and caring for God’s creation?

 

FIRST THE FACTS: did you
notice when God created humans, he gave us authority over the whole planet,
especially the living things?  Now, some
people assume that authority means we can do whatever we want with God’s
beautiful creation.  You can easily
identify these kinds of people- they throw litter out of their car windows,
drop candy or gum wrappers as they unwrap the goodies, spread pesticide over
their yards without checking the directions on the container.  If they own a factory, they pollute the air
and increase the incidence of asthma, lung cancer, and God-only knows what
else.  That’s not how God intends for us
to exercise authority over his Earth.  Think
how God expects us to exercise authority over the children he has loaned
us.  We are to exercise authority over
the Earth exactly as we exercise authority over our children.  With our children- we love and nurture them,
keep them clean, watch over them, and provide for their every need.  God expects us to care for his Earth, nurture
it, keep it clean, watch over it, and provide for its needs so it will be
healthy, fruitful, and beautiful for our children and grandchildren.  How do we do this?

 

NOW TO DERIVE THE WISDOM
FROM THE FACTS: Do you know where to start to test yourself?  Look at your yard.  Does it look like you care about it, or is it
full of junk, litter, overgrown grass, and bare spots where flowers or grass
should be growing?  I can just hear you
now- “It’s not my lawn!  It’s not my back
yard!  I rent, and I’m not doing anything
for that cheap landlord!”  Or- if you own
your own home, it’s easy to say- “This land is mine.  I can do with it as I choose!”  Wait a minute.  Did your landlord create that front
yard?  If you own your own home, did you
create your back yard?  I think not.  Your landlord doesn’t own that land; you
don’t own that land; God owns that land and we’re the managers taking care of
it for God.  Can people look at your
front yard, your back yard, the roads you travel- and tell you love God by how
carefully you care for his art work?  If
not, you’re flunking one of your spiritual tests- so far.  What to do? 
When you get home, take a hard look at where you live, especially the
outside area.  What’s ugly?  Fix it. 
Put some grass and flower seeds down, pick up the junk, teach our children
to care for God’s earth- starting with their own yard.  And for those of us who still have a good
back and a little bit of time- look around at your neighbors’ property.  Are any of your neighbors too old or sickly
to keep up with the yard work?  Help
them.  Do you see junk on the sidewalk or
in the parking lot?  Pick it up.  I know you didn’t throw it down, I know
people will look at you as if you’re crazy- but love God enough to take care of
his stuff, his creation.  

 

Do you recall the story of
the scientists who challenged God to a person-making contest?  One day a group of scientists got together
and decided that human beings had come a long way and no longer needed God.
They picked one scientist to go and tell God that they were done with Him. The
scientist walked up to God and said, “God, we've decided that we no longer need
you. We're to the point that we can clone people and do many miraculous things,
so why don't you just go on and get lost.” God listened patiently and kindly to
the man, and after the scientist was done talking, God said, “Very well! How
about this? Let's have a man-making contest.”  
To which the man replied, “OK, great!”  
But God added, “Now we're going to do this just like I did back in the
old days with Adam.”   The scientist
said, “Sure, no problem,” and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of
dirt.  God just looked at him and said, “No,
no, no! Get your hands off my dirt!” It’s not your back yard; it’s not my front
yard; this beautiful planet doesn’t belong to us.  It’s God’s world on loan to us.

 

ONCE AGAIN, FIRST THE
FACTS: I’d like to call your attention to one more way we flunk our spiritual
test.  Look at the first lesson again,
Genesis 1: 29-30 (p.4).  What did God
give us to eat when we were first created? 
(Take answers.)  Sure- plants-
fruits, grain, greens.  At that time, did
God give humans permission to eat animals? 
No.  After the fall, God expected
Adam and Eve to kill animals to cover their nakedness. Humankind was expected to
sacrifice a lamb or other animal so its blood could cover their sins. However,
it was only after the flood that we were given permission to take animal life
for our own food.  Relax- I’m not trying
to turn us all into vegetarians.  If we
want to, we can all go home after church today and have a picnic and eat our
barbecue!  After all- we constantly heard
of Jesus eating fish and performing miracles with them; and many of his
disciples were fisherman.  But there is a
message, a principle for us in this.  The
Israelites respected all forms of life. 
Their practices were very much like those of the American Indians.  Any animal life they killed, especially
domesticated animals, was considered a sacrifice.  The blood was drained (like orthodox Jews do
today and then mark the meat as “kosher”), and what they considered the best
part- the fat- was offered to God at the altar. 
That’s why we read in the Bible of a “sweet-smelling sacrifice”- a smell
like the outside of McDonalds or Kentucky Fried Chicken wafting up to God.  Only the rich gorged themselves day after day
on huge amounts of animal meat- and the prophets scorned them in God’s name as
being wasteful.  The common people ate
meat sparingly- a little meat and a lot of fruits, vegetables, and grains.  What amazes me is this- doctors have
discovered that is the healthiest way to eat- it’s the way our digestive tract
must have been designed by our Master Creator.

 

ONCE AGAIN, NOW TO DERIVE
THE WISDOM FROM THE FACTS: What about you? 
Do you respect all animal life like God taught the Israelites?  Do you buy more meat than you can possible
use and then let it spoil, or do you give away what you cannot use?  Do you gorge yourself day after day on
meat?  When your meal includes meat or fish,
do you remember to thank God for the animal life that was sacrificed so you can
have health and energy yourself?  If you
hunt or fish, do you kill as quickly and painlessly as possible and then only
kill what you can eat?  Have you ever
seen someone purposely aim their car to hit a squirrel, a cat, or another of
God’s creatures?  If so, do you speak up-
even if it costs you a friend or makes you look stupid in someone’s eyes?  Do you speak up against cruelty in all its
forms?  If you own a pet, do you care for
it well even if doing so is inconvenient? 
Do you let your dog run wild to run in traffic and possibly attack
children or animals?  Do you speak up
against dog and rooster fights?

 

I know you’re about to say- Rev. Judy,
you’re expecting a lot.  No, I’m not- GOD
is expecting a lot.  Did you notice the
thought for the week on the back page of the bulletin…“People may doubt what you say, but they will believe
what you do” (Anonymous).  So don’t just
talk about loving and honoring God. Start today to grow a little more
spiritually by obeying God.  Check out
your yard.  Plant some flowers.  Pick up some paper.  Take care of all of God’s creatures.  May God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bless
us all as we nourish and care for God’s beautiful planet Earth.

 

 

For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated
African-American wisdom statements are posted on our parish’s web site under
“Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org
.

 

Blessed
preaching,

Judy
Boli

St.
Paul's Episcopal Church

Saginaw,
Michigan





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