The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it. God asks, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Who determined its measurements? Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?" In other words, do you control the stars, the galaxies, the universe? You God make springs gush forth in the valleys, giving drink to every wild animal. O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
I just combined portions of our readings from Genesis, Psalms and Job into one piece. Why? To remind us that the same God who created the universe is the same God who is in charge of the universe and that the same God who created the earth and us is the same God who is in charge of earth and us. This same God challenges our pride, our assertions to be something that we are not. This same God reminds us who is ultimately in charge. This same God lets us know that the world of creation is his to command, not ours. This same God gave us the first job as gardeners. I am sure gardeners in our midst can appreciate and understand that.
What does it take to be a successful gardener? Well, you have to properly prepare the soil. You have to plant carefully. You have to water. You have to weed. You have to watch over the plants to keep them safe from insects and animals. You have to carefully cultivate and care for what is growing. You can not neglect them. You can not avoid them. You can not assume they will take care of themselves. You can not let them go on their own. They need you, if you want to be a successful gardener.
You know, that sounds like a recipe for how God wants us to take care of this world, God’s world in which we have been placed to till it and keep it. We have to provide for it. We have to watch over it. We can not neglect it. We can not assume the world will take care of itself. We are needed to be successful in keeping the world going, in keeping nature going.
So I guess you can call this my environmental sermon. And the first and most important part of any good environmental sermon is to remember that what we are dealing with is God’s world, not our own. Job was complaining about his suffering and God’s role in it, and God replies that unless you were there at creation who are you to criticize the creator. The words are sharp by God, but they make it clear that God created, God keeps things going, God is really in charge of the world. This is God’s world, not ours. And we need a certain humility when we deal with the world. We are not supposed to be seeing ourselves as so above everything that we go our own way and do our own thing in the world and to the world.
If it is God’s world as Christians have confessed always, then it really is not our world and we can’t do with it anything we want to do to it. We have to respect it. We have to care for it. We have to watch over it. We have to tend it. We have to provide for it. We are the gardeners for God. We are not God, and the world is God’s not ours. God is in charge, not us. God harvests. God maintains. We are there to take care of it for God not for ourselves. That is the basic understanding of seeing God as creator.
We were put in a garden to till it and tend it. Paradise was gardening for the Lord. Paradise was keeping up God’s creation, not destroying it, not refusing to take care of it, not letting it go downhill or be wasted. If the world is God’s and God created it, we can not be against God and tear up this world. We can not allow this world and all that is within it be lost or destroyed because we are careless, because we can’t be bothered, because...., because, ....because.... We have all sorts of excuses for not doing what needs to be done to ensure the world remains God’s world and not a human disaster. Indeed, we know from history that the ancient Maya in Mexico and Guatemala wiped themselves out by deforestation, by soil erosion, by not caring for the land, by not even being good farmers. They took advantage of the land and lost everything.
Deserts are spreading throughout the world, and one of the biggest reasons is that forests that could stop that spread were torn down and not replaced. Scientists studying the planet Mars say that though it did not go through what Earth has gone through, what it has become is what could become of Earth if our planet is not cared for properly. Whose world is this anyway? Who is God? Are we God or is God God? And if God is really God, then all creation belongs to God and we dare not mess up this planet.
God makes water possible and to people who live under the threat of drought as people have done in parts of this country and many other countries at various times (consider many countries in Africa for instance), the loss of water is deadly. God provides the water, but it is up to us to keep it clean. It is up to us to ensure there is water to go around. We can not allow lakes to be killed. We can not allow water to be contaminated. And we can do all we can to clean up the waters of the world, so they may exist and we may exist under God, who provides water in the first place. Yes, we did clean up the Kiskiminetas River and the Allegheny River and many other rivers. We have to keep on cleaning up rivers, lakes, seas and the oceans for the sake of our lives and the lives of all creation.
The fact is that God loves animals. God provides for animals in creation from water to food to life to environment in which they can thrive. But it does not take a scientist to tell us that animals can be eliminated from the earth. It does not take expensive studies to remind us that certain animals are extinct, others are facing extinction and others are in a severe decline. We live in Pennsylvania. I dare say if I asked you to name the animal Penn State or the University of Pittsburgh uses to identify themselves you would tell me. The Penn State Nittany Lions, Pittsburgh Panthers. My college I went to had as its mascot and the name of the team the Catamounts. Tell me when was the last time you saw those eastern mountain lions, also called panthers or catamounts and a few other appropriate names, in Pennsylvania.
They used to be very common in Pennsylvania. They were the biggest predator of deer by the way, and their absence is one of the biggest reasons deer have multiplied into our backyards ever since. God loves all animals and that comes quite clear in Job and Psalms. Even the most unlovable animal is loved by God. What animals don’t you like-rattlesnakes, mosquitoes, spiders, scorpions, sharks, or any of a number of other animals? Name your least favorite animal and then tell yourself God created it and God loves it. How do you deal with that? How can you handle that?
Rachel Carson of nearby Springdale wrote her famous book Silent Spring to warn us of the dangers of too many human-made chemicals in the environment. Her book led to the banning of the most infamous DDT. As you may remember DDT was the most powerful insecticide ever developed, but it had the unfortunate side effect of destroying almost every other living thing as well. Thus, the bald eagle, America’s symbol, almost went extinct because of the constant use of DDT. Now the bald eagle has made a monumental comeback. But there are other chemicals which create problems for the environment and have to be stopped.
Is this God’s world or is it ours? Are we in charge or is God? Do we take seriously that God put us into the world in Paradise to tend God’s garden, or do we insist on tearing it up and making it into our world despite God? Is this God’s world or is it ours? Do we take seriously that God created and God is in charge or is that just words? If we really believe this is God’s world, we have to treat this world as if we are going to have to answer to God for how we treat this world. We have to treat this world as God’s gardeners, and we are going to bring before God what we have done to God’s wonderful world.
AMEN!