THE RISE AND FALL

Songs of the Heart:

WHAT A WORLD!

Psalm 8

Creation calls us to respond to God.

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A sermon pr= eached by

Dr. William= O. (Bud) Reeves

First Unite= d Methodist Church

Hot Springs, Arkansas

June 14, 20= 09

I’= ;m going to ask you to start thinking right off the bat today. What is the most beautiful thing y= ou have experienced this week? M= aybe it was something you heard—a beautiful piece of music or the sound of a loved one’s voice. Maybe it was something in nature—a sunrise or sunset, a grand vista, or the small wonder of an animal or a plant. Maybe beauty was in the sense of s= mell or taste—the scent of a rose or a wonderful meal.

Maybe t= he most beautiful thing in your week was something active—an accomplishment at work, a relationship healed, a love shared. There are many ways to experience beauty. The world is full of = them if we think about it.

What I = want to suggest to you today was articulated by Bishop N. T. Wright, who said, R= 20;Our ordinary experiences of beauty are given to us to provide a clue, a starting-point, a signpost, from which we move on to recognize, to glimpse,= to be overwhelmed by, to adore, and so to worship, not just the majesty, but t= he beauty of God himself.”[1] In other words, our experiences in= the world draw us to God. Creation calls us to respond to God. That’s the focus of our sermon today.

Creatio= n calls us to respond to God with REJOICIN= G. How happy we are that God has = given us this world to live in! We hav= e a world of purple mountain’s majesty, blue skies, green grass, a world = of awesome oceans and delicate butterflies.&n= bsp; We live in a universe that is unfathomable in its diversity and infinity.

Philip = Yancey gives a description to help us appreciate the scale of that universe:

If the Milky Way galaxy were the size of the entire continent of North America, our solar system would fit in a coff= ee cup. Even now, two Voyager spacecraft are hurtling toward the edge of the s= olar system at a rate of 100,000 miles per hour. For almost three decades they h= ave been speeding away from Earth, approaching a distance of 9 billion miles. W= hen engineers beam a command to the spacecraft at the speed of light, it takes = 13 hours to arrive. Yet this vast neighborhood of our sun—in truth, the = size of a coffee cup—fits along with several hundred billion other stars a= nd their minions in the Milky Way, one of perhaps 100 billion such galaxies in= the universe. To send a light-speed message to the edge of that universe would = take 15 billion years.[2]

Can you= even imagine that? But in addition= to just being awesome and colossal, we also affirm that creation is good. The world is the creation of a goo= d God and his gift to us, given in love. Not all religions affirm this; some see the world and nature as demo= nic in character. But the Bible i= s very clear about the goodness of creation: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… and it was very good.”[3] The Psalmist affirms God’s h= and in creation in several places: “= The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those who li= ve in it.”[4] Our Psalm today rejoices in praise: “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!&nb= sp; You have set your glory above the heavens, …the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established.”= = [5]

As Unit= ed Methodists, we should have no problem rejoicing in creation. The Methodist movement was born as= an outdoor ministry. John Wesley= was so controversial that he was often banned from preaching in the pulpits of = England= . So he would preach in the church cemeteries, on the street corners, in the fields. He preached the Gospel at the coal= mines of England and Wales.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Early Methodist preachers were cal= led “circuit riders,” and they had to be tough enough to withstand = the conditions of traveling on all kinds of roads and in all kinds of weather.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Many a Methodist was converted in = camp meetings, under brush arbors, with no air conditioning except the night bre= eze or a hand-held fan.

You can= still get a sense of our connection to the natural world in a holy setting like A= nthony Chapel at Garvan Gardens. Like its cousin, Thorncrown Chapel= in Eureka Springs, it is a masterful wood and glass monument to the God of creation. You walk into the c= hapel, and there is an inspired sense of the holy. You feel yourself at one with t= he world. Every time I go there = my heart is lifted, and I want to sing, “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”= Creation calls us to respond to Go= d by rejoicing.

Creatio= n also calls us to respond to God with RE= ASSURANCE. This is our Father’s world. We can rest assured in that. He made it. He loves it= . He sent his Son to save it. God is still in charge. We don’t have to worry; we c= an dwell secure in God’s creation. We know that one day God will redeem all of creation and establish h= is Kingdom forever. He has a pla= n, and that plan will be fulfilled.

Paul ta= lks about that plan in the 8^th chapter of Romans: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of = the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the childr= en of God.”[6] This is our hope. As chao= tic as life sometimes is, we are part of a grand movement of history toward an ultimate destination: the consummation of creation in the Kingdom of God. Be reassured today; it will come!<= /p>
Colonel= Charles Duke was a member of the Apollo 16 crew and drove the lunar buggy on the moon. He described his feelin= gs as he emerged from the landing module and took his first tentative steps on the lunar surface: “I looked up at the earth and stood silent for a momen= t, drinking in the wonder and being conscious of a flood of new feelings as I looked up from afar at our world.”&n= bsp; At first it was strange to look up at the earth; we are used to look= ing up at the moon. It’s al= l a matter of perspective. Then, = for some inexplicable reason, Col. Duke put his hand up and realized that the p= alm of his hand completely covered his view of the earth. He stood there for several moments, spellbound, allowing the power of that experience to work its way into his = mind and heart. For the first time, Charles Duke realized the unity, the wholeness, and the uniqueness of the world. It’s not that bi= g, when you look at it from that far away.&nb= sp; The problems, the divisions, and the conflicts are not that big, either. Earth is not so big t= hat we cannot all live in community. It should be possible for all God’s children to live together in harmony, reaching out and touching one another and communicating with one another. That, too, is a matter of perspective. And a reassuring thought.

Finally, creation calls us to respond to God with REPONSIBILITY. God gave us this world, but there = are strings attached. He appointe= d us to take responsibility for his world, to have dominion over it, to be caretakers of it, to be good stewards of creation. In the act of creation, God said, “‘Let us make humankind= in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the f= ish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps up= on the earth.’ So God crea= ted humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and femal= e he created them. God blessed the= m, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of= the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’”= ;= = [7]

Our Psa= lm today reflects the same understanding: “Yet you have made [human beings] a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have giv= en them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under t= heir feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.<= /i>”= = [8] We have a responsibility for creat= ion.

Today w= e are confronted with a number of issues of environmental stewardship. We are filling the earth with our disposable culture. The landf= ills are full, and the oceans are being used as dumping sites. Acid rain from the pollution in th= e air has stripped forests bare in many parts of the world. The ozone layer that protects life= from the harmful rays of the sun is deteriorating, and our global climate is changing more rapidly than scientists first thought.

The goo= d news is, all over the world, awareness is rising, and people and governments are taking action. In a recent po= ll, 71% of people said that they were intentionally taking some action to prese= rve the environment.[9] Will it be enough?

People = of faith and communities of faith are sometimes even leading the charge to save the planet. We have a coalition of churches in Arkansas that is addressing environmental issues.&n= bsp; We have a Green Team here at First UMC that has been meeting and discussing ways we can be better stewards of our little section of creation. They have produced = the pamphlet that you received today. There are excellent ideas for environmental responsibility in that piece, both for home and church and community. I hope you will take it home and r= ead it and do some of those things. That’s part of our response to God.

I remem= ber a story about a man who went to visit an old and wise rabbi. The old scholar sat in a room full= of books, but with very little furniture.&nbs= p; There was only a bench and one simple chair. The visitor asked, “Rabbi, w= here is your furniture?”

The rab= bi replied, “Where is yours?”

The man= said, “Mine? I’m not su= re what you mean. I am only a vi= sitor here.”

“= So am I,” said the rabbi. = 220;So am I.”

We are = only visitors here on God’s little planet. We are stewards of his creation, caretakers entrusted with the property of our Master. God has entrusted his world to us,= and we respond to him by taking responsibility for the care of the planet. We have dominion, and we are to us= e what he has given us, but to use it wisely and carefully.

This be= autiful Psalm 8 reminds us of our identity before God. It’s not that we are little more than animals. Tha= tmay be the scientific view, but the spiritual view is that we are a little lower t= han the angels, a little less than God (depending on the translation you read).= In essence divine, we are called to respond to God. Like all good poetry, the Psalm reminds us who we are and whose we are.

In the = film Dead Poet’s Society, Robin Williams plays a teacher of poetry who calls his students to learn the true nature of their humanity. The teacher, John Keating, introduces his student= s to classic poets, teaching them to look at life from new vantage points instea= d of simply relying on knowledge that has been passed down to them. Mr. Keating is what is called in literature a “Christ figure,” inviting his followers to look at life from a new perspective and to realize their full humanity.

One day= Mr. Keating invites his students to tear out the introductory chapter of their textbook= s, which instructs students how to methodically analyze poetry as though readi= ng poetry were a science. Keating wants his students to feel the poetry, not rate it like the latest album on American Bandstand. Crouching= in the middle of his students, he tells them to huddle up. Like a coach at halftime, he addres= ses his students: "We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we= are members of the human race. The human race is filled with passion. <= /span>Medicine, law, business, engineering—these are all noble pursuits and necessary= to sustain life. But, poetry, be= auty, romance, love—these are what we stay alive for."

Mr. Kea= ting then quotes from a poem by Walt Whitman: “Oh me, oh, life, of the questions of these recurring. Of the endless trains of the faithless. Of cities filled with the foolish. = What good amid these oh me, oh life= ?”

The stu= dents wait with rapt attention as Keating continues, "Answer: That you are here.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> That life exists. That the powerful play goes on, an= d you may contribute a verse. And y= ou may contribute a verse."

Then he= looks around at his students and asks, "And what will your verse be?"= [10]

Christi= an, what will your verse be? What contribution will you make to this grand scheme of creation? You who are made little lower than= the angels, you who bear the image of your heavenly Father, what will your verse be? Look around you at the wo= nder and beauty of creation. It calls = you to respond to God with rejoicing, with reassurance, with responsibility. How will you respond? What will your verse be?

“O Lord, our Sovereign, how maje= stic is your name in all the earth!”&= nbsp; Amen!

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