Christmas
January 4, 2019
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 1:1-4, (5-12)
‘In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like clothing;
like a cloak you will roll them up,
and like clothing they will be changed.
But you are the same,
and your years will never end.’ –Hebrews 1:10-12
I wonder if Mars was ever populated? Did it have robust cities and rolling green farmland? Has it always been a round barren ball with a rock like surface where water probably existed at some point in time? If Mars was populated how hard did its citizens try to take care of it for their children and their children’s children? Does something being inevitable mean we are to forsake it and let it wear out like clothing?
One of the highlights of my childhood was going to town to buy feed for the chickens and cattle. Some feed was packaged in burlap gunny sacks which were very useful in their own way. Other feed was packaged in printed cotton suitable for making clothing. My sister and I could pick out the patterns that would soon become a dress or skirt or blouse. My Mom knew exactly how many sacks it took to make each garment and we had to find a pattern that had enough matching sacks. It was always disappointing when there was only one bag in my favorite pattern and color. As children, we usually outgrew our clothing before it wore out, so it was passed to another family with younger children. When something did wear out or get stained beyond use as clothing, we would take the stitches out (I was good at that) and Mom would create something else like hot pads or a quilt.
I guess this came to mind because I have been cleaning after the holidays. It is unbelievable how much trash one accumulates in a short period of time. I have a large recycle receptacle and a trash one both now full and I will probably refill them immediately after the city empties them. We do not handle our waste well and it is destroying the earth as is our dependence on fossil fuels and plastic and overuse of water and I could go on and on. But that is not what I am writing about. I wonder if we need to change our perspective. Can we not find the joy of caring for the earth similar to the joy I as a child experienced with what many would find revolting, making clothing out of bags holding animal feed.
I do think God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow and it was God who charged us with the care of the earth. I do not question God’s abiding love and God expects us to love the earth as much as he did when he made it and saw that it was good.
Prayer: Forgive us when we fail to follow your example. Guide us in our loving one another as we love the earth you prepared for us. Amen.