April 22, 2012 Earth Day Sunday GENESIS 1: 27 – 31, 2: 15 NRSV

April 22, 2012

Earth Day Sunday

GENESIS 1: 27 – 31, 2: 15 NRSV

Then God said,

“Let us make humankind in our image,

according to our likeness;

and let them have dominion over the fish 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 upon the earth.” 

So God created humankind in God’s image,

 in the image of God, God created them;

male and female God created them. 

God blessed them, 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.”

God said,

“See, I have given you every plant yielding seed

that is upon the face of all the earth,

and every tree with seed in its fruit;

you shall have them for food. 

And to every beast of the earth,

and to every bird of the air,

and to everything that creeps on the earth,

everything that has the breath of life,

I have given every green plant for food.”

And it was so.

The Lord God took the man

 and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

Luke 12: 48b – 56 NRSV

From everyone to whom much has been given,

much will be required;

and from one to whom much has been entrusted,

even more will be demanded.

 ‘I came to bring fire to the earth,

     and how I wish it were already kindled! 

I have a baptism with which to be baptized,

 and what stress I am under until it is completed! 

Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division!

 From now on, five in one household will be divided,

three against two and two against three; they will be divided:
father against son
   and son against father,
mother against daughter
   and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
   and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

 Jesus also said to the crowds,

‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say,

“It is going to rain”; and so it happens. 

And when you see the south wind blowing, you say,

“There will be scorching heat;” and it happens. 

You hypocrites!

You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky,

but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

***

Easter has come, we rejoiced. At the top of my voice I proclaimed, “He Is Risen.” and you answered, “He Is Risen Indeed.” We are still in that Eastertide season, that season of proclaiming together, “Alleluia, Amen.”

In the church liturgical calendar, this Eastertide season lasts until Pentecost at the end of May, but lately, our church has felt a little more like the Ordinary Time after Pentecost. It has felt like each of us is trying to proclaim our individual Alleluias, and resisting the collective Amen.

We came together for Easter, but Easter is not the end of the story. I know you know that, because you are here, and you remember we do this every Sunday (not just twice a year). You are here because you know our life as Christians is not as easy as simply praising God. You know that to praise God is to serve God. You know that, “from everyone whom much has been given, much will be required.”  You know that the response to the grace of Easter is call of Pentecost. You know that the fire of the Holy Spirit has come to earth to be kindled. What you also know if you’ve tried to play with fire is it is hot, and sometimes burns.

If we are alight with the Holy Spirit, and burning with passion, it makes sense that sometimes our passions burn against each other. We are created unique, and we interpret different ways of serving the Lord with that fire.

As Christians we are given the responsibility of dominion over creation and the gifts of the Spirit.  Yet, in good faith wise people disagree on how to exercise that dominion. Even in families, even in the family of Christian denominations, even in the family of Presbyterians U.S.A., even in the family of this Presbyterian Church, wise people disagree. Wise people disagree. Families disagree.

The Scripture says, the house will be divided, father against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother in-law against daughter in-law, daughter in-law against mother in-law, generation against generation. Sometimes our divisions too seem to fall on generational lines, and it is debatable which generation is the wiser. Wise people disagree. Christians of sound faith disagree.

In today’s scripture, “Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west you immediately say, “It’s going to rain,” and so it happens. You know how to interpret the earth and sky, but not the present time.” I can tell you it’s supposed to be in the low 80’s and sunshiny tomorrow, but predicting the mind of God is not that easy.  Maybe the mind of God is beyond our predictions. Maybe the mind of God lies in our ability to hear one another despite our differences. Maybe the Holy Spirit moves not through the passionate fire of predicting, but rather through the radiating warmth of hearing our differences in unity.

I am guessing this, because I have seen both in our church, and in our Presbytery. When the fire within people was predicting and condemning it seemed all too human. The human fire felt like troops picking up kindling and preparing for a bonfire. It made people fearful. Fire easily gets out of hand and it burns.

But in safety, watching and hearing a fire can be a really beautiful and even comforting. When each of the troops on fire with their passion for God met they told of what sparked their flames. Each individual told of their uniqueness, and their particular gifts of the Spirit, and I could see how each one was created in the image of God. Each told of their faith and I could hear the Easter story. Each told of their call, and I could hear the crackle of the fire of Pentecost. Each told of the great demands of which their call entrusted them. Not one interpretation, not one prediction, was exactly alike. Some interpretations even changed over the time of dialogue, but each one was wise and faithful.

Yet, it was not the words that warmed me to the bone. It was the silence of Christians caring to listen. It was the reaching out in Christian love after all had spoken at our session and presbytery meetings. It was a closing comment that our goal despite division was to remain pastoral. It was one opposing side offering help to another and that other side responding with a kiss on the check. It was calls, and texts, and visits of folks checking in across battlefields. In those moments I saw the tongues of fire. The Holy Spirit was a bellow of wind ignighting, imbuing its people with Holy Fire.

The Holy Spirit teaches us how to fight human fire, with Holy Fire. It teaches us to heal burns with the cool waters of baptism. It teaches us that in the breaking of bread we find true communion. The Holy Spirits takes us from Lent to Easter and from Easter to Pentecost, and from Pentecost into Ordinary Time. It is in that ordinary unexpected present time where the Spirit interprets God’s will and we live forth the call for which we were created. So listen in unity to our unique differences, for the Spirit is a rushing wind, it is a storm you can’t predict, yet if we can stop and hear one another the Spirit will blow us away.