April 25 readings: Psalm 104: 19-35, Isaiah 65:16-25
SERMON: Symbiosis: Understanding our Place in Creation
Earth day should be a gimmie for Cubs fans – the point is to enjoy the game – winning would be nice but its not necessary –
Actually illustrates a profound theological point: dominion vs symbiosis
Dominion actually a benevolent word – the dominion of Canada – but we have helplessly and completely wedded it to DOMINATE – which usually is a bad word – and creates a context of winning and losing. Football/dominated the game, dominate the field.
Genesis 1:28 – KJV – God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
- Need to remember that 3k years ago when this was written, humans did NOT dominate the earth the way we do now - people lived more in harmony in nature, but also more at nature’s mercy. razorback bow hunting – dream/nightmare
- This passage was a reassurance that humans would survive and prevail against the teeth, fangs, and jaws of the natural world.
But of course, in the course of 3k years, things change. It’s like the first part of that passage – be fruitful and multiply – for thousands of years that wasn’t a concern – and having as many children as possible was even arguably a social and biological necessity– but now it is; there’s room for a few billion more to exist on this planet, but the quality of life will plummet.
So too dominion – (old meaning: Simpson food chain)now it means living on and using this planet responsibly, and treating our fellow creatures with respect – and a word that expresses that even better is mutualism, or symbiosis.
Symbiosis – not big fish eat little fish, or food chain, but having an interdependent or mutually beneficial relationship between two persons, groups, etc. Greek: ??? syn "with"; and ?????? biosis "living") – it means understanding, treasuring, valuing, and reveling in our connectedness with nature, with God’s creation. Do I ever take time to sit and feel the wind, feel the grass? Not really, not much. I would sometimes as a child lay on my back and watch the clouds make pictures – but as an adult, not really.
This represents a significant change in mindset, a change pointed to by Native American Sunday last week – our DOMINANT culture is more of a White Sox culture, valuing winning, coming out on top, beating everyone else, unhappy if you don’t – but the survival of our planet and the human race requires more of a Cubs mentality – appreciating the game for its own sake. You want to play well, you don’t want to be loose and sloppy – but there are values in addition to being on top.
- Winter Olympics – often the difference between 1st 2nd and 3rd place was hundredths of a second -
So we want to consciously live in harmony with this earth that we have been given – this marvelous cosmos in which we find ourselves.
Vegetarians? Not necessarily – but living with a sense of reverence and respect toward nature. Amerindian – offering a prayer to the animal’s spirit – same thing in Avatar
Ps 104 – not praying to animals, praying to God, but thanking God for the animals, for nature. (read)
Symbiotic has been used for years to describe a small scale relationship in which two separate entities do better together than separately. Bees/flowers OR One pair of plants that combines well together in a vegetable garden plot is the tomato plant and the asparagus plant. Tomato plants protect asparagus from asparagus beetles. And in turn, asparagus plants have a chemical that has been shown to kill nematodes, a common cause of root ailments among tomatoes.
And what works for tomatoes and asparagus works on a much larger scale for ourselves, for understanding our place in creation.
Isasiah 65 is almost the final chapter in a narrative that covers the better part of 2 centuries. And in these final chapters, the Jews have returned from Exile to reclaim the Holy Land, and to rebuild the temple. Lots of hard work remains; chapter 64 reminds God of the leveled walls, the burned down palace, the ruins of the temple. But here in this passage the prophet reminds himself and his people of the hope they have for the future, and why they left the comforts of Babylon to return here.
- Vs 16/17 The troubles of the past will be gone and forgotten. The events of the past will be completely forgotten.
o If our life is going just the way we want, we don’t care much for this vs – but if the past or present is something that hurts or disappoints us, it will change:
§ it came to stay
I am making a new heavens, a new earth, a new Jerusalem, filled with joyful people. No weeping, no cries of distress - joyful and glad! Not reverent, not silent, not solemn – but joyful and exuberant.
And this new earth is unapologetically VERY earthly – (Read) babies/long life/houses/vineyards and wine/ work, children, prayers.
A world focused on love, work, and people reaping the good fruits of their efforts. And when the human family can conduct itself in this way our efforts spill into the natural world: read vses lion/straw recycling: we are using the planet, using its aluminum and trees, but not just piling up our garbage – and its something WE can do without much effort.
Jehovah’s witnesses – perfect earth – Isaiah 65 says, there’s something to be said for that.
Our main UM disagreement with the Witnesses would be – as per the Social Creed – that we are obliged to be stewards of and channels for a better world now, ourselves. We can’t just sit and keep a low profile and wait for God to do everything – we are partners with God already.
Earth day – the festival of God’s creation – is to be just that, a festival – a call not just to work, but to celebrate – to live more deeply, more slowly, and less frantically – to value being at one with Creation and each other and the earth’s peoples. A day to say a good word for the tree huggers, a day to BE a tree hugger – and to learn and exult in the joyful truth of being a symbiotic part of God’s good creation; Amen.