St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church
3800 East Third Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47401
(812) 332-5252
Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter (April 20, 2008)
Liturgical Color: White
Reverend Doctor Lyle E. McKee
A Place Prepared
Grace to you and peace from our loving God, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
It will be no surprise to you by now that this worship service has been designed by our Mission and Worship Committees to focus on our responsibility as people of God to care effectively for the earth that God has created.
In this context, I appreciate the words of assurance that Jesus offers today. "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me." It is from that position of faith, confidence, belief, and trust in God that we need to approach any and all matters of concern to us. That includes the perhaps critical issue of global climate change and the devastating effects these changes will very likely have on the poor people of our planet.
You may be aware that Tuesday is Earth Day, a national day of education and action related to our stewardship of the planet. Our national church encourages our participation in Earth Day, and the National Council of Churches of Christ, along with Bread for the World, has provided worship materials that are included in today's liturgy.
I am aware that not everyone agrees that we are experiencing global climate change caused or significantly exacerbated by human activity. I happen to be convinced that this is the case, but I believe that a Sunday observance like the one we engage in this morning is important regardless of one's point of view about global climate change. Rogation Sundays and Sundays lifting up the import of the care and stewardship of all the God has made have always been and will always be essential reminders to us that God's good creation has been placed in our hands. We are faithful when we do what we're able to preserve the work of God's hands.
And so, here we are, offered the comfort of faith in a good God and faced with the challenge of taking care of the planet for the sake of this and all future generations, in gratitude to the God who has provided the Earth that sustains our life.
After his words of assurance, Jesus continues:
"In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:2-3)
Last Sunday, Pastor Skram reminded us that we are an Easter people. We are challenged during Easter to be far more than we imagine we can be. We are called to live a resurrected life—life with a foundation both within and beyond this world.
That theme forms a fine background for the message today. Jesus informs us that God's house is fitted with numerous places to live. He also promises that he goes forth to make ready a place for each of us. It's a promise that we hear often at funerals to remind the bereaved of our Lord's provision for the deceased—that there will be a place prepared specially for them in God's house.
But I'd like to open up this text a bit wider this morning.
There are two words that help. The first is the word translated "dwelling places." In Greek, the word is "monai." It means "stages upon the way." The other is "prodromos," which is translated "forerunner" or "one who goes before." In this text we see it in the promise, "I go to prepare a place for you." The connotations of the word include a sense of reconnaissance and allusion to showing the way, leading, or blazing a trail.
Together these words suggest me an expansion of our call to be an Easter people.
Jesus is the one who is always going on before us, making preparations. It is this same gospel of John that begins with Jesus as the vital force of creation, preparing our first place in the garden of primal creation:
In the beginning was the Word...He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him. (1:1-3)
Here John depicts our Lord, the forerunner, leading the way in preparing our first dwelling place for us—a place prepared as a garden which we abused and from which we were banished.
In our current "stage upon our way" we have known Jesus as forerunner anew-the one who blazed the trail from heaven to earth, showing us anew what to make of this dwelling place and this life-intending that, as we learned last Sunday, we have not a mere subsisting existence, but life abundant. The teachings and the trials, the temptations and the tortures of our Lord are all a part of preparing this stage. So too are the resurrection and the ascension. And in this place prepared, we are called to live in a way that honors our forerunner. We are called to walk gently, caring well for others and the earth, working for abundant and resurrected life.
It is not only heaven that has been prepared for us. God has prepared this Earth for us as our place in the years of abundant, but not destructive, living. And our living here is intended to honor the One who is Creator, so that we might have a foretaste of the feast to come. For, indeed, yet another place is being prepared to which our Lord will usher us at the fulfillment of life in eternity.
Another John speaks in the book of Revelation of that place as yet another city:
I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared...And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new...I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." (21:2,5,6)
You get the idea.
The God we worship is always ahead of us, making a way, preparing a place. The God who created continues still to create places designed for our dwelling and to be the home of all of God's creatures. In our present stage of what God intends for us, we are given the responsibility, the honor, and the spiritual practice of treating the Earth with the kind of care God took in preparing it.
Earth care is holy work, work blessed to us by God. We are given here dominion for the safe-keeping and care-taking of God's handiwork. We are co-creators, stewards, conservers, and preservers. We make anew and bring life anew. As Easter people, we work with God to resurrect and take joy in what is restored, beautified, and preserved.
It's why I love the season of spring best of all. I love watching the succession of blooms like those we have seen around the church. The faithful Easter work of several members last fall has yielded great beauty in crocus, iris, daffodil, hyacinth, azalea, and more. The faithful Easter labors of several generations surround us, in the dogwoods, the weeping cherry, the spiceberry, and more.
It's why Marie and I enjoy going south after Easter each year. As I noted in the announcements last Sunday, that way we get to watch the blooms twice. There is something deeply joyful for me in witnessing leaves unfurl and watching the land take on color again.
And I'm sure this is part of God's intent. The charge of caring for this planet is also a tremendous gift. All who love farming or gardening, hiking or swimming, animal husbandry or pets, sunrises, sunsets, bird-watching, or even the smell and feel of a fresh breeze, know the blessedness of the gift.
This most excellent gift of God to all of God's creatures is worth every effort we might expend in giving it gentle and tender care—not only for its own sake, but for the sake of all creatures, human and non-human.
The emphasis of this day seeks to move us for the sake of Christian ministry. The theme, "The Poverty of Global Climate Change," focuses our attention on the potentially tragic implications of our less than careful use of the Earth for those who are poor.
"Global warming will force faith organizations to significantly increase spending on humanitarian efforts, to include refugee resettlement, feeding the hungry and disaster relief." That finding comes from a new study completed by the National Council of Churches entitled Climate and Church: How Global Climate Change Will Impact Core Church Ministries. The study quotes a document prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): "The balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate." It also asserts that church relief agencies will face needs for increases in money and volunteers because climate change will bring about more and more shortages, particularly for those in or near poverty.
"Global climate change is fundamentally altering God's Creation. Bird and fish migration patterns are changing, permafrost is melting and coastal wetlands are disappearing as a result of sea level rise estimates (are) that 20-30 percent of plant and animal species are at risk for extinction and that acidification of the oceans will fundamentally change marine life. Overall, global climate change is predicted to bring increases in flooding, severe storm events, and drought."
"Although global climate change affects all human populations across the globe, it hits those living in poverty the hardest because they depend on the surrounding physical environment to supply their needs and have limited ability to cope to climate variability and extremes. Global climate change reduces access to drinking water, limits access to food, and negatively impacts human health particularly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. According to the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC, developing countries are expected to suffer the most from the negative impacts of climate change." (NCCC)
How tragic that those who contribute least to the problem and already suffer scarcity are the ones to suffer the most immediate and most severe consequences. That fact should magnify our resolve to act with speed and vigor to address climate change and other threats to the Earth.
Let me say too that I am proud of the work we already do. St. Thomas has a long tradition of avoiding wasteful paper and Styrofoam products—using personal mugs for coffee and real plates at dinners. We are charter members of the new group Earth Care, holding workshops on how to lower our carbon emissions. Several of us have moved to more energy efficient means of transportation and heating our homes.
May God grant us the will and wisdom to continue moving forward in caring for this magnificent world prepared for us. Amen.
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and mind through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord unto eternal life. Amen.
