ACTS 17: 22-31

PSALM 148

1 PETER 3:8-18

JOHN 15: 1-8

Sermon – May 1, 2005

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in your sight my Strength and Redeemer. Amen.

On the front of today’s bulletin are the words: God is not far from each one of us and a wonderful view of just a small part of God’s creation. When I look at this cover, my eyes are drawn to the rainbow. I love rainbows, their color, their size, and their message – hope. Then my eyes were drawn to the water. Having grown up near the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, water brings me a calming peace. After I meditated on the cover, my eyes noticed the white butterfly, another symbol of hope. My Deacon’s stole came to mind with its three butterflies, whose colors are in this view. Finally, after seeing various aspects of the cover, I noticed the single windsurfer – alone in the middle of God’s creation. Though I have never windsurfed, I know it takes a lot of strength. As I looked at the cover, it came to me. Each of us is that windsurfer, alone in the middle of God’s creation and God is not far from each one of us. The reading from Acts reminds us, “The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.”

I find such pleasure in God’s creation. And most of the time, I had very little or no part in any of it. I didn’t plant the trees or color the sky or turn on the water for the ocean. I just smile, enjoy, and say thank you for the beautiful world we live in.

I have come to understand my love of creation as part of my love of God. It is because of this love that I have come to respect all parts of creation. You see, I have come to understand my feelings for God’s creation as being all about respect. This is an old-fashioned term we don’t much talk about anymore or teach. Well, in reading the Bible, there are a lot of references to “fearing God”. In some modern translations, the word respect is used in place of fear. My work on the environmental committee and my respect for all of God’s creation come out of this respect for God and His world.

My family thinks I’m just obsessive compulsive, because I save, protect, try not to waste, and share lots of things. Let me give a few examples from a typical day. Water is a very important resource, but most people never think about it. We just turn on a faucet and out it comes. For me water is a cherished resource, so I may collect those little amounts like the remains of last night’s bedside glass or running water into a bucket until it is hot or not letting it run while I brush my teeth. If there is a drought, I go into HIGH reserve with buckets collecting water everywhere – next to the sink, in the shower, and all over the outside. Growing up in the south, I learned to put a drop of dish detergent in all the containers outside, so insects can’t breed.

I’ll be honest, this may begin to sound a little obsessive to you. But, you haven’t even heard one of my pet peeves: running water when dishes are being done, drought or not. We unconsciously just turn it on, never thinking about the waste. For me, I respect the “gift” of water and modern plumbing.

Being really aware of the environment, I don’t stop with water. The morning paper goes in the recycling container each day, the plastic bag goes in another bag to use for packing when shipping, and the rubber bands go in a baggie to return to the newspaper carrier the next time I pay.

All day long, I check plastic containers for recycling numbers, I wash out cans and jars with the saved water, and I bring things home if I am not in a place that recycles. You can trust things here; Fr. Hubbard makes sure the recyclables get to the curb. St. Barnabas has containers all around this building.

OK, do you think I’m compulsive yet? One of my BIG compulsions is paper. Just the junk mail alone, my life is full of paper. Around here all the leftover Sunday bulletins go into the recycling containers and Fr. Hubbard prints on the other side of things.

I live in South River and we can recycle household cardboard; so all those food boxes – cereal, pasta, rice, and whatever – are folded and put into the paper containers. I am known as the recycling Deacon, because I always change the empty toilet paper rolls and save them to recycle. Actually, the other deacons have sent me gifts. The universe has decided that I change toilet paper, so everywhere I go there is an empty roll to change –all day, every day. It is amazing, but true. Yesterday I went to a bridal shower and before I left the restaurant I stopped at the ladies’ room – an empty roll was just sitting there waiting for me to take it home!

Beginning to agree with my family? What one person may call obsessive, I call thinking about and respecting God’s creation. We throw so much out, because we have so much. Several years ago, I read an article about a scientist in California who didn’t put out any garbage, because he recycled everything. I have no idea how he does that, because I have to throw out lots of things I can’t seem to recycle – like aerosol cans (not everything comes in sprays), light bulbs, and ballpoint pens. But at my house, we have more recycling then garbage:

1 garbage-can-sized container of cans, plastic, and bottles

1 garbage-can-sized container of paper and household cardboard

1 tied stack of newspapers and newsprint

1 tied bunch of regular cardboard and

1 can of garbage.

And we compost during the summer in our yard.

OK, so you may be beginning to agree with my family, but just think about it. If we are all God’s branches in his vineyard – just like the Gospel says – we have to bear fruit in many ways. My respect for everything around me is just one way I can be God’s disciple and glorify him. My respect for God includes everything in His creation – the water, the items I recycle, the plants and animals living around me. Like my “Rejoice Plan” card says, I am in harmony with all living things.

I love watching the birds, so our yard is full of feeders, water sources, and bird houses. I have even found a feeder to keep leftovers like stale bread and other things off the ground, so uninvited animals will not come into our yard. You have to be very careful, because squirrels may be the least of the wild animals that come. Scraps can attract lots of wild animals, including rats. I may try to live in harmony with all living things, but I don’t have to invite them over to eat.

My point in sharing some of my idiosyncrasies – and I have only touched the surface – is to plant ideas for your vineyard. We all must be good stewards of God’s creation. I don’t have manicures this time of year, because it isn’t good stewardship of my finances. You can’t spend money on nails and then go out and dig or weed or prune. I love working in the yard and dirt. I do have “farming” in my bloodline. If I had time, I would have a huge garden. At this point, my husband has plowed and started potatoes, onions, carrots, and sugar snap peas. He is reorganizing my herb garden. And we haven’t planted our main garden yet; we still need the tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and eggplant. I love when he plants corn, so I can use the stalks in the fall to decorate the house. He’ll plant lots of annual flowers, like zinnias and sunflowers. We fill the yard with as much as possible and if we don’t use it we share. Over the years, things have been planted that I really can’t use, because of my time being limited. We have two pear trees and an apple tree. We really need to watch these more closely and put fruit out for people to take. The rats and ground hogs really love the fruit.

In order for us to live in harmony with all these parts of God’s creation, it takes time and work. You have to think about your planting and pruning and sharing and recycling and saving and using. God has called all of us to be good stewards of his bounty.

I may be a little compulsive, but I’m a really good steward. Today we are celebrating the major Rogation Day, which occurred historically in the early church on April 25. It was a day for prayer and fasting in the early summer, associated with intercessions especially for the harvest. The minor Rogation days were kept on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day, a day that is coming this week. In modern times, Rogation days are periods of prayer for the needs of mankind, the fruits of the earth, and the work of people’s hands.

Will you join me in saying the prayer on the top of the back of the Prayer Insert For Stewardship of Creation? It is also found at the bottom of page 259 in the Book of Common Prayer.

O merciful Creator, your hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for your loving providence; and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your good gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Deacon Barbara A.D. Jensen

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church