Sunday's Sermon @ Highlands-A climate change conversation with the Creator

“A conversation with the maker of

heaven and earth”

Me: Oh…I am so stressed out. It’s Saturday night. My sermon isn’t done. I sit and stare at the scripture readings from the lectionary and the longer I stare the blanker my mind.                                        

GOD: Hey…Rodger

Me: Uh Gawd, it’s you again? I mean Oh God! It’s YOU again.

GOD: Don’t mess with me. I am in no mood for it. What is that you’re reading?

Me: It’s the lectionary. I’m working on Sunday’s sermon.

GOD: The lectionary? Sometimes I think the elves would have you preachers preaching about anything just so it’s not relevant to what’s going on in the world. You ought to be preaching about the United Nations Report on climate change.

Me: That’s mixing politics with religion. No can do

GOD: POLITICS? POLITICS? The fate of God’s creation…the earth, the seas, the rivers, the mountains, animals, fish and all you humans…that is not POLITICS. That’s spiritual.

Me: Okay. Okay, didn’t mean to set you off.

GOD: Well, I am not a very happy camper. Don’t you humans ever learn? I gave you the Garden of Eden. Everything you needed. You would go without nothing. I asked only one small favor. Don’t eat the fruit of one lousy tree and you went right for it.

Me: But that really was the woman’s fault. She’s the one who said Adam should try it…and that snake! Why did you put a talking snake in the Garden to begin with? What good could possibly come from that.

GOD: Myth, Rodger. Don’t you understand that was a myth? The earth would only be 6000 years old if you read that stuff literally. It was a story I used to try to teach humans that if they just take care of the Garden, they would never lack for anything.

Me: What about the Great Flood? I suppose that was a myth too? 40 days and 40 nights of rain, all the earth destroyed.

GOD: Yeah, myth, all myth. A story designed to teach that the behavior of humans has a consequence. If you are corrupt and violent toward one another and the earth, you will lose it all.

Me: Then you promised the earth would never ever be destroyed again.

GOD: That is not what I said.

Me: Au contraire mon fraire. I have it right here. Genesis 9 and I quote you, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." Do those words ring a bell?

GOD: So, now you think the Bible is literally a science book? The Bible is not a science book, never intended to be…that’s why you and I have to listen to the scientists. We can hold the Bible in one hand and the UN study in the other and figure this thing out. The two are not mutually exclusive. The myths, allegories, and metaphors I used in the Bible are there to help you understands yourselves. It takes scientists to tell you how threatening climate change is to the earth.

It just made my head explode when I listened to that Senator say climate change was no problem because I promised after the flood I would never again destroy the earth. Blah, blah, blah. Talk about false prophets. Even in the myth, I said I would not destroy the earth again.

I couldn’t speak for you humans. Science can explain it better than me, but this is your doing. Look, I created the earth, the trees, plants, rivers and seas, the animals, birds and bees, and last I looked, before I created humans, all was good.

Well Rodger, all is not good now. It’s like Jeremiah said when he was quoting me, “I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.”

Me: Yeah, I fear you are right. What are you telling me? Are you getting ready to destroy it all again?

GOD: Hey, don’t put it on me. You all are doing the job yourselves. Let me read from the UN report.  QUOTE: “Unless the world makes some drastic and immediate changes to combat the damage already done, hundreds of millions of people may be irreversibly imperiled by drought, flooding, extreme heat and increased poverty in the decades to come.”

Me: Pretty bleak. It says a team of 91 scientists from 40 countries analyzed over 6,000 scientific studies before reaching that conclusion. So, God, what are you doing about it?

GOD: Me? What am I doing about it? What you humans are doing about it. After all, I did my job. I created you with free will and the intellectual ability to reason and think for yourselves.

Me: That’s the problem. You see God, that free-will experiment hasn’t worked too well. As you may have overheard, we have a lot of politicians who believe the whole thing is a hoax. Many of them believe the fault does not lie with human beings. Know what that means? If it’s not our fault, it must be yours!

GOD: Why am I reminded of Adam & Eve trying to cover themselves with fig leaves? As you know, I don’t tend to view things in a political sense. I’m more theological, a ‘right or wrong’ sort of guy and how you all have treated the earth is just plain wrong.

Must I remind you of how this came about. There it is in the Book of Genesis and I quote myself, "God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.  Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after 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 earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

Me: Well, we humans have certainly exercised dominion over them all…just as you asked. We’ve created an entire economic and political system that depends on how well we exercise dominion over the earth and its creatures.

GOD: “Dominion” is your English translation of the words I used. You all think the scripture was written in English. Well, it wasn’t written in English. Genesis was written in ancient Hebrew and your word “dominion” was actually “radah” and it doesn’t mean “control.” It means “responsibility.” I was saying that humans had a responsibility to the rest of God’s creation.

Me: Hmm, that changes everything. But, we’re going to need some time. As things stand today, most everything we do depends on not changing anything. Coal miners need jobs, the economy depends on us buying more things we don’t need. Did you hear the Presbyterians debate whether the church should divest itself from fossil fuels investments?

The denomination has about $150 million invested in companies that either produce or consume fossil fuels. The Presbyterians decided rather than anger the congregations in fossil fuel states like Wyoming, we’d kick the can down the road by joining a five-year initiative to pressure companies to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Apparently even church attendance depends on ignoring the issue. How much time will you give us to turn it around? We’re going to need a lot.

GOD: Well, you don’t have five years to study the issue. It has been studied to death…literally. And besides that, it is not up to me. It’s up to you. Here’s the problem. According to the scientists, a 2-degree-Celsius rise in temperatures will spell widespread disaster, causing flooded coastlines, intensified droughts and altered weather worldwide, wreaking havoc on agriculture and natural ecosystems.

According to the UN report, a crippling wave of poverty would ensue. To make matters worse, the world is already clocking in at 1-degree-Celsius warmer than preindustrial levels, which means we’re more than halfway there. At the rate we’re going, global temperatures are set to hit the mark by 2040—unless a lot changes, and fast.

Me: Reminds me of the words of Jesus in Matthew. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines & earthquakes. But as soon as 2040? That’s only 22 years away. People my age may not be around for it but my oldest grandchild will be 30 years old, my youngest only 27 when all of this comes to pass. What kind of planet will they inherit?

GOD: I tried my best to make sure you all had the best science available in order to encourage you to think about this long ago, but there’s still time, not much, but there is still time to act. What are you going to do to change attitudes, persuade your fellow humans to act to keep the planet from reaping the whirlwind?

Me: As James said in the Bible, “We have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence.” What can we do? There is so little time and we are just a small church and we already do what we can. We recycle and plant trees, nurture the bees. We study the issue and use our voices as we can to encourage others. What more can we do?

GOD: Well, I was listening to NPR the other day.

Me: You listen to NPR? I hope you called in a pledge.

GOD: Of course, what did you think, that I listen to Rush Limbaugh? Of course I get my news about what you all are doing from NPR as they go to and fro upon the earth. In any event, this fellow, a scientist who helped write the report said that saving the earth is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics, but maybe not within the laws of politics.

Me: Yes, that is the problem. So long as climate change is only a political issue the earth is in trouble.

GOD: So, change that dynamic. Use the voice I gave you; use the feet and hands I gave you. Take your brains and apply your intellect to the word of God I gave you. Speak and act as though the future of the earth mattered to you as much as it matters to God.

Me: How do we do that?

GOD: Study the science. Know the truth. Study the Hebrew prophets. Study Jesus. Learn how they confronted the empires in the times in which they lived and do the same. Use the words of Hosea who stood before a cruel king and said, “Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea are taken away.”

Above all, remind the people and their elected officials. The earth is not theirs to do with as they choose. The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord that your children may have a future on the land.

Me: We’ll talk about it among ourselves and get back to you.

GOD: Dilly, dilly. You do that. But make it quick. There isn’t much time left.

WYO Republicans won it all (almost); now what?

Jesus said, “To whom much is given, much is expected.”

After last Tuesday, Wyoming Republicans hold the governorship and the top education policymaking job. Republicans fill 90% of the seats in the legislature including all committee chairs and leadership positions. Voters entrusted the GOP with all of the state’s political firepower.

Much has been given to Wyoming’s Republican Party. What should you expect in return?

The campaign smoke is clearing. Those you elected are going to work. The new governor assembles a cabinet and a budget, the state superintendent of public instruction prepares to guide legislators through the school funding jungle, and legislators start prefiling bills for the 2019 session.

In the wake of Tuesday’s election, here are five things to look for.

First, how much time will elected officials devote to hot-button, cultural issues? Will legislators use their political power to impose their personal religious beliefs on the rest of us? The Supreme Court appears to have the fifth vote necessary to repeal Roe v. Wade. Will our legislators enact laws designed to challenge of Roe in the high court?

Watch to see whether one of the most conservative legislatures to be seated in Wyoming uses its clout to redefine religious freedom to include the right to discriminate against those excluded from God’s love under their views of the Divine. 

Second, will they, at long last, use that political power to pass a healthcare plan for the state? Wyoming has one of the highest rates of uninsured working families in the nation. Will the GOP allow it to worsen or come up with a strategy to improve the lives of these constituents?

It was recently revealed that online campaigns such as GoFundMe.com have become, in the absence of health insurance, one of the largest sources of “insurance” to meet medical costs for uninsured folks. In the electronic age, these online campaigns have largely replaced the begging boxes next to the cash register in local convenience stores.

Most candidates for state political offices were clear about what they opposed as a solution, e.g. Medicaid expansion; not so much about what they would support. Voters have every reason to ask, “What now?”

Third, how will elected officials respond to the growing support for the reform of Wyoming’s marijuana laws?

With each new poll, more Wyoming voters say they support marijuana reforms. A survey conducted by the Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center disclosed that 49% of Wyoming voters believe adults should be legally able to possess marijuana. An eye-catching 86% support medical uses for marijuana. Seven of ten are convinced that possession of small amounts of the drug should not lead to jail time.

Will our legislators continue ignoring those numbers? Will they disregard the fact that Wyoming is fast becoming one of the few remaining states refusing to reform its unpopular marijuana laws? How about the revenue. Will our lawmakers shrug off the fact that Colorado realizes millions in taxes and fees from having legalized the drug? Most of that went to Colorado schools. That is a lot of money to leave on the table especially when so many Wyoming residents favor legalization and education is in need.

Fourth, now that the state’s revenue forecast has improved, will legislators restore cuts made to education and programs for the middle class and poor? Voters were assured these cuts were not matters of political philosophy but were necessary only because of budgetary restraints. Now that has changed.

Finally, will legislators exercise discipline and avoid saying things or introducing bills that land Wyoming in the national spotlight in embarrassing ways? It seems to be a part of the ritual. Every year, a handful of legislators cannot resist the urge to use the legislative pulpit to say something, usually about gays, that gets negative national attention.

Can they go 40 days without giving in to that Redneck urge?

Wyoming voters decided on a one-party government, putting enormous responsibility on the Republicans who were elected. Wyoming has a right to high expectations.

“a smelly, chaotic, unruly, ship of fools”

This is Stewardship Sunday. There was a time many years ago when this day was spent wringing hands about trying to pay the bills. In the words of that great Byrds song, “My Back Pages, Highlands was so much older then, we’re younger than that now>” Highlands is so much more generous, and so much more engaged in the works of Jesus that we can use this time to talk about the once and future church.

This week you received in the mail a letter from the Session and me with an estimate of giving card. This is not a pledge but an estimate of what you think you can give in 2019.

I hope that this church has earned your generosity. I would not want you to give a dime to a church that does not meet your needs and give you a place to feel God’s love and to live out God’s call in your life. For me, that is Highlands. I hope the same for you.

Highlands has grown so much in the last five years. There is an increase in attendance but more important, we have experienced growth in our relationship with God. Highlands has come so far in the last few years, far enough that it is prepared and spiritually equipped to think seriously about the next generation.

What I am about to say may surprise some, startle others. I hope it will open hearts and minds to a bold, even radical thought process about the course we’d like to chart for this little church. I need to say that this building at this place will not allow Highlands to become all that it can be and all that God is calling this faith community to be in the future.

Besides that, this church was built on stolen land. Now, to be clear, it is impossible to locate a church on ground anywhere in this entire country that was not stolen. No matter where you build in this country, if you trace the title back far enough, you will find the place in time where the land was stolen from its rightful owners. So, the best we can do is decide that if we’re going to worship on stolen land, we ought to make real certain that we are doing it in a way that answers God’s call.

I have preached about this before. It troubles my heart that we worship on stolen land. Let’s become the first faith community in the US to give it back to the Native peoples from whom it was stolen. Perhaps we could deed it back to the appropriate tribe and keep a lease, long enough for us to find a different place to worship and serve.

Besides, this building is a stumbling block for who Highlands can become. In Matthew 22, Jesus tells the story about the wedding feast; all the best people were invited but they all begged off. The Sagebrush Gospel tells it like this, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a church board that decided to build a new church in the middle of a planned subdivision. It sent its members to call those who bought homes in the surrounding neighborhood to the attend, but for the most part, they would not come.”

And so, the king went out into the streets to invite the homeless and hungry, the addicted, the elderly, single parents, the marginalized and the rejected; a rainbow of color, white, black, brown, Native Americans, immigrants documented and undocumented, straight or gay, bisexual and Transgender and those who were just plain lonely so that the pews were filled with guests. They came and a great banquet was enjoyed by all. Let’s do it!

Now, to be clear, I say these things not to impose my vison on you but as a way of kick starting some thinking about what we see as we look down on from wherever we spend the afterlife and see what became of that which we started here. So, it is a sort of “What if…”

First, Highlands should never get caught up in the numbers game. Sure, we’d all like these pews to be filled but what matters to God is our mission work and that we, like Jesus, preach the Good News to the poor, justice for the oppressed, freedom for the prisoner. Highlands should be known always as it is now in this community for its radical vision and not the size of the congregation.

Robin Meyers wrote a book we studied during the Highlands Book Club. In “The Underground Church,” Robin laments what we have lost since the 1^st century. Listen. “Gone, he says, “is the sign of the fish on the door post to mark the subversive gathering of Jesus people. Gone is the common meal that was intended to feed the poor.

“Gone is the idea that to be baptized is to become a pacifist. Gone is the idea that a Christian should hang on to more than he or she needs in a world where so many have less than they need. Gone is the radical hospitality that made the first Christians a smelly, chaotic, unruly, ship of fools.”

In every generation, Highlands should double down on its commitment to Jesus and the least of these our brothers and sisters and being always what Meyers calls “a test tube for God’s grace.”

Listen. When that day comes, I would consider my time here a success if my successor in this pulpit is an undocumented transgender person of color who grew up dirt poor and is wise enough to be driven by a strong sense of the historical Jesus leading them to hear God’s call for who to be and what to do in the world, sending a message with the leadership choices you make that Highlands is committed to being the church and not a theological museum.

Move into the future by reclaiming our past. What if, like the early Christians, instead of celebrating communion by ourselves and in the pews, we invited the hungry, homeless, and hurting to a heavenly banquet. Eventually, our worship services could be devoted entirely to sharing a meal, feeding those in need and sharing our time with them.

What if we worshipped in a place where the hungry, homeless, lonely could just drop in. Maybe in a different part of town; maybe in this neighborhood if we look hard enough and become inviting enough.

OR what if instead of having a community garden, we had a farm. Instead of growing a couple hundred pounds of fresh produce for those who are hungry, we could farm hundreds of bushels of food in an environmentally responsible manner as we provide sanctuary for documented and undocumented people alike, those looking for a different way to be not just a different thing to believe…

…a place where undocumented people could live in safety and security; maybe even a place where we could provide sanctuary for lost and abandoned animals as well as lost and abandoned people.

We wouldn’t be the first to serve God this way. Google Koinonia Farms or go to koinoniafarm.org and learn how they live out Jesus’s call for radical love and hospitality. “We are Christians,” says their mission statement, “Christians called to live together in intentional community sharing a life of prayer, work, study, service and fellowship. We seek to embody peacemaking, sustainability, and radical sharing. While honoring people of all backgrounds and faiths, we strive to demonstrate the way of Jesus as an alternative to materialism, militarism and racism.”

Being radical in this world is to actually be a servant of God and a follower of Jesus. Like the once and former Egyptian slaves who spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness, we have time to think about where we are headed. Like Moses, many of us may not get there with the rest of the tribe but we can chart the course.

Take the words Cathy read from Deuteronomy, words intended for an evolving Hebrew community. 

Apply them to us:  Hear, O Highlands: The Lord is our God. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep the words you have chosen to describe your Vision, Mission, and Values in your heart. Recite them to your children, talk about them when you are at home and when you’re away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

On this Stewardship Sunday, as we pray about how our generosity can help bring God’s kingdom to our community, let us recommit ourselves. Never rest. Never settle. Strive always to be like the first Christians; “a smelly, chaotic, unruly, ship of fools.” AMEN