The
Stewards of Creation:
Elizabeth, Mary
and the Church
RCL Advent
4C
20
December 2015
Saint
Faith’s Anglican Church
Vancouver
BC
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist.
And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee . . . . [1]
And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee . . . . [1]
To
any of us who were raised in the Prayer Book tradition, these are familiar
words to us. If you grew up here in
Canada, then you remember these words being recited by the priest following the
communion of the congregation. [2] If you grew up in the United States, as I
did, these words were recited by the priest during the eucharistic prayer.
In
both traditions, however, the importance of these words was of such weight that
they were often accompanied by actions that the rubrics did not direct. For example, here in Canada, even though the
rubric made it very clear that only the priest recited the prayer after
communion, it was not and is not uncommon for the congregation to join in the
recitation of these words. Among some Anglicans
in the United States, the priest, when reciting these words in the eucharistic
prayer, would bow and place his hands (I am thinking of pre-1976 days) on the
altar. By this action he would form a
physical bridge between his body and ours with the bread and wine being
consecrated.
These
words and the actions they inspired and continue to inspire are tangible
reminders of the importance of physical things in the Christian faith. There are religious traditions which see the
physical world as a barrier to knowing God.
Even some Christians think so.
But Anglicans as well as the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox communions
believe that this world is the creation of a loving God. Matter matters to God. While scientists continue to amaze us as they
unlock some of the secrets of how the universe works, they cannot tell us why
this universe exists at all. But we
can. We exist because God loves and
God’s love requires an ‘other’ to be loved, to be the beloved.
It
is because of God’s love that we hear the story of Elizabeth and Mary, two
women who become agents of this divine love towards creation. Elizabeth, childless for so many years,
becomes the mother of John the prophet who will prepare the way for the
Christ. Mary, betrothed but not yet
married, will brave the stares of others to become the mother of the Christ
whose life, teaching and sacrifice will be God’s costly gift to reconcile all
of creation to its divine Lover.
An
old lady says ‘yes’ to God and a prophet is born who calls people to repent and
return to the Lord. A young woman says
‘yes’ to God and a child is born who shows the way so that all people may know
life in its fullness, not just in some distant future, but in the here and now
of human history.
These
stories are but two of the many stories that tell of how God exercises
stewardship of this creation. Time and
time again God chooses to use the stuff of creation, men and women, wind and
rain, animals and plants, to bring about the divine purposes. Only once was God so desperate that God chose
to send a flood in an effort to re-start creation. But God’s love was so great that God promises
never to do this again. This world and
all the worlds matter that much to God.
There
is, though, another dimension to these stories and all those like them in our
tradition. In working to restore right
relationships God always seeks out human agents to collaborate with God in this
mysterious project we call the universe.
God’s initiative needs a human response, a human choice to be a steward
of what matters to God --- earth and sky, sea and land, animals and
plants. Genuine Christian faith cannot
dodge the obligation to care for what God has created.
Our
attention these past weeks has been drawn towards Paris. The tragedy of the terrorist attacks set the
stage for what may be one of the turning points in human history. People of faith and no faith, government
leaders and non-governmental organizations, developed and developing nations
gathered in recognition that we have not been good stewards of ‘this fragile
earth, our island home’. Millions of
dollars, reams of paper and many sleepless nights wrought an agreement that
may, if honoured by all, reduce the harm being done to our planet and to all
its species, human and non-human. The as
yet unanswered question is whether we will offer and present to our sisters and
brothers a thoughtful, holy and living sacrifice so that all may know fullness
of life.
So,
on this last Sunday before the celebration of the birth in time and space of
God’s Beloved, the Christ, the son of Mary and Joseph, the cousin of John, we
are reminded of our vocation to be stewards of creation. First and foremost, let us be good stewards
of our souls, our minds, our bodies and our strength. If we do not care for ourselves, then our
ability to care for others will be diminished.
Let
us also exercise care in the use of the goods of creation. You and I have access to resources well
beyond the reach of the overwhelming majority of our sisters and brothers
throughout the world. Reuse, reduce,
recycle is not just a catchy phrase; it is a religious obligation for those who
proclaim faith in a God who comes among us in the flesh.
Let
us raise our voices, along with the voices of the rich and the poor, the near
and the far, to proclaim our willingness to offer ourselves, our souls and
bodies, in the effort to tend this earth, this precious gift, our only home.
Bill
Frey, the bishop who ordained me to the priesthood thirty-four years ago
tomorrow, once said, ‘Some Christians are so heavenly minded that they are no
damn earthly good.’ Today we join
Elizabeth and Mary, Zechariah and Joseph, John and Jesus in giving thanks for
God’s love made known to us in creation and in saying ‘yes’ to God’s call to be
stewards of that creation.
And here we offer and present unto
thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and
living sacrifice unto thee . . . . [3]
No comments:
Post a Comment