When I was in high school I learned a new song. It was written for people like me. People who did not know much about Jesus. But people who could take a look around and wonder who he was, what it means …
"Have you seen Jesus my Lord?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnHB9YUtllE
John Fisher wrote the song while he was a counselor to junior-high students at a Christian summer camp in the Santa Cruz mountains. It spoke to them as it can speak to us. It is about how we can perceive Jesus, that is, how we can perceive God (in a way we may already have known him, without realizing that we have,) as we contemplate what is before us in the natural, that is, the created, world.
Yes, we can see Jesus, the Christ, in the created world. He is the eternal Word through whom all things were made.
“All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” (John 1:3)
Psalm 24:1-2
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
for he has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the rivers.
The Apostle Paul preaches to the Athenians, the intellectually curious pagans who have altars to every single thing they can think of, even, to hedge their bets, ‘to an unknown god.’ But Paul tells them that the god they say is unknown is eminently knowable.
Acts 17:24-25, 28
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. . . ‘In him we live and move and have our being’.
Go outside. Look all around you. God is present in the world he has made. All things come from him. He is the God who is known in creation, in nature, as he is in compassion and kindness, in his Son, and in his Spirit.
The unknown god is knowable, and known. (And indeed knows us!)
Paul does not promise to the Athenians that they will see the risen Lord. He says to them, the god you call unknown is revealed in creation.
Of course no one has seen the Father, and Jesus is no longer among us in the flesh; it is through the Spirit that we experience God. It is through the Spirit that we come to know the unknown god, and his self-revelation in the risen Christ.
REDEEMER OF THE WORLD
On this the 7th Sunday in Easter season, we continue to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, and ponder what it implies. What it implies, beyond ourselves, and our own hopes for the resurrection, to what it means for each other, our society, our world.
We know that all of nature rejoices in the resurrection, but is it only humans that need to be redeemed and restored to the fullness of life promised in creation?
Certainly nature - the rest of nature - is blessed by our restoration through Christ to fullness of life. The human stain of sin may affect other creatures, and certainly through our actions. How often do we forget to bless the Lord for the natural abundance of our world, even in its crueler manifestations.
How often do we turn to the Lord and say thank you for the blessing of the sunset, or a moment’s breeze, or a first gasp of glimpse at the Grand Canyon - yet again as for the first time beyond our comprehension.
How often do we forget that the earth is his? Not just ours to play with. Not ours even entirely to comprehend. Though we keep on trying.
SHARING THE BLESSING OF THE RESURRECTED LIFE
As we here in Tucson contemplate the changes to our beloved valley and surrounding mountains, in the shadow of climate change, by necessity and with some form of respect for the earth, we think about what it will mean.
We have more people and less water, more houses and less land to put them on, bigger businesses here and failing businesses there, and mining adventures projected both north (Oak Flat) and south (Rosemont).
We in our various ways feel the anxiety - or the anticipation - of environmental changes all around us.
We have new buildings going up and old buildings… what of them?
Next door to my home is new construction. Custom homes. I’d rather they were further away. But further away is the hope of old construction, renovation by the Catholic Worker Casa Maria project, turning decrepit old motels into affordable housing for the homeless of south Tucson.
https://casamariatucson.org/ https://youtu.be/SbaKXhS1xXo
In either place, with more optimism in the latter than in the former, I’d like to see the earth gently trod upon, not scraped clean, nor exploited. I suppose we all want that, when we can get it.
But are we willing to pay the cost? It may mean giving up some open land or some easy profit. It may mean sharing the earth with those who scare us, and not just coyotes. It may mean that the easy steps of consumer stewardship - food bank, clothes closet, recycling - need supplementing by harder measures. Choosing, on the consumer level, greener products, or at least reusing bottles and bags and other consumables, rather than throwing away yet more plastic. Practical steps like civic engagement, and collective action, to address the root of the problems we confront.
How then shall we live? Shall we continue to bless the Lord, touch the earth in reverence? Can we invite our neighbors to do the same? Will it mean something dramatic, like standing in front of bulldozers, or simply sharing space - living space - more efficiently and compassionately?
In some parts of the world these questions are more urgent. On the West Bank settlers arrive to live in new homes, whether they are newly arrived from the new world, or finding their first safe home in the old. And yet displaced are other people, who have lived in the area thousands of years. Who is right? Everybody? Nobody? How are we to live together? The system is unjust, how can we reclaim it?
Some churches look into reparations, for what are called America’s original sins, of racism and the violent displacement of indigenous peoples. How? Compensate descendants of the exploited? Give a leg up, or special scholarships, to those who can use them?
Closer to home, how do you and I bring the blessings of the resurrected life to our community? Look around again. We are facing challenges of immigration, land development, and climate change. What can each of us do, as citizens, as Christian people, as neighbors, friends, and family?
In a world embroiled in original - and unoriginal - sin, can we live together? Yes, we can. I believe it is possible in the light of Christ, of truth revealing our folly and failings, and yet his redeeming power, at work in the world.
We are part of love’s redeeming work. We are called, chosen - better yet invited - to be among the salt of the earth, not to hide our light under a bushel, but to ourselves be engines of restoration, of renewal, of grace.
That can happen, as the spirit descends, and God stirs up his mighty power, to work through us and we, alongside his unfathomable actions, work to bring new hope to this old world. Through Christ, in the Spirit - that we await again today with anxious hope - it can happen.
1 Corinthians 10:26
For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof. (KJV)
The earth and all that is in it belong to the Lord. (CEB)
JRL+
Sundays and Seasons https://sundaysandseasons.com
Edge of Enclosure http://edgeofenclosure.org/easter6a.html
The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade, “Nature Reveals the “Unknown God”: Acts 17:22-31; John 14:15-21”
https://interfaithsustain.com/ecopreacher-resources/nature-reveals-the-unknown-god/
When I was in high school I learned a new song. It was written for people like me. People who did not know much about Jesus. But people who could take a look around and wonder who he was, what it means …
"Have you seen Jesus my Lord?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnHB9YUtllE
John Fisher wrote the song while he was a counselor to junior-high students at a Christian summer camp in the Santa Cruz mountains. It spoke to them as it can speak to us. It is about how we can perceive Jesus, that is, how we can perceive God (in a way we may already have known him, without realizing that we have,) as we contemplate what is before us in the natural, that is, the created, world.
Yes, we can see Jesus, the Christ, in the created world. He is the eternal Word through whom all things were made.
“All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” (John 1:3)
Psalm 24:1-2
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
for he has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the rivers.
The Apostle Paul preaches to the Athenians, the intellectually curious pagans who have altars to every single thing they can think of, even, to hedge their bets, ‘to an unknown god.’ But Paul tells them that the god they say is unknown is eminently knowable.
Acts 17:24-25, 28
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. . . ‘In him we live and move and have our being’.
Go outside. Look all around you. God is present in the world he has made. All things come from him. He is the God who is known in creation, in nature, as he is in compassion and kindness, in his Son, and in his Spirit.
The unknown god is knowable, and known. (And indeed knows us!)
Paul does not promise to the Athenians that they will see the risen Lord. He says to them, the god you call unknown is revealed in creation.
Of course no one has seen the Father, and Jesus is no longer among us in the flesh; it is through the Spirit that we experience God. It is through the Spirit that we come to know the unknown god, and his self-revelation in the risen Christ.
REDEEMER OF THE WORLD
On this the 7th Sunday in Easter season, we continue to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, and ponder what it implies. What it implies, beyond ourselves, and our own hopes for the resurrection, to what it means for each other, our society, our world.
We know that all of nature rejoices in the resurrection, but is it only humans that need to be redeemed and restored to the fullness of life promised in creation?
Certainly nature - the rest of nature - is blessed by our restoration through Christ to fullness of life. The human stain of sin may affect other creatures, and certainly through our actions. How often do we forget to bless the Lord for the natural abundance of our world, even in its crueler manifestations.
How often do we turn to the Lord and say thank you for the blessing of the sunset, or a moment’s breeze, or a first gasp of glimpse at the Grand Canyon - yet again as for the first time beyond our comprehension.
How often do we forget that the earth is his? Not just ours to play with. Not ours even entirely to comprehend. Though we keep on trying.
SHARING THE BLESSING OF THE RESURRECTED LIFE
As we here in Tucson contemplate the changes to our beloved valley and surrounding mountains, in the shadow of climate change, by necessity and with some form of respect for the earth, we think about what it will mean.
We have more people and less water, more houses and less land to put them on, bigger businesses here and failing businesses there, and mining adventures projected both north (Oak Flat) and south (Rosemont).
We in our various ways feel the anxiety - or the anticipation - of environmental changes all around us.
We have new buildings going up and old buildings… what of them?
Next door to my home is new construction. Custom homes. I’d rather they were further away. But further away is the hope of old construction, renovation by the Catholic Worker Casa Maria project, turning decrepit old motels into affordable housing for the homeless of south Tucson.
https://casamariatucson.org/ https://youtu.be/SbaKXhS1xXo
In either place, with more optimism in the latter than in the former, I’d like to see the earth gently trod upon, not scraped clean, nor exploited. I suppose we all want that, when we can get it.
But are we willing to pay the cost? It may mean giving up some open land or some easy profit. It may mean sharing the earth with those who scare us, and not just coyotes. It may mean that the easy steps of consumer stewardship - food bank, clothes closet, recycling - need supplementing by harder measures. Choosing, on the consumer level, greener products, or at least reusing bottles and bags and other consumables, rather than throwing away yet more plastic. Practical steps like civic engagement, and collective action, to address the root of the problems we confront.
How then shall we live? Shall we continue to bless the Lord, touch the earth in reverence? Can we invite our neighbors to do the same? Will it mean something dramatic, like standing in front of bulldozers, or simply sharing space - living space - more efficiently and compassionately?
In some parts of the world these questions are more urgent. On the West Bank settlers arrive to live in new homes, whether they are newly arrived from the new world, or finding their first safe home in the old. And yet displaced are other people, who have lived in the area thousands of years. Who is right? Everybody? Nobody? How are we to live together? The system is unjust, how can we reclaim it?
Some churches look into reparations, for what are called America’s original sins, of racism and the violent displacement of indigenous peoples. How? Compensate descendants of the exploited? Give a leg up, or special scholarships, to those who can use them?
Closer to home, how do you and I bring the blessings of the resurrected life to our community? Look around again. We are facing challenges of immigration, land development, and climate change. What can each of us do, as citizens, as Christian people, as neighbors, friends, and family?
In a world embroiled in original - and unoriginal - sin, can we live together? Yes, we can. I believe it is possible in the light of Christ, of truth revealing our folly and failings, and yet his redeeming power, at work in the world.
We are part of love’s redeeming work. We are called, chosen - better yet invited - to be among the salt of the earth, not to hide our light under a bushel, but to ourselves be engines of restoration, of renewal, of grace.
That can happen, as the spirit descends, and God stirs up his mighty power, to work through us and we, alongside his unfathomable actions, work to bring new hope to this old world. Through Christ, in the Spirit - that we await again today with anxious hope - it can happen.
1 Corinthians 10:26
For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof. (KJV)
The earth and all that is in it belong to the Lord. (CEB)
JRL+
Sundays and Seasons https://sundaysandseasons.com
Edge of Enclosure http://edgeofenclosure.org/easter6a.html
The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade, “Nature Reveals the “Unknown God”: Acts 17:22-31; John 14:15-21”
https://interfaithsustain.com/ecopreacher-resources/nature-reveals-the-unknown-god/
