Dig Deeper - Sunday 30th August

Sermon Reflection: Courage to Care for Creation

Psalm 8

Link to service

Dig Deeper notes from Sunday 30th August service -

Psalm 8 is a psalm of praise to God about His wonderful creation and everything that He has put into the earth.

In Genesis, we can read that mankind was made in the image of God to rule over all animals and creatures (Gen. 1:26), to work the land and take care of it (Gen. 2:15), and for this task, we are given courage to do this.

Firstly, we need courage to be able to stand up to others regarding the climate change this and future generations is facing. Courage is also needed to have a voice to those with power, money and influence.

A way to support this is to support Fairtrade. Fairtrade gives opportunities for disadvantaged producers to have accountability and ensures there is no child or forced labour or exploitation involved within the production and manufacturing of their products. As God calls us to ‘love our neighbours as ourselves’ this stretches globally in support of His creation.

Secondly, we need courage to make changes within our own lives too. By reducing our carbon footprint, reducing water usage, recycling what we can – it all has a big impact on our planet.

The taglines ‘Reduce, Re-use, Recycle’ is a great way to remember how we can help the environment.

Thirdly, we need courage to remember and advocate to others that this planet belongs to God and it isn’t ours. We are called to care for it so that generations to come will also be able to enjoy God’s creation. This means caring for what we have now and preserving what we can for future generations.

Fourthly, we need courage to remember that it doesn’t matter how old we are, it is never too early or too late to care for God’s creation. You may feel your input is meaningless, but together, we can have a huge impact.

God has entrusted use with a beautiful planet for our benefit and it is being abused due to selfishness, greed and ignorance. So let’s be mindful of our actions and consequences and encourage one another to make the right ethical choices.

Points to consider:

1.      What can we do individually or as a family to help sustain our planet that we aren’t doing at the moment?

2.      What can we do as a church community that will help sustain our planet?

3.      Visit the St John’s website and take a look at the eco team page (under ministries tab). On there are ideas and websites to inspire and give different ideas on what we can do to help the environment.

Prayer:

Lord God,

You gave us the responsibility to uphold and care for your handcrafted world. Help us to uplift and renew the world You created. We pray for the world now and all of the consequences we face because of human neglect, such as wild fires, flash flooding and climate change. We pray that through Your Holy Spirit, we will have the courage to make a difference, so that future generations get to witness the wonderful world You created.

In Your nighty name,

Amen.