Creation Spirituality
Psalm 19:1-6 and Romans 1:16-23
Jesus
and the biblical writers of the New Testament used images from their own day to
describe what it means to live life with God.
Jesus’ parables are full of these images: the kingdom of God is like a
farmer who sows seed, like a shepherd who looks for the lost sheep, like a
mustard seed. Paul, too, borrowed
images from his own culture to describe the reality of living according to the
reality of Jesus Christ: living with Christ is like a judge who pronounces you
innocent even though you’re not (justified), like a slave who has freedom
purchased for him or her by another (redeemed), like putting on a brand new
coat. Well, today – as I did two weeks
ago – I am going to use images from our
culture to describe what it means to live life in Jesus Christ. Today I’m going to talk about creation
spirituality.
Creation spirituality is nothing new. In the Middle Ages St. Thomas Aquinas built his theology around the notion of “natural law,” which is another way of saying “things of the created order.” And, of course, poets have long sung creation’s praise: Gerard Manley Hopkins famously wrote, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.” The poet David, king of Israel, wrote of creation spirituality in Psalm 19 with the words, “The Heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). St. Paul picks up this same theme when he says, “…since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…” (Romans 1:20). As we look at the creation, then, we are on firm biblical grounds to see it as an apt simile for the spiritual journey. In the same way that Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is like a sower who sows seeds,” so can we say, “The kingdom of God is like a hike in the mountains….” So hear now a top ten list of ways we can discover the life of faith in the creation.
#10 God designed the world with diversity in mind. It is a startling reality that cannot be denied when out in the mountains: diversity is God’s plan. A look across the way from one hillside to the next shows the differences in color between the dark greens of the evergreens to the light greens of the aspens. A look around will show a dozen different kinds of plants and grasses at any given moment. We who call ourselves Christians would do well to remember this truth from what has been made. Too easily do we Christians define true spirituality according to our own comfort zone. The spiritual world is too often divided into what we personally believe, practice and feel comfortable with versus everything else that “others” do which is at best suspect. Please! We need not only to respect the differences among us but celebrate them! I have no desire to stand through a three hour worship service as our Greek Orthodox brothers and sisters do, but God bless them. I would rather lead one sinner to eternal salvation than lead a political march against injustice, but both are important, both are necessary, both are a part of God’s good will for our lives. God designed the world with diversity in mind.
#9 God designed the world with intentionality and purpose to give us his good gifts. Two weeks ago on our church hike, Neal Osborn showed us several plants along the way. One that I remember in particular was a pretty little flower with a bluish, waxy sheen to it. Neal explained that this bluish, waxy covering was the plant’s way of being able to both receive the helpful qualities of the sun for photosynthesis yet protect itself from harmful UV rays. How cool is that? In the same way, God created each one of us with special gifts for our protection and blessing. Each of us has qualities that are obvious, like the pretty flower, and not so obvious, like the waxy sheen, that help us in life. The spiritual journey is all about discovering, claiming, celebrating and using the gifts God has given us. God designed the world with intentionality and purpose to give us his good gifts.
#8 God gives us guides for the journey. Our guide was Neal Osborn; for those of you who don’t know, Neal has a PhD. in biology with a specialty in botany. We would have been ignorant to ignore Neal’s sage (pun intended) wisdom about what we were seeing and experiencing. In the same way, God gives us guides for the spiritual journey. In the Reformed faith, our primary guide is Jesus as the Bible bears witness to him. Pastors, Sunday school teachers and wise friends are also guides for our journey. Our challenge is to listen to these guides, for as one participant on the church hike put it: “If you don’t follow and listen to your guide, you might as well stay home because you never truly left.” God gives us guides for the journey.
#7 Along the way, one finds one’s better self. I have never seen someone go on a hike and return morally and spiritually bankrupt. Just the opposite. Stressed out maniacs relax. Couch potatoes find inner strength to make it. Even grumpy kids, who had been complaining all the drive up the mountain, find a smile. In the same way, I have never met someone who loves Jesus who did not find their better self. I have known some folks who say they love Jesus but don’t read his Word, obey his Word or seem to care about being like Jesus; these folks somehow don’t find their better selves. But anyone who loves Jesus with heart and head and hands, anyone who lives the Jesus life of light and life, of laughter and love, that person finds one’s better self. I guarantee it! Along the way, one finds one’s better self.
#6 Walking in the light is better than walking in the darkness. This seems self-evident when it comes to hiking; after all, who would choose to hike in the darkness? The notion is absurd! Yet, it’s amazing to me how often we are tempted to walk in the darkness on our spiritual journey. The dangers of the darkness when hiking are a turned ankle and a strong possibility of getting lost. Well, in the same way, walking in the darkness on our spiritual journey is a kind of getting lost, and often it can lead to bodily harm. I have a close friend who was recently diagnosed with a life threatening illness who will need to undergo 11 months of chemotherapy. She contracted the illness between 17 – 20 years ago when, as a young adult, she “walked in the darkness” in her lifestyle choices. To the young people among us, let me say this: the choices you make today have their consequences! Please make good choices!!! Walking in the light is better than walking in the darkness.
#5 Perseverance is required. On a hike, the mountain climbs, the mountain drops, but mostly the mountain climbs. At times one strolls through green pastures, at times one clambers up an incline made for a billy goat, but mostly one clambers. In the same way, the spiritual journey is not for the quick to quit. Our culture has a “fast food” mentality that has no place in matters of faith. Do you realize that the time between God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son and its fulfillment was 14 years? That the time between Israel’s going into slavery in Egypt and when God led them to freedom was over 400 years? That the time between God’s promise of a Messiah and Jesus’ birth was over 600 years? God is not in a hurry, so we must be patient…and persevere. I see in my counseling folks who want change to occur overnight; they are looking for easy answers to complex, longstanding problems. The life of faith is not about becoming like Christ immediately but about becoming like him eventually. Perseverance is required.
#4 Never hike alone. It is dangerous to hike alone. Remember the guy in Utah trapped by a large boulder that crushed his hand? If you don’t want to have to gnaw off your hand (spiritually speaking), don’t hike alone. More to the point, though, togetherness is its own blessing, whether when hiking or on the spiritual journey. We are created for one another. We are created for community with one another, and as one finds true fellowship on a hike when everyone stops to rest and chat, so do we find meaning in our lives as we stop our busyness and take time to visit, support and share our lives with one another. Every image of the church in the New Testament is a communal image: Body of Christ, Family of Faith, Fellowship of Believers, Community of God. Never is the image of the church cast in singular form. The life of faith was not meant to be a solo journey. Never hike alone.
#3 Look up! It is so easy on a hike to look down, always down, because one doesn’t want to trip over a rock. For most people, most of the hike is spent looking down. But the true glory is found only when one looks up. In the same way, the life of faith requires that we stop and look up periodically. This is part of what weekly worship is all about, finding the rhythm and balance between taking care of one’s business and remembering one’s purpose. In life, if our focus is only on the rocks, roots and gravel that are the path, then at the end of the journey, we will have only seen our feet and heard our fears. Look up!
#2 Listen to the wind! I love stopping to listen as the wind blows
through the trees, especially at higher elevations as it blows through the
aspens. I am always reminded of Jesus’
words to Nicodemus: “The wind blows where it will. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or
where it is going. So it is with
everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
The life of faith is empowered by the Spirit. Many of us live as if it were otherwise. Too easily can we Christians define “religion”
in terms of moral categories – do’s and don’ts – that we believe we can control
by force of our own strength, intellect and purpose. How often do we give ourselves over to our intuition? How scary, but how liberating, would it feel
to ask the Spirit to direct us and give us conviction and guidance? Listen
to the wind!
#1 Listen for the running water! I love going on hikes here in Colorado because there is often a stream or creek close by but often they cannot be seen from the trail. I know it’s there; I can hear it. But I cannot see the stream. In the same way, the spiritual journey has running water close at hand. “Running water” was what Jesus would have actually said to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4: 10ff.); in the Aramaic language of the day, “living water” meant the equivalent of our “running water.” Of course, Jesus intended the phrase metaphorically. His water would be a kind of life giving, life sustaining, life enhancing water to quench not merely the body but also the soul. Such water is always at hand, just around the bend, over the trail horizon, but not always seen. Sometimes we see the stream on a hike, and in the same way there are times when we “see” Jesus’ power and strength. But in the life of faith even when we do not see the living water, we need to trust that it – or should I say, “he” – is there. Listen for the running water!
*****
Okay, so there we have it: the top ten things we can learn about the kingdom of God from experiencing the creation! The problem with a sermon like this – a “list” sermon – is that it has the potential, (some would say likelihood), of becoming a bit boring and/or overwhelming. I mean, who can remember ten separate things? I promise you, ten minutes from now no one in this room will be able to remember all ten truths…unless, of course, you are the proverbial “stinkin’ genius.”
The good thing about a “list” sermon like this is that it’s scattered enough that most everyone can get something out of it…but only if what you need to hear doesn’t get swept away in the flood of information. So what I would like to ask you to do at this time is take the 3 x 5 cards that are in your bulletin and write down the truth you need to hear. What is it that, for this week, you want to focus on for your spiritual journey? What will help you in your life of faith? How can “the heavens declare the glory of God” for you? How can you better see “God’s invisible qualities” throughout this next week?
As you write, I will pray.