Trinity Episcopal Church

(As the story is told the children in the congregation provide the cribbitts)

I want to tell you a story today.  It is one that I am told originated in Zaire.  Once there was a cruel chief who lived in a remote village in Africa.  He was a tyrannical chief who demanded absolute obedience.  Everyone lived in fear of him except one very old grandmother who had seen much in her life.  Only she was brave enough to speak truth to the chief.

Now the village was located in a lush, verdant area that had many acres of marsh surrounding it.  At night there was a chorus of insects and amphibians (cribbitt) that lulled the people to sleep.  At least everyone except the chief.  The chief often had bad dreams that would wake him up when it was still dark.  The incessant noise (cribbitt) would prevent him from returning to sleep and he would be really grumpy the next day.

This foul mood got worse and worse until one night the chief lept from his bed and shouted at the frogs who were joyfully croaking (cribbitt) to be quiet.  The chief said “Quiet!  I demand silence!  And I want it NOW!”  But guess what the frogs did.  (Cribbitt)

The chief lay awake the remainder of that night but early the next morning he called all the people of the village together and said to them.  “The frogs have disobeyed me!  Take your sticks and go to the marsh.  Kill them all!  If I hear one single croak tonight I will take my revenge on you!”  All the villagers except the old grandmother ran to the marsh with their sticks to kill the frogs.  The chief turned to the old wwoman and said “since you are old and feeble I will let you stay in the village.”  The old grandmother looked and the chief and said to him.  “Since you are so foolish in your demands I will tell you the truth!”  “All things are connected!” “ What does that mean” asked the chief.  “You will see replied the woman – you will soon see!”   

That night an eerie silence engulfed the village.  The people were restless and unable to sleep, but the chief slept like a baby.  He was convinced that he had made the right decision.   And then it happened.  The first night there was this faint buzzing sound, (zzzzzzz)  but it got louder and louder and then the villagers began to feel mosquitoes biting them.    (slap)  The chief was bitten too and soon they mosquitoes were coming in swarms both day and night. 

       “Leave me alone!” the chief shouted at the mosquitoes – “or I chall have you killed too!”  But the mosquitoes only buzzed louder (zzzz) and bit harder.  (slap)  So the following morning the chief ordered all the people into the marsh to kill the mosquitoes, but alas there were too many of them.  Wothout the frogs to eat the mosquito larvae they just multiplied and multiplied.  Thousands upon thousands so that the village was alive with hungry mosquitoes and both farm animals and humans suffered. 

That night the villiagers secretly packed their bags and moved far away.  Now the chief had no one except the mosquitoes to rule over and they would not opey him at all.  Al last the chief knew what the old grandmother had meant….  “ALL THINGS ARE CONNECTED!![i]

All things are indeed connected.  Today is our day to celebrate St Francis and to extend God’s blessings on our faithful companions, both those we brought and those who, like my Miss Kitty, are back home for fear that my vestments would be ripped to shreds before the service was over.   But today is also a day that we are going to focus on that story of creation that Betty read.  It was from a children’s Bible.  Telling the story this way opens up some possibilities for me to really look at what this beautiful story has to say about our relationship with God and with this “Earth, our island home”

What was your reaction when you first saw the image of Earth beamed back from space?  How did you respond when you first grasped that Earth is indeed a green blue ball of living beings floating in air?  If you were born more recently, the image of Earth as we see it from space may be something you take for granted.  If so, maybe you might consider how it is that Earth is different from other planets or life worlds in science fiction books or television shows such as Star Wars?  Does it make you feel a little vulnerable to imagine the Death Star lurking out between the moon and earth?  All part of the movie world though.  Thank goodness we don’t have to worry about Darth Vader setting his sights on us.  But perhaps we have something much more dangerous to worry about….

Reading the Genesis story as we did today allows us to move away from debate about the literal text and to look instead on how this text, written thousands of years ago, captures transcendant insights into God’s relationship with Earth and consequently our relationship with Earth.

In this story of creation the earth is not just one more object of God’s handiwork.  The earth is a participant, a character in the story, -  giving birth so to speak; to the world that encompasses it.  The opening line of the chapter declares that God created everything.

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.”  (Gen 1:1-2)  Creation in its primal condition and location;  Earth is already there!

Rabbi Myrna and I had a discussion over this passage once and she said that from the Jewish perspective  that even in that formless void - Earth is there, present, but has not yet assumed its final shape and has not yet been filled with life.  But this formless void has a purpose and that purpose is to give birth to God’s creation.  The character called Earth is waiting below, a character yet to be developed by God.

As the story of creation unfolds God separates the light form the darkness  and then the sky from the waters and finally the dry land is birthed from  depths of the waters.  God does not say ‘Let there be Earth’!  Earth is already there – waiting to appear.  The translation from the Hebrew for the word appear is the same word used to describe God’s appearing - what we call a theophany, an experience of God that reveals something of God’s nature.   So the birth of Earth is a revelation, and in my Episcopalian understanding of the relatedness of all of creation - it is a revealing of the nature of God.   This is confirmed for me after God names the land ‘Earth’ and looks at what has been created and declares it to be good.

And then a wonderful thing happens.   God calls on Earth to be a co-creator.   “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed…  and let them multiply.  And he does the same with the animals.  This is not a clockwork God – this is God who puts into motion the wonders for rebirth and resurrection and calls it Good.  Just as we are God’s hands and feet and caretakers in this world, the earth is the physical source of life.  All that we are and all that there is stems from the love and attentiveness of God.

Now the earth, this birth-mother of creation, is faced with ominous signs.  Greenhouse gases are building rapidly causing a shift the temperature that is threatening the Arctic ice pack and the Antarctic glaciers.  Sea levels are rising and that could have more disastrous consequences for the Earth.  There is abundant evidence that we the people are the cause of this change in climate.  That is bad news but the good news is that if we caused it then we can halt it.  But such a change will mean that we must become good stewards of our world.  We must change the way we live our lives.  We must stop the wanton destruction of our wetlands, reduce our consumption of petroleum products, and to the best of our ability eliminate as much waste as possible from land fills.

Bishop Bud asked that this morning I remind you of some of the ways that you can make a difference for the next generation and for generations to come.

Reduce plastic – carry a bag with you to the grocery

Drive less – we would probably be healthier

Use compact fluorescent bulbs, turn the heat up in summer and down in winter.  I have a whole list of suggestions for reducing the negative impact we have on our envoironment.  At the announcements Chris Cerrato is going to tell us about how we can join our sister churches in a Green Initiative.  To continue the work we started last year when we began to recycle in earnest and expand it with the goal of eliminating all disposable eatery from our kitchen. 

Being good stewards is not all don’ts though – we can also help by planting trees, using pine straw instead of cypress mulch in our flower beds, buying energy efficient appliances and insulating our homes.  All it takes is that we be intentional about it.  Do it for your neighbor, do it for your family, do it for your children, do it because this is God’s creation and we are called by God to love it just as much as God does.

Let us pray,  For the marvelous grace of your Creation-We pour out our thanks to you, our God. We confess, Lord, that we often are unaware of how deeply we have hurt your good earth and its marvelous gifts. We confess that we often are unaware of how our abuse of Creation has also been an abuse of ourselves. May we your servants increasingly serve; may we your servants increasingly come to love your Creation as we increasingly come to love you through Jesus Christ, our Lord."