Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Celebration of our Nation with the Riverblenders
On Thursday June 30 at 7:30 PM the Church of the Holy Communion will offer a joyful service of prayer, patriotic hymns, and songs in celebration of our nation. We are truly blessed to live in a country so rich in cultures, resources, and freedom. As we begin the observance of the Fourth of July holiday, we invite everyone to give thanks and praise to God for the many blessings bestowed upon our great nation.
God dwells in the world
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being. (John 1:1-3)
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, (John 1:14)
The created world can be thought of as God’s house, God’s home. According to its Greek derivation, the word “ecology” means “the doctrine of the house.” We Anglicans are particularly incarnational in our understanding. That means we treat Jesus’ presence in the flesh of the world as a type or perfect example of something more generally true. God is present within and among the created world. God inhabits the world, dwells in it. Since God also created the world we are reminded that the world belongs to God. We are guests in God’s house.
When I am a guest in someone’s home, I try harder than at my own house to treat the place with care. I don’t want to spill coffee on the furniture or make a watermark on the table because the owners have invested themselves in choosing and caring for them. Some people are more concerned about such things than others, of course, but the question is not whether they will be upset. It is part of my respect for the hosts to careful of their place.
Some of you have heard me tell of my stay at the Mad Carpenter Inn in Laramie, Wyoming. It is an old house that has been lovingly renovated and refurbished by the owner, a gifted carpenter. He added every imaginable decorative flourish as he replaced trim, floors, and wainscoting throughout. Guests naturally respond to the beautiful wood with exclamations of wonder. They also take extra care not scratch, break, or watermark anything. This strikes me as a fine example of how people ought to treat the Earth God has so carefully created—with gentleness and care.
If we want to preserve the world in a condition to sustain ourselves and our grandchildren, not to mention passing its beauty to them.
The paradigm of dominating the earth…needs to be replaced by the paradigm of inhabiting the earth, which aims at establishing compatible and sustaining forms of interaction between humans and nature.
We are welcome guests in God’s house—beloved children whom God is more than happy to shelter and feed. But we’re not toddlers anymore. So let’s treat this wonderful world with the respect and care due the home of one who loves us.
Shalom,
~Tom
The Rev. Thomas D. Harries
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, (John 1:14)
The created world can be thought of as God’s house, God’s home. According to its Greek derivation, the word “ecology” means “the doctrine of the house.” We Anglicans are particularly incarnational in our understanding. That means we treat Jesus’ presence in the flesh of the world as a type or perfect example of something more generally true. God is present within and among the created world. God inhabits the world, dwells in it. Since God also created the world we are reminded that the world belongs to God. We are guests in God’s house.
When I am a guest in someone’s home, I try harder than at my own house to treat the place with care. I don’t want to spill coffee on the furniture or make a watermark on the table because the owners have invested themselves in choosing and caring for them. Some people are more concerned about such things than others, of course, but the question is not whether they will be upset. It is part of my respect for the hosts to careful of their place.
Some of you have heard me tell of my stay at the Mad Carpenter Inn in Laramie, Wyoming. It is an old house that has been lovingly renovated and refurbished by the owner, a gifted carpenter. He added every imaginable decorative flourish as he replaced trim, floors, and wainscoting throughout. Guests naturally respond to the beautiful wood with exclamations of wonder. They also take extra care not scratch, break, or watermark anything. This strikes me as a fine example of how people ought to treat the Earth God has so carefully created—with gentleness and care.
If we want to preserve the world in a condition to sustain ourselves and our grandchildren, not to mention passing its beauty to them.
The paradigm of dominating the earth…needs to be replaced by the paradigm of inhabiting the earth, which aims at establishing compatible and sustaining forms of interaction between humans and nature.
We are welcome guests in God’s house—beloved children whom God is more than happy to shelter and feed. But we’re not toddlers anymore. So let’s treat this wonderful world with the respect and care due the home of one who loves us.
Shalom,
~Tom
The Rev. Thomas D. Harries
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
