River Sunday
2014. Seasons of Creation.
We worship with creation in the rivers.
‘The river of God
Feel free to take this order
of service home with you to reflect on during the week!
Please join in on the bolded
parts.
Readings
for River Sunday.
Old Testament: Genesis
8:20–22; 9:12–17 ‘God’s promise to Earth’
After the flood God promises that Earth and all of
life on Earth will be preserved by God, in spite of the sins of human beings.
Genesis 8:20-22
Noah built an altar to God. He selected
clean animals and birds from every species and offered them as burnt-offerings
on the altar. [21] God smelled the sweet fragrance and thought to himself,
"I'll never again curse the ground because of people. I know they have
this bent toward evil from an early age, but I'll never again kill off
everything living as I've just done.
[22] For as long as Earth lasts, planting and harvest, cold and heat,
Summer and winter, day and night will never stop."
Genesis 9:12-17
God continued, "This is the sign of
the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you
and everyone living after you. [13] I'm putting my rainbow in the clouds, a
sign of the covenant between me and the Earth. [14] From now on, when I form a
cloud over the Earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, [15] I'll remember
my covenant between me and you and everything living, that never again will
floodwaters destroy all life. [16] When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I'll
see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living,
every last living creature on Earth."
[17] And God said, "This is the sign
of the covenant that I've set up between me and everything living on the
Earth."
Gospel: Matthew
28:1–10 ‘God’s celebration with Earth’
The resurrection
of Christ is also celebrated by creation. An earthquake accompanies the advent
of the angel and the rolling away of the stone.
Matthew
28:1-10
After the Sabbath, as the first light of
the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at
the tomb. [2] Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God's
angel came down from heaven, came right up to where they were standing. He
rolled back the stone and then sat on it. [3] Shafts of lightning blazed from
him. His garments shimmered snow-white. [4] The guards at the tomb were scared
to death. They were so frightened, they couldn't move.
[5] The angel spoke to the women:
"There is nothing to fear here. I know you're looking for Jesus, the One
they nailed to the cross. [6] He is not here. He was raised, just as he said.
Come and look at the place where he was placed.
[7] "Now, get on your way quickly and
tell his disciples, 'He is risen from the dead. He is going on ahead of you to
Galilee. You will see him there.' That's the message."
[8] The women, deep in wonder and full of
joy, lost no time in leaving the tomb. They ran to tell the disciples. [9] Then
Jesus met them, stopping them in their tracks. "Good morning!" he
said. They fell to their knees, embraced his feet, and worshiped him. [10]
Jesus said, "You're holding on to me for dear life! Don't be frightened
like that. Go tell my brothers that they are to go to Galilee, and that I'll
meet them there."
River Sunday Message: A Reflection on Water.
We begin our life walking in the water of our
mother's womb.
As the story of Drip reminded us 70% of our
bodies is water.
In baptism we are again born of water and the
Spirit.
All the water on Earth is recycled.
Ultimately we have shared the same raindrops as
Moses or Jesus.
How do we become aware of the spiritual dimension
of water?
We survive because of the waters of life, every
day.
Yet we are often oblivious to this life force
within us and around us,
The
mystery of God in the world around us.
Let us do
a little reflection.
Hold your river stone and think about standing
in the river with water washing over our feet.
Maybe the there are river gums and the sun
shining through the leaves.
Think where that water has come from springs,
rain, clouds, oceans, the moist breath of God.
When we think on the water within us, water we
breathe, taste and drink to stay alive.
Then we may reflect on the journey of the water
after it flows downstream and into the sea.
Water is apart of the very mystery of life.
There are many more species of life deep in the
ocean than there are on land.
Clean waters are so quickly polluted with
refuse, chemicals and human waste.
Imagine as you stand in the river with the
water washing over your feet.
That a small branch, is dipped into the water
and sprinkle it over your heads.
You, who share birth by water and the Spirit
are blessed by the water.
Most of you here are probably a baptised people
and,
when
God became a human being,
God was also born of water and continues to be
a living presence in water.
Interesting thought isn’t is.
God was born of water and continues to be a
living presence in water.
Can we imagine that as a part of the mystery of
the incarnation?
Let
us leave our imagined river, figuratively dry our feet and come back to the
seats and the surrounding of this Church in Eden Hills.
This
Sunday we are thinking about the renewal of creation.
And
we are exploring our bible readings to discover the way God renews creation,
not only through waters and rivers
but also through God’s
healing Spirit.
My friend Kay lives near what used to be a little creek
until the council took out the reeds
and
evened it out so that it could be mowed instead.
She missed the sounds of the frogs in the evenings,
so she put a couple of frog ponds in her garden, in the
front and back yard.
Interestingly, the
frogs in the front garden tend to have a deep “croak, croak” but the ones in
the back go “creek, creek”.
And
something lost in the area has been reclaimed.
God’s constant
invitation is to reclaim that which has been lost.
Our
God is a god of renewal and hope.
We
are called to be people to live by the resurrection principle.
To
have hope that out of death comes new life.
When
I first heard to the Story of Noah, I was nearly 20 years old.
And
I came to love rainbows.
It
was one of the joys of when I was living in Findon,
standing in the Coles car park, on Grange Rd
where it was flat
looking
towards the hills I saw some of the best rainbows that I have ever seen. The
atmospheric conditions or the geography must be just right.
When
I heard the story of Noah, I saw rainbows in a new light.
Rather
than simply being a beautiful natural thing,
I saw them as a sign and promise of
God’s covenant love,
Similarly,
the rainbow appearing after the great
Flood has long been a symbol of hope and healing for Earth and life on
Earth.
Before we celebrate that rainbow, however, we need
to recall the background of why this great symbol was created.
Why do we have the story of God sending the
Flood?
According to the narrator of Genesis, God sent the
Flood because Something had gone wrong with God’s plan for creation.
God therefore decided to send the Flood to destroy
Earth and all its inhabitants.
If we accept the story as it stands, billions of
species would have been destroyed. That is a curse of massive proportions.
The story of the Flood is a return to the beginning
of Genesis with waters everywhere and Earth lying in darkness below them
(Gen. 1.2).
So, when we look at the flood story figuratively,
is like a reset of creation,
like when our phone
or computer stuff up
and we hit the reboot or reset button to begin
again.
Any new beginning would remove this curse and be a
total renewal of creation—a new creation formed from the residue of the old.
The pivotal moment in the Flood narrative, however,
is when God responds to the offering of thanks given by Noah and says:
‘I will never again
curse the ground because of humanity!’ (8.21)
This word from God is a message of hope for Earth. (pause)
The whole cycle of nature, the times and seasons of
creation,
ensure the web of
life is preserved, will never be broken again.
Earth will be fertile for those humans who serve it
as God intended.
Creation has been
renewed.
In the second Genesis reading, the focus changes
from removing the curse and maintaining the cycles of nature
to confirming the
promise of a new relationship between God and creation.
This promise is confirmed by a covenant, an eternal
bond with creation, the rainbow
The rainbow is God’s special sign confirming this
covenant,
this personal
agreement.
It is important to recognise that the covenant is
not simply with Noah or humanity, but embraces all living creatures, the kin of
humankind in creation.
The covenant, however, extends even further.
The rainbow is a sign of the covenant, says God,
‘between me and Earth’ (Gen. 9.13).
Earth—its mountains, trees, rivers and fields—are now incorporated in
God’s covenant.
Why is the rainbow in the sky?
For human beings to
remember God’s promise!
Perhaps!
Yet maybe, the rainbow is there for God to
remember.
Like a metaphorical ribbon around the “finger” of
God. Maybe?
Anyhow, When we see the rainbow we can be assured
God will keep this
promise with creation.
And
in the Matthew Reading, which
is often read at Easter,
the resurrection of Christ is also celebrated
by creation.
An
earthquake accompanies the advent of the angel and the rolling away of the
stone
The
earth moves for the two Mary’s and the writer of Mathew
tells
that a shimmering angel opens the tomb to a reveal that it is empty.
The
angel says- “Quickly, go tell the disciples that Jesus Christ is no longer
dead.”
Vikki’s Resurrection Principle.
One,
last story, I was talking to my friend Vikki about something,
she is a wise friend
who I turned to at times.
I
can’t remember what I was worried about.
It
is not important now but it was terribly, terribly
important at the time.
Anyway
the point of this story is that worried,
I went and spoke to my friend Vikki.
I told her how
I felt that things just seem to be fallen apart around me
and that I was uncertain of how things were going to come together next.
The
conversation that followed went something like this-
She
told me to have faith in the “Resurrection Principle”.
“The
Resurrection Principle” I parroted back
her.
“Yes,
the Resurrection principle. You know,
like Jesus”
“Resurrection Principle, Like Jesus”
I
confess that I was so caught up in my own stuff
that I was taking on
any new ideas really fast at all.
At
this point Vikki heaved a big sigh,
fortunately she did
however persist
and she said
something like this.
This isn’t word for
word and I have probably embroidered it a bit. But it was something like this
“You know the
Resurrection Principle,
that you have to die to have new life.”
“I
am not planning on dying, I don’t have time.”
“Not
literally dying” she said with a sigh, it was probably fortunate for me
that she didn’t have
something heavy like a book in her hands.
Vikki
was not renowned for her patience and she was getting that
“I-see-that-I-am
–going-to-have-to –explain-it” look on her face.
“The
resurrection principle is not just about big things
like death
and dying
but
is also about other significant moments in our lives.
-
It is about how we approach change and grief management. –
There
are many times in our lives when we have to let go
and move onto the next
stage.
-Where
we have to die to the old hopes and
dreams and ambitions,
in order to make room
for the new ones.
-It
is clearing the deck, creating a breathing
space, a vacuum
and living in the pause
for then there is the space for new things.
A
place to hear the still small voice of
God
and then and only then a time for planning
for the new paths that
God will invite you on without a doubt.
-
Remember that while it is true that God
loves us as we are
and
in that love we are made complete. At
the same time, God’s invitation to grow and move forward is always there.
That’s
the Resurrection Principle”. She
finished with a flourish.
I
had much to think about,
so
I thanked her for her words and her care and went on my way.
That
was a significant turning point in my life.
My friend’s idea about the resurrection principle helped me
to see
that I needed to let go of something that was very
important to me
at the time and reprioritise my life,
and when I let it go
of what i needed to let go of,
trust that God was in the empty space that was now left in
my heart.
As
I said, it was a confusing time for me,
as
I had thought that I was doing what I was called to do.
Had
I got it wrong or what? Where was God in
all of this confusion?
As
a point of interest,
After
much reflection and the clarity of time passing.
It
turned out I was doing was the right thing
but I was trying to do
everything at once, without all the facts
rather than
let plans unfold like rose petals.
It was a
confusing time.
.
There
is no such confusion in each of the reading today.
Mary
is happy once more that she has seen the Lord.
And
so we celebrate that out of death comes new life.
The
resurrection principle is that we die to be reborn.
That
no matter how dark the road,
Grim
the journey
Desperate
the situation
God
is with us in this life journey and the promise is always that, somehow
somewhere , there will be new life, and a new beginning.
Or as the movie - The Best
Exotic Marigold Hotel – puts it Everything will be all right in the end...
if it's not all right then it's not yet the end.
What
we see in today’s reading is – that the
dynamic nature
of God's love for and
action in the world is evident.
-The
gospel reading points to the future,
and a different way of
seeing the world.
-
This is the embracing role of the good news,
- that it is available to all.
What
is our response?.
Let
us consider two responses to the Easter story-
1-
The disciples can still be found in a locked
room, as though they are in a tomb of their own making as if waiting for
something, but they don't know. That is, if they haven't already fled.
2-
The women on the other hand are being
proactive. They have rolled their
sleeves up to the do the work of whatever they can do that needs doing. And are at the tomb with spices and are thus
the first to stumble across the promise in the empty tomb.
This
reminds us that Resurrection living is not something to wait for.
It
is something to live and work for both within ourselves and without So let us accept God’s invitation of love
and respond to it.
Make it something to
move towards something and strive for it,
We
need to look out for the places of resurrection in our lives.
And
creation is one of the places that we can look, as it reminds us of the
resurrection with its seasons and cycles or renewal and rebirth.
And
the message today is that God is not just with us, but that God is with and in
the earth. Our God is a God of abundance
of new life and new beginnings for all of creation. And as God’s children, we are invited to be a
part of the dance of life itself. Amen
I acknowledge the influence and material used from "Seasons of the Spirits" resource. Also, the websites of Bill Loader and Bruce Prewer. Thank you.
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