May 2 Sabbath Message - Living Up to Our Responsibility to Creation
Opening Prayer
Scripture Reading
20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Genesis 1:20-31
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -
3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
Message
The two scripture readings today are descriptions of Creation... the original creation and the one yet to come.
First, in Genesis we read about the original creation of God. It was a world where all was good. In this pure, unspoiled, ideal world, our Mother and Father created us in their own image - male and female. God blessed us and walked among us. He and She gave us plants to eat and animals to tend. Then, in God's infinite wisdom, we were given responsibility over it all.
That was always the plan. It was always meant to be our world - a gift to us- and we were meant to tend it. This world was created as our school and our tending of it was intended to be our lessons in maturity. The goal of the school was to create good citizens and leaders in the kingdom of God. In other words, to be like God. The Father, is the principal of this school. He created the rules - the laws of nature- to keep order and to teach us His ways. The Holy Spirit Mother is our teacher. She whispered her words in the hearts of the prophets and through them wrote the scriptures (our schoolbooks). Her loving hand guides each of us through the lessons we are meant to learn.
Unfortunately, learning can be messy. Think about when a baby is first given a spoon to feed himself. Well, that is sort of what we have done to this world. Humanity has created lots of different messes. Whenever it got too messy, though, God or the natural law God put in place would intervene. Sometimes, God would have to send a messenger or a prophet to put us back on the right path. Sometimes it got so messy that a natural occurrence such as a flood was needed to set things back in balance.
God's original creation, that perfect place described in Genesis 1 and 2 has really taken a beating under the rule of man. God commanded us to rule over the earth but we were meant to rule in the image of God. "Rule" means to have dominion, govern, or have authority. Rulers that oppress the weak for the benefit of themselves are considered unjust. There is no reason that humanity's dominion over the other creatures and resources of this earth should be judged by any other standard. We were charged to rule in God's stead. When we rule in an exploitative or domineering way, we live contrary to Divine intent.
There are consequences for this behavior, however. Man has suffered for his own foolishness. Pollution, wars, poverty and disease are all the end results of abusing the authority we have been given over creation. The swine flu, for instance, is one of these consequences. This new disease emerged out of a factory farm in Mexico. At a massive hog facility, animals were packed into crowded, filthy living conditions. The owners were motivated by greed not love and compassion for animals or man. Next to the hog facility was a poultry production facility. An epidemic of avian flu among the chickens there was kept quiet so as not to interfere with exports. As a result, we may have a new pandemic to contend with. The swine flu is a mixture of human, avian and swine flu virus.
It is time to wake up and grow up as children of God. We have a responsibility to stop making messes. In Romans 8 it says "The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice,...in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." In other words the world is crying out to us "PLEASE GROW UP!" Stop acting like spoiled brats and act like your Father and Mother.
In our second scripture reading, we read the prophecy from Isaiah. This scripture fast-forwards us to the time when the Kingdom of God will once more be restored to this world. It is a time when man will once more recognize God's rule. God's peaceable kingdom will eventually return to earth. This is the Way that was taught to us by Yeshua. It will finally triumph and will rule. That final victory will transform life as we know it. This will be a time of perfect peace between people and between human beings and the animal kingdom. We, who are Essenes, are not supposed to just wait for this change to happen. We are called to actively work to usher in the peaceable kingdom of God on earth.
Psalm 34:14 tells us to "Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." The vision of what we are to pursue is discribed above in Isaiah and is also found in several other places in scripture. Hosea prophesied a future covenant "with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the creeping things of the ground." It will be a time when God will banish "bow and sword and war from the land" and all will lie down in safety. The book of Job anticipates a time when people will neither kill nor fear beasts but the beast of the field will be your allies.
The story of our spirituality begins with God's creation of a peaceful beautiful world. It ends with God's children ushering in a new world of peace. It is not an ending. It is a completion. It is a new beginning and we, those of faith, are to work toward it. We are to walk the Way toward the peaceable kingdom. So let us recommit ourselves now to create God's kingdom on earth in our own lives and in the lives of those around us. Hymn of Reflection
Discussion of the Message
Closing Prayer
Closing Hymn
Comments
Nice ! :).. Thanks buddy..
Posted by: PamelaDueK | May 23, 2009 09:05 AM