In God’s Hand Is the Life and Breath of All That Live

“Look at the birds of the air- God feeds them.   Look at the flowers growing all around us – God raises them naturally each and every one.”   (Hey, you worry too much!  Let God provide for you too.  You don’t believe me?)

    “Just ask the birds, they’ll tell you. – Listen to the plants – they’ll teach you!  The fish of the sea will even declare to you that God knows what God is doing; That God’s unfolding Creation affirms your life too for your whole lifetime – that, as the Book of Job says, “In God’s hand is the life and breathe of all that live.” 

   Oh how I love Earth Day celebrations and everything that goes with them. 

Awareness – Appreciation – Challenge – Change for the Good!

  I love Earth Day because it always comes ‘round right when spring is starting to show off like a teen age lad in love. 

  And speaking of a teen age lad in love, my first Earth Day was on the very first Earth Day in the spring of 1970.  I had just turned 16 and I was pretty sure I was GA-GA over the prettiest, smartest girl in my biology class.  And I was fairly sure she kind of liked me because, being the class pacifist, when I respectfully objected to killing a frog for dissection when I was sure I could just as easily learn the biology by watching with someone else, she volunteered to let me team up with her.

  I WAS IN SPRINGTIME, TEENAGE, LOVE, HEAVEN!!!

A couple days later our biology teacher, a bright student teacher from Colgate University, asked if anyone wanted to participate in the first Earth Day Ever by trying this new thing called ‘recycling glass bottles’.   It would mean giving a precious Saturday and doing some real work and traveling over an hour each way to a new place called a ‘recycling plant’. 

  I knew I was interested and wanted to go, but when SHE volunteered too I knew she WAS perfect!   Yes, the prettiest, smartest girl ever was ecologically conscious and compassionate to the pacifist, 16 year old hockey playing Episcopalian kid.   Boy I love Earth Day!

  And I’ll tell you something else about the first Earth Day in 1970, OVER 20 MILLION AMERICANS TOOK PART. 20 MILLION.  I felt deep pride in my nation for that witness.  Yes, 39 years ago 20 million Americans began to re-evaluate our role in a world and culture of throw away consumerism, obscene consumption of the earth’s resources, and a distasteful lack of concern for the generations who would be born into a world of increasing pollution and cancer and asthma and more.   

     Did I say 39 years?  I can’t believe it has been that long.  I can’t believe I can be this old!

 And yet,  despite the advancing  age, 3 clear memories are with me to this day – HER beauty inside and out -  MY sense of finally doing something that made me feel not just ‘good about myself’ BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY DOING SOMETHING RELEVENT TO THE WELL BEING OF THE WORLD GOD ENTRUSTED TO ALL OF US – and thirdly I RECALL that on the way home from recycling we stopped at one of the first Pizza Hut restaurants and SHE ordered a pizza with ground sausage topping, which I had never experienced before either, and THAT WAS LOVE AT FIRST BITE!!!    Like I said, I love Earth Day!!!

   But seriously, it has also been along, hard tug of war between our human proclivities for creation and self destruction when it comes to ecological responsibility these past 39 years.  My God, less than 6 months ago political lackeys in the pockets of BIG OIL were still on the national stage and networks chanting “DRILL BABAY DRILL!” + casting aspersions on conserving non-renewable resources + criticizing plans to develop alternative energy resources.  AND YOU STILL SEE ads trying to put together two words that do NOT go together CLEAN/COAL…    AND MUCH AS I ADMIRE OUR NEW PRESIDENT both he and the leaders of the opposition party are DEAD WRONG about building hundreds of nuclear power plants   AND…WHILE ON THE SUBJECT,  PepsiCo, Nestle, and Coca Cola are buying up local ground water supplies all over our land this Earth Day and depleting our aquifers  so they can ship bottled water across the globe for huge profits to them at great cost to the Earth …AND , OH WHY NOT WHILE I’M AT IT ,  right here this Earth Day , here in beautiful New Hampshire HERE IN GOFFSTOWN N.H.  at last count I am told that less than 50% of US – OF US are recycling our household trash, or using clotheslines more and dryers less and walking more and driving less etc   LESS THAN HALF OF US.    WHEW!   All the more reason for people who say they love God to say that great prayer we use often here at St. Matthew’s, “God give us a reverence for the earth as your own creation, that we use its resources rightly…”

   So… yes I have some great sentimental reasons for loving Earth Day, but WE ALL have a great and purposeful reason to love it too.  For you see, God has entrusted this beautiful earth to you and me, to us.  God has given to us the best – the world, this life sustaining wonder.  And on this great day in this corner of God’s creation IN THIS CHURCH we are baptizing two of God’s all time greatest gifts, tow baby boys!  Two baby boys who deserve to grow tall and strong and fall in love and help the world too.   Two children who deserve adults and a culture and a church that will model faithful care for the beauty of the earth and for the love of God and neighbor. 

  So what do you say we live into the great purpose of life and get in the game of loving care for our kids, the earth and each other?  Let us BE relevant to the well being of the world and people around us this Earth Day  and everyday. It’s all about Awareness-a

Appreciation-Challenge and Change for the good.

  And finally, speaking of appreciation of God’s gifts in creation, as one of my best friends said to me quietly about the girl I spent the very first Earth Day with   and every day since, “Bill, if the good Lord made anything better than that, the good Lord is keeping it for himself.”     But you know what?  My friend was wrong. He was wrong.  Not about her but about God. For God doesn’t keep anything better ‘for himself’ , God always has always will give the very to us to appreciate, to love and to care for.  That’s what we’re here for.   It’s all about love – of God – of one another-of all creation.  AMEN.