Week 5
Welcome! PLEASE READ THE SCRIPTURE AS YOU WAIT Please help yourself to coffee and snacks Please make a name tag for yourself Please consider serving: Sign-up to bring refreshments to a class
Why do you think the worship team so frequently chooses nature images for the background for the worship lyrics?
Genesis 1:28: God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 2:15: The L ORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 7:14: They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. Genesis 9:16-17: 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” 17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
Hosea 4:1-3: Hear the word of the L ORD , you Israelites, because the L ORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. 2 There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3 Because of this the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away.
Roman’s 8:19 -22: 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Colossians 1:15-20: 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Describe the Sabbath that is prescribed for the land. Does its 1. purpose appear to be ecological, spiritual, or both? Describe the year of Jubilee. What connection is suggested 2. between land ownership and land use? What connection is suggested in this passage between 3. obedience to God’s commands and God’s provision and protection for humanity? What are the consequences for disobedience in this passage? 4. What is suggested at the end of the passage about the 5. relationship between exile and the need for the land to enjoy a Sabbath? Given that we allegedly live in a post-agricultural and post- 6. industrial society with advanced fertilizers, are there principles for creation care that can be drawn from this passage?
Awe and Power of God’s creation Incredible vastness, yet incredible details Paradox: we are a tiny part, yet God knows each one of us intimately We are to manage God’s creation Free to use but not to abuse We are to be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us: relationally, financially, spiritually, environmentally
Married 43 years, 2 adult children, 5 (6) grandchildren Conviction of biblical stewardship Financial area: long time AD teachers Environmental area: attendees at original Earth Day in 1970 Professional background Hobbies: we are outdoors people!
National Conservation Organization focused on protecting and improving clean water resources Support healthy fisheries Volunteer efforts for river cleanups and stream repair Dam removal projects Acid mine drainage cleanups Workshops as outreach and education on conservation matters National: www.tu.org Local: Greater Boston Trout Unlimited: www.gbtu.org
Members for 15+ years Skip was on board of GBTU and treasurer for 4 years Worked the fund raising banquets Source of community involvement and also develop relationships with non-believers
Organization dedicated to improving the water quality throughout the Mystic River watershed Advocacy Clean water campaign Invasive species (water chestnut) removal www.MysticRiver.org
Water chestnut pulling For pictures go to: http://mysticriver.org/2015-water- chestnut-events/ Riverbank cleanup efforts
What do our choices with regard to the environment say about our cultural assumptions toward creation? What cultural presumptions might we need to rethink if we want to be the godly caretakers we’re called to be? What small changes can we make in our habits that might cumulatively make a larger cultural difference?
Evangelical Environmental Network CreationCare.org Blessed Earth: Blessedearth.org Tearfund: Tearfund.org A Rocha: Arocha-usa.org
Also: A New Heaven and A New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology by J. Richard Middleton
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