Who Gives A...?

 

ierpier

Last Sunday I came home from church a tad discouraged. It was actually a good service in many respects, particularly the child who advised me that the pail of dirt I used at Children's Time was full of microscopic organisms. Those young 'uns are getting a little too smart!

This was the third of four Sundays we will be observing Creation Time at St. Paul's, and today is the last. My mood came out of the rather overwhelming feeling that I can blah, blah, blah all I want about creation care and response to God to the Creator and it just doesn't matter. I have been at this passionately for roughly twenty years and I would like to think I have become much more sophisticated in my theology of creation. Yet I still commit my environmental sins and I live plunk in the middle of one of the most affluent, energy-gulping countries of the world. It's as though Creation Time has become another Lent, at least in my spirit.

Who gives a...you know. I raised this at Bible Study on Wednesday past and participants assured me that it is important to address these concerns in church, year in and year out. A grandfather who faithfully brings his carrot-topped grandson to worship offered that it doesn't matter so much for him now, but he cares deeply about the world in which his grandchildren live.

I realize that every year I work a little harder preparing for Earth Sunday and Creation Time and feel that I can't possibly do the subject justice. But I will keep trying. I will also seek the hope and joy which is so central to our Christian faith.

Are you discouraged or encouraged as people of faith who care about creation? Does it matter whether we shape our worship of God to reflect our care for creation?