Doubt and Creation Care

Most clergy struggle out of the gate after the demands of Holy Week and Easter, finding it a challenge to get motivated following such an intense liturgical period. We have Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter for which to prepare. As I mentioned, I also went to a private school early one morning last week to preside at a communion service and then conducted the funeral of an elderly member.

I do like this coming Sunday, often referred to as Low Sunday, because folk tend to stay away in droves following Easter -- go figure. The reading each year reminds us that the disciple Thomas wasn't buying the bizarre tale that Jesus had risen from the dead, until the resurrected Christ appeared to him as well. It is essentially Doubt Sunday, which is always important to address honestly, but perhaps more so in an era of such skepticism about religion and faith in general.

This coincides with another of my favourite Sundays, which is Earth Sunday. Earth Day is always April 22nd, and the closest Sunday is an opportunity for Christians to ponder the Creator and our responsibility to care for Creation. I've been preaching Earth Sunday sermons for nearly a quarter century now, and I love this challenge.

Perhaps doubt and creation care go together much more readily than we might imagine at first blush. There are deniers and doubters about our changing climate and the impact humans are having on the web of creation. One of them is the leader of the  powerful nation to the south which signed on to the Paris Climate Agreement and vowed to be at the forefront of addressing climate change. As with Voldemort, this leader's name is better not spoken. I'm coming to the conclusion that while our Canadian federal government says the right things about addressing climate change, there isn't strong evidence that it's much different than its predecessor, sad to say.

So I will struggle past my Holy Week/Easter hangover to ponder my message for what might be my last Earth Sunday sermon.

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