God So Loved The Dirt

“God so loved the dirt...”

There it was - this unusual title of a magazine article about God loving dirt.

It seems like a fitting headline for this weekend with Good Friday and Earth Day coinciding. Christians should be first in line when it comes to caring for the dirt and for all the other elements and beings of creation.

The Holy Weekend begins with Jesus going straight from the Last Supper to a garden where he prays for guidance. And now on Easter morning Mary goes to the other side of the city to follow the burial rituals. Here in the cemetery she mistakes Jesus for a gardener. And so he is. The God who is revealed in Genesis is more gardener than warrior. We lost that somewhere along the way and as Joni Mitchell wrote, “we have to get back to the garden.”

In Norman Wirzba’s article, he says “Whether Christians do right by the environment depends on whether we see the Earth as a megastore where we can shop for whatever we want or as a garden that needs careful tending.”



Peter

Accept Me As I Am

A local Houston paper reported that over two dozen churches in Houston sponsored a “Bring your Gay Teen to Church Day.” This was set in motion because of a teenager’s suicide. A desperate young person could no longer cope with years of bullying. The largest church in Houston, Joel Osteen’s megachurch, declined that invitation to be involved. Osteen believes homosexuality is a sin.

I recall on a Habitat for Humanity trip to Amarillo, a young person from Joel’s church told me how exciting it was to be part of a such a huge congregation. You really should come here if you are ever in town. If I was a young gay person, being bullied, I don’t think I would feel all that welcome at that megachurch.

I wonder how welcome gay folks feel in our community. I wonder what we can do to make those who endure cruel jokes and spiritual judgement, feel more welcome in our congregation. The Ottawa Presbytery is taking this year to explore what it would mean for us to become an affirming presbytery. I hope we can be listening and learning so we can consider that question for our own congregation.


Peter