2. Sabbath Principle:
WE MUST PROVIDE FOR CREATION'S SABBATH RESTS
Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 require that one day in seven be set aside as a day of rest for people and for animals. As human beings and animals are to be given their times of sabbath rest, so also is the land. Exodus 23 commands, "For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild beasts may eat." "You may ask, 'What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?"" God's answer in Leviticus 25 and 26 is:"I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years," so do not worry, but practice this law so that your land will be fruitful. "If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit."
Christ in the New Testament clearly teaches that the Sabbath is made for the ones served by it-not the other way around. Thus, the sabbath year is given to protect the land from relentless exploitation, to help the land rejuvenate, to help it get things together again; it is a time of rest and restoration. This sabbath is not merely a legalistic requirement; rather, it is a profound principle. Thus in some Christian farming communities, the sabbath principle is practiced by letting the land rest every second year, "because that is what the land needs." And of course, it is not therefore restricted to agriculture but applies to all Creation. The Bible warns in Leviticus 26,"...if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, ...Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins... Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time it lies desolate...then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it."
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Over the next three days, I shall share three biblical principles for environmental stewardship, written by Dr. Calvin B. DeWitt.
1. Earthkeeping Principle:
AS THE LORD KEEPS AND SUSTAINS US, SO MUST WE KEEP AND SUSTAIN OUR LORD'S CREATION.
Genesis2:15 expects Adam and Adam's decendants to serve and keep the garden. The Hebrew word upon which the translation of keep is based is the word "shamar" and "shamar" means a loving, caring, sustaining keeping. This word also is used in the Aaronic blessing, from Numbers 6:24, "The Lord bless you and keep you." When we invoke God's blessing to keep us, it is not merely that God would keep us in a kind of preserved,m inactive, uninteresting state. Instead, it is that God would keep us in all of our vitality, with all our energy and beauty. The keeping we expect of God when we invoke the Aaronic blessing is one that nurtures all of our life-staining and life-fulfilling relationships-with our family, spouse, and children, with our neighbors and our friends, with the land and creatures that sustain us, with the air and water, and with our God.
And so too with our keeping of the Garden-in our keeping of God's Creation. When Adam, Eve and we, keep the Creation, we make sure that the creatures under our care and keeping are maintained with all their proper connections-connections with members of the same species, with the many other species with which they interact, with the soil, air and water upon which they depend. The rich and full keeping that we invoke with the Aaronic blessing is the kind of rich and full keeping that we should bring to the garden of God-to God's creatures and to all of Creation. As God keeps believing people, so should God's people keep Creation.
Tomorrow: Sabbath Principle
1. Earthkeeping Principle:
AS THE LORD KEEPS AND SUSTAINS US, SO MUST WE KEEP AND SUSTAIN OUR LORD'S CREATION.
Genesis2:15 expects Adam and Adam's decendants to serve and keep the garden. The Hebrew word upon which the translation of keep is based is the word "shamar" and "shamar" means a loving, caring, sustaining keeping. This word also is used in the Aaronic blessing, from Numbers 6:24, "The Lord bless you and keep you." When we invoke God's blessing to keep us, it is not merely that God would keep us in a kind of preserved,m inactive, uninteresting state. Instead, it is that God would keep us in all of our vitality, with all our energy and beauty. The keeping we expect of God when we invoke the Aaronic blessing is one that nurtures all of our life-staining and life-fulfilling relationships-with our family, spouse, and children, with our neighbors and our friends, with the land and creatures that sustain us, with the air and water, and with our God.
And so too with our keeping of the Garden-in our keeping of God's Creation. When Adam, Eve and we, keep the Creation, we make sure that the creatures under our care and keeping are maintained with all their proper connections-connections with members of the same species, with the many other species with which they interact, with the soil, air and water upon which they depend. The rich and full keeping that we invoke with the Aaronic blessing is the kind of rich and full keeping that we should bring to the garden of God-to God's creatures and to all of Creation. As God keeps believing people, so should God's people keep Creation.
Tomorrow: Sabbath Principle
Friday, September 6, 2013
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Mountain Top Removal
The twenty-first century is moving by at a fast clip. It's so easy to be wrapped up with our daily lives, we tend to forget to think about things going on around our country.
More and more people are becoming familiar with the term, "Mountain Top Removal". But most of the country does not realize what the coal industry is doing to the Appalacian Mountains. Please watch the video and spread the word. We must be there for our brothers and sisters, who are fighting daily the horrors of the whole situation. We MUST stop this practice.
Carpe Diem
ilovemountains.org
More and more people are becoming familiar with the term, "Mountain Top Removal". But most of the country does not realize what the coal industry is doing to the Appalacian Mountains. Please watch the video and spread the word. We must be there for our brothers and sisters, who are fighting daily the horrors of the whole situation. We MUST stop this practice.
Carpe Diem
ilovemountains.org
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Welcome to the JKPC Green Team Blog. It is my intention to educate and be educated in regards to God's Creation...our home...earth. And I might add...the only one with CHOCOLATE!!! :) Fair Trade chocolate, that is. We will learn what Fair Trade is all about. We will explore and learn about social justice and how we can take small steps as we learn how to tread softly in this Garden of Eden we call home.
So come and grow with me, as we explore all that is new, enlightening, and full of grace.
So come and grow with me, as we explore all that is new, enlightening, and full of grace.
That was then...this is now
A few years have come and gone since I last gave this blog the important attention it deserves.
Now that John Knox members can access this blog from the JK website, it's time to start communicating.
ATTENTION: Saturday September 14, 2013 is the Blessing of the Pets in the Glen on the grounds of John Knox Church, 2929 E 31 Street, Tulsa.
We have had such wonderful turnouts in the last several years.
Please mark your calendar for a time of connecting with our friends and all the pets who bring such unconditional love to our hearts.
As we begin, my hope is to share answers to your questions and to provide food for thought. Your contributions will broaden our growing together in all that stands for justice and peace.
Our monthly Fair Trade Sunday begins this month, but on the third Sunday, this month only. Come see the beautiful candles and baskets, and chocolates.
Many new items will arrive this fall.
Now that John Knox members can access this blog from the JK website, it's time to start communicating.
ATTENTION: Saturday September 14, 2013 is the Blessing of the Pets in the Glen on the grounds of John Knox Church, 2929 E 31 Street, Tulsa.
We have had such wonderful turnouts in the last several years.
Please mark your calendar for a time of connecting with our friends and all the pets who bring such unconditional love to our hearts.
As we begin, my hope is to share answers to your questions and to provide food for thought. Your contributions will broaden our growing together in all that stands for justice and peace.
Our monthly Fair Trade Sunday begins this month, but on the third Sunday, this month only. Come see the beautiful candles and baskets, and chocolates.
Many new items will arrive this fall.
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