Happy Belated Earth Day

Yesterday was "Earth Day." I mostly feel about it like I feel about other more made up holidays. You should love your mother every day, not just on Mother's Day. Same thing goes for Mother Earth - but I appreciate the nice sentiment, and certainly the attention can only help.

So to celebrate we launched a new Bible study focused on creation care. We are using the study in The Green Bible called "The Green Bible Trail Guide." It is a six session study that includes several scripture passages with a central theme. The first theme was "And It Was Good" the elaboration of which is "God made all things and declared them good. God continues to show love and care for creation throughout human history and for all eternity."

Probably my favorite part of the study is that I actually learned something (which really happens quite often when I teach, especially the Bible). Although, maybe it is more accurate to say I was reminded of something. One of the scripture passages was Genesis 9:8-17 which details the covenant God made after the Flood. We usually focus on the (rain)bow and God's promise not to destroy the earth again with a flood. However, the study focused our attention on the fact that God made the covenant not only with humans (Noah and his family) but with all the living creatures (the writer repeats this several times for emphasis).

So again, we are reminded that on Earth Day and all days humans are to care for creation for the sake of all creatures of our God and king.

Weekly Green Thought: "While the sage, Honi, was walking along a road, he saw a man planting a carob tree. Honi asked him, "How long will it take for this tree to bear fruit?" "Seventy years," replied the man. Honi then asked, "Are you so healthy a man that you expect to live that length of time and eat its fruit?" The man answered, "I found a fruitful world because my ancestors planted it for me. Likewise I am planting for my children." Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 23a (second or third century).