The Earth is the Lord

​“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and they who dwell within” proclaims Psalm 24:1. Such a wonderful proclamation! A world of fullness provided for those who dwell in it. In His grace and love God also gave mankind dominion over it, to subdue and till it. ​Sadly, with the passage of time we turned dominion into domination and subdue into subjugate, when, in reality, we were meant to be stewards properly caring for the earth and its creatures, and sustaining ourselves while “tilling” the earth with care for the creation. 
​

A lot to say in a few sentences, but it gets to the heart of my point. With keen minds and strong faith the 202nd General Assembly, the governing body of our denomination, passed a resolution entitled “Restoring Creation for Ecology and Justice.”  It declared that God’s work in our time “may be discerned as a call to earth-keeping, to justice, and to community…and further it “recognizes and accepts restoring creation as a central concern of the church, to be incorporated into its life and mission at every level.”
​
Two decades later a new mission was started to help carry out this resolution. Eight Presbyterian USA churches formed the first Earth Care Congregations, and now there are nearly 300. Earth Care churches must complete Earth Care actions in four areas: worship, education, outreach and facilities, and sign the Earth Care pledge committing them to those actions.

Will we become one of them? Should we become one?  Recently the session approved a motion to form an Earth Care study team to study these questions. The team will carefully conduct a review and analysis of our church’s activities in those four areas and report to the session the results. This will tell us what we may still need to do to be certified as an Earth Care Church. If you are interested in being involved, you can contact me at [email protected].

I am excited to be a part of this effort because I believe our God calls us to love our neighbor, and indeed the entire creation, and that when we do so, we honor God. When I look up at the night sky I always think of these words from another Psalm 19:1: “The heavens declare the Glory of God and the firmament proclaims His handiwork.”  How could I not be grateful and how could I not be a good steward.

Finally, I am proud of our church for hosting the first ever North Idaho Green Summit which will be held from 8:00 to 1:00 on Saturday May 18th. This collaborative effort, sponsored by four community organizations, will feature a guest speaker from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and seven short presentations by different individuals on current environmental issues in our area. They will be followed by panel discussions where you can learn more about each topic, and what you can do to help.  To find more information go to events.kea.alliance.org/green-summit.  I would encourage you to join me at this event, which may perhaps be considered our first major act of creation care.

Praise God for his creation, and all the people said Amen!

In His Name, George