Worship > Sermon Archive

The Reverend Beth Fain

Earth Day Sunday, April 20, 2008
Easter 5a RCL: A nearly recycled sermon (John 14. 1-14)
This being the Sunday that we are celebrating Earth Day, I seriously considered recycling a sermon.
But I didn't have one in the files on John 14 that wasn't from a funeral, so you're getting a brand new sermon. Printed on recycled paper.
Our gospel this morning is from a five chapter section in John which is a collection of the words of Jesus during a 24 or so hour period-right before his death on the cross.
I imagine the gospel writer, John the Evangelist, John the Divine, pondering Jesus' last words for 60 or so years in light of Jesus' resurrection and thinking--now I understand what he was trying to tell us. Five chapters long.
At the core of these last words of Jesus is the vision of the kind of community Jesus came to create and inspire.
Our fourteen verses today are no exception.
An important word in our passage being the word you.
Jesus says it at least 19 times, and, except when he is answering Phillip directly, you is always plural.
This is not my personal gospel-that Jesus has prepared a place for me, that Jesus will do whatever I ask him to do.
It's a gospel about community.
Jesus has a place for (all of) you.
When (all of) you pray, (all of) you, for what will glorify God
(remembering that how Jesus glorified God was through obediently dying on the cross)
when (all of) you pray for that which glorifies God through Jesus working through (all of) you, amazing things will happen.
Jesus will do greater works than he did through (all of) you.
When Jesus talks about the place he goes to prepare for (all of) you, the place he prepares is a place for all of you not after we die, but a place for (all of) you right here, right now.
The place Jesus prepares for (all of) you begins when you open your hearts to Jesus The Way, Jesus The Truth, Jesus The Life.
(Please remember that way, truth, and life was said never to be a bludgeoning tool to separate us; the way truth and life is a proclamation of blessing). The blessing:
Jesus for you the way; Jesus for you the truth; Jesus for you the life.
The place that Jesus came to prepare for (all of) you to live in right here and now is a community of others who are following Jesus the Way; at the heart of the community is the model to serve one another.
(Do you remember the foot washing event that happened after the last meal just one chapter back that's part of these last words of Jesus?)
Part of living in community is caring more for the other person than we do ourselves.
Which is what I think the caring for the place Jesus prepared for you, the place that God created for you, that we are especially remembering today, is about.
Caring for others more than myself.
I can remember where I was when I learned not to litter.
We were driving down Walton Walker in Dallas, Texas in our 1954 green Plymouth, and I must have thrown something out the window.
Not only did I learn that littering was against the law (would I be apprehended that day?), but the better lesson-what I threw out either someone else would have to pick up for me OR my trash would stay behind and make the world look uglier.
Littering wasn't about me; it was about thinking about other people.
Thanks to my family, I am a genetic recycler.
When I was a little girl living on 1808 Swansee, Dallas 32, Texas, I wanted a play house so bad.
When all of the houses in our subdivision were complete, the scraps of the subdivision sign were left behind long enough for my dad to harvest the left over wood. He used the wood to build me a little play house in the back yard-painting the outside, I'm certain with leftover paint, but the inside was left as it was; so the walls were decorated with picture bites of the Club Oaks Subdivision sign.
When my dad retired as Chief of Psychology at Veterans Hospital in Dallas, he had time to ride his bike many places instead of driving.
His favorite thing to do was to ride his bike to the dump and find treasures to bring home.
It made my mother crazy.
His best find was a black and white TV that still worked, kind of, that was banished to his work bench.
I am thankful that I was raised to believe caring for the world is one way that I am called to live my faith.
But just as I learn a little more every day about my relationship with God and how I'm called to live that out, I still have so much more to learn about caring for other people by caring for the earth.
I have some gifts that I treasure greatly because they were given to me by people that I treasure even more. I'm sure you do, too.
I keep all the books that my daughter, Lisa, has given me in a special place of honor.
I have a folder of little notes written to me by Jacob.
I've saved the emails my dad wrote me.
I take care of these precious gifts.
The "person" I treasure the most is God, our Creator.
One of the treasures that God, our creator, has given me (and you, of course) is God's creation.
I've never understood how people who say they love God can choose not to love what God creates-both the people and the earth.
How can we say we are Christians and not tend and care for God's earth?
So I drive a Prius. I take my own bags to the grocery store. Of course I have to remember to take them into the store with me.
I try to recycle everything I can.
Little things-and I am encouraged by you to do even more.
We try to care for the creation at St. Mary's.
We recycle paper and have bins to encourage others to do so.
The coffee we serve is organic and fair trade-fair for the environment, fair for the farmer.
We drink from ceramic mugs that we can use over and over.
When we can, we serve water in pitchers rather than individual bottles.
We have a compost pile here on the property-could we start recycling our coffee grounds there, too?
Although we haven't worked out all the bugs yet, we are moving towards having our Messenger safely available electronically as an alternative for you.
Our baptismal table is recycled from the base of our pulpit.
The paschal candle holder is a recycled hitching post.
The screen by the organ, the steps by the paschal candle, and the pew in the back-all created from wood recycled from our organ.
Little things, and we are encouraged by you to do more.
On this day when we are reminded to treasure and celebrate that Jesus has a place for (all of) you.
That when (all of) you pray, (all of) you, for what will glorify God through Jesus working through you, amazing things will happen.
Jesus will do greater works than he did through (all of) you.
Today, the choices (all of) you make for celebrating and caring for God's creation may be the answer to that prayer. AMEN

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