This weekend in the life of Central is when we turn our focus to creation and all the joy it brings, and what we need to do to care for it. Whether you have been a devout recycler for many decades, or the conversation about the climate crisis is new to you, we can say that in Genesis, God is pretty clear with humans as to what our role in the rest of the creation is to be. When God creates humans and sets them in the Garden of Eden, we are to “till it and keep it.” In the history of the world, humans have often chosen the tilling over the keeping. We have also tended to think that our particular time and generation knows exactly what to do with our planet and how it should be done. The hardest part is that we generally don’t know what we don’t know.
After the resurrection, Jesus is walking with a few of his followers, and they tell him all about himself. They are deep in doubt that the women have actually seen Jesus in the garden where the tomb was. Jesus calls them out and spends the rest of the walk re-educating them about what the prophets and Moses wrote about the Messiah. It is not until he breaks the bread in their presence that reality is revealed to them. Their eyes are open, and they see Jesus in their midst.
What do we need to open our eyes? How do we need to see the risen Christ in our midst to be able to care for one another? Do we think the resurrection is confined to only a human experience? What does it mean that Jesus promises there will be a new heaven and a new earth? How have those words been used by the church to push off conversations and actions surrounding better stewardship of our planet? How can we be faithful followers of a risen Christ who makes all things new through our hands and our feet and our voices? How do we share the hope we have in Christ?
Join us this weekend as we dig deeper in the adult forum, Empowering Conversations, and our own work of recycling electronics and paper. We can follow and learn and have our eyes opened together.
Shalom,
Pastor Melissa