"Reflecting Our Creator"
A sermon preached on The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, June 24, 2007 at our Outdoor Worship Celebration at Edgemont Chrsitian Church (Disciples of Christ) , by the Rev. Christopher E. Yopp. The sermon is based on Acts 17:22-28.
Whoever said, "Nature is God’s sanctuary" must have agreed with Emily Dickinson’s poem; Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church. Her poem stresses the fact that God can be experienced not only in a church sanctuary on the Sabbath, but also in God’s natural sanctuary. She focuses on the very creation God spoke into existence as being the sanctuary declaring God’s omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience.
There is a story that is told about a family who, one Sunday morning was on their way to the mountains for a family outing. It was midmorning and along the way they happened to pass by a church. Many worshipers were congregated at the front entrance, preparing to go inside to worship. From the back seat of the car came the voice of 5-year old Karen, who said; "Daddy, aren’t we going to go to church this morning?" In the front seat, her parents exchanged embarrassed glances. But since the question had been directed to her dad, the father felt obligated to answer his daughter. And so, he said, "Honey, we can worship God in the mountains." There was a brief moment of silence as Karen thought about her father’s response, and then she replied; "But Daddy, we won’t, will we?"
"Some keep the Sabbath going to Church - I keep it, staying at Home..." Dickinson writes. She claims that she does not have to sit in the pews on Sunday morning to experience the presence of God; rather, she chooses to keep the Sabbath at home. She writes that she doesn’t have to follow the mundane crowds to church to experience the Holy; rather she experiences God personally and naturally. For her, religion becomes revelation through her experience of God in the very nature around her - from the choral of the "songbird," to her "orchard" cathedral. You see, she has realized the truth that "the God who made the world and all things in it... does not dwell in temples made with hands." But perhaps, her greatest selling point is the fact that God, "her noted clergyman," preaches a sermon that is never too long. Now, I’ve got your attention!
I think we can all relate to Dickinson’s poem. In fact, I am sure we have all said at one time or another; "I don’t need to go to church, I can worship God at home..." Even I have felt like this on Sunday morning - except my sanctuary would be the bed! Oh, there have been quite a few Sunday mornings when my alarm clock went off and I didn’t want to get up. I love the story that is told of a mother who pleaded with her son to get out of bed one Sunday morning and go to church. He said; "I don’t’ want too and you can’t make me." She said; "Son, you need to get up and go to church." To which he responded; "I don’t need to do anything! Besides, they don’t want me there - they don’t even like me and I don't like them either." After a few more minutes of arguing the son finally said; "Okay, mom, if you can give me two good reasons why I should go to church then I will get out of this bed and go!" The mother said; "Okay, son! Number one, you’re 53 years old and number two, you’re their pastor!
Like Karen’s father, in the story that I told you at the beginning of my sermon, many of us seek refuge behind an evasion that is all too popular today. It is true that God can be worshiped anywhere and everywhere. God can be worshiped in the mountains or in the plains. God can be worshiped in the valleys or along a thousand streams – God is omnipresent. But in her 5 short years, young Karen had learned that while God CAN be worshiped anywhere, God usually isn’t - instead, it becomes a convenient excuse.
A rabbi once asked a little boy; "I will give you a [coin] if you can tell me where God lives." The boy didn’t need to think about it very long; he answered; "And I will give you two [coins] if you can me where God doesn’t live." God is omnipresent; God is beyond time or space; beyond our comprehension yet always available and accessible. "For in him," Paul reminds us, "we live and move and have our very being." I believe the greater challenge, as Dickinson points out in her poem is to be open to the many and various ways in which God reveals God-self to us and to experience God's sabbath - God’s rest.
While the heavens may declare the glory of God, and the earth may show his handiwork, seldom do we truly see and recognize God’s glory amid creation. More often than not we see the wonders of creation without giving thanks to the Creator who stands behind it all. We fail to see or hear the sermon creation gives of its Creator. While the majestic mountains may tell us of God’s might; or the surging rush of a waterfall may tell us of God’s power; or the rolling spheres in the vaulted heavens may tell us of God’s wisdom - it is only the Gospel of Jesus Christ that can tell us of God’s saving love and grace. All around us creation speaks of its Creator, but it is the gospel, which tells us of our Creator’s love and grace.
But what about you and me? What kind of sermon does our lives, as a part of creation, give or tell? Elton M. Roth has written the beloved hymn; "In My Heart There Rings a Melody." The first stanza reads:
There is a story that is told about a family who, one Sunday morning was on their way to the mountains for a family outing. It was midmorning and along the way they happened to pass by a church. Many worshipers were congregated at the front entrance, preparing to go inside to worship. From the back seat of the car came the voice of 5-year old Karen, who said; "Daddy, aren’t we going to go to church this morning?" In the front seat, her parents exchanged embarrassed glances. But since the question had been directed to her dad, the father felt obligated to answer his daughter. And so, he said, "Honey, we can worship God in the mountains." There was a brief moment of silence as Karen thought about her father’s response, and then she replied; "But Daddy, we won’t, will we?"
"Some keep the Sabbath going to Church - I keep it, staying at Home..." Dickinson writes. She claims that she does not have to sit in the pews on Sunday morning to experience the presence of God; rather, she chooses to keep the Sabbath at home. She writes that she doesn’t have to follow the mundane crowds to church to experience the Holy; rather she experiences God personally and naturally. For her, religion becomes revelation through her experience of God in the very nature around her - from the choral of the "songbird," to her "orchard" cathedral. You see, she has realized the truth that "the God who made the world and all things in it... does not dwell in temples made with hands." But perhaps, her greatest selling point is the fact that God, "her noted clergyman," preaches a sermon that is never too long. Now, I’ve got your attention!
I think we can all relate to Dickinson’s poem. In fact, I am sure we have all said at one time or another; "I don’t need to go to church, I can worship God at home..." Even I have felt like this on Sunday morning - except my sanctuary would be the bed! Oh, there have been quite a few Sunday mornings when my alarm clock went off and I didn’t want to get up. I love the story that is told of a mother who pleaded with her son to get out of bed one Sunday morning and go to church. He said; "I don’t’ want too and you can’t make me." She said; "Son, you need to get up and go to church." To which he responded; "I don’t need to do anything! Besides, they don’t want me there - they don’t even like me and I don't like them either." After a few more minutes of arguing the son finally said; "Okay, mom, if you can give me two good reasons why I should go to church then I will get out of this bed and go!" The mother said; "Okay, son! Number one, you’re 53 years old and number two, you’re their pastor!
Like Karen’s father, in the story that I told you at the beginning of my sermon, many of us seek refuge behind an evasion that is all too popular today. It is true that God can be worshiped anywhere and everywhere. God can be worshiped in the mountains or in the plains. God can be worshiped in the valleys or along a thousand streams – God is omnipresent. But in her 5 short years, young Karen had learned that while God CAN be worshiped anywhere, God usually isn’t - instead, it becomes a convenient excuse.
A rabbi once asked a little boy; "I will give you a [coin] if you can tell me where God lives." The boy didn’t need to think about it very long; he answered; "And I will give you two [coins] if you can me where God doesn’t live." God is omnipresent; God is beyond time or space; beyond our comprehension yet always available and accessible. "For in him," Paul reminds us, "we live and move and have our very being." I believe the greater challenge, as Dickinson points out in her poem is to be open to the many and various ways in which God reveals God-self to us and to experience God's sabbath - God’s rest.
While the heavens may declare the glory of God, and the earth may show his handiwork, seldom do we truly see and recognize God’s glory amid creation. More often than not we see the wonders of creation without giving thanks to the Creator who stands behind it all. We fail to see or hear the sermon creation gives of its Creator. While the majestic mountains may tell us of God’s might; or the surging rush of a waterfall may tell us of God’s power; or the rolling spheres in the vaulted heavens may tell us of God’s wisdom - it is only the Gospel of Jesus Christ that can tell us of God’s saving love and grace. All around us creation speaks of its Creator, but it is the gospel, which tells us of our Creator’s love and grace.
But what about you and me? What kind of sermon does our lives, as a part of creation, give or tell? Elton M. Roth has written the beloved hymn; "In My Heart There Rings a Melody." The first stanza reads:
"I have a song that Jesus gave me,
It was sent from heaven above;
There never was a sweeter melody,
'Tis a melody of love.
In my heart there rings a melody,
There rings a melody with heaven's harmony;
In my heart there rings a melody;
There rings a melody of love!"
It was sent from heaven above;
There never was a sweeter melody,
'Tis a melody of love.
In my heart there rings a melody,
There rings a melody with heaven's harmony;
In my heart there rings a melody;
There rings a melody of love!"
Is there ringing in your heart a melody of God’s love and grace? Does Jesus ring forth in a melody, which fills your life and declares heaven’s harmony? If not, then you’re not living as God has created you. Paul reminds us, that we are God’s offspring. I came across a story the other week of a little boy who was staring at a big picture of Jesus on the wall in his Sunday school class. Finally, he turned to his teacher and said
to her: "You know, teacher, it seems that if Jesus lives inside of us, he’s going to stick out somewhere." How true that is! Is Jesus "sticking out" in you? Do others know of your faith, and love and good works for Christ? Do others see Jesus in you?
As God’s creation, we often forget about our responsibility to our Creator, to likewise reveal and declare God’s goodness, and beauty and love. You see, friends, God has chosen and elected us to be recipients of the Gospel. And it is when we truly respond to that Gospel that God’s melody fills our hearts and lives and rings forth, in heaven’s harmony. Won’t you join, with all of creation, in reflecting the Creator? But, more importantly, won’t you, like Paul in his beloved Mar’s Hill Speech, tell of this Creator’s love and grace for all his children?
I want to close with the words of a beautiful poem written by Jeffery Rowthorn titled; Creating God, Your Fingers Trace, it read:
I want to close with the words of a beautiful poem written by Jeffery Rowthorn titled; Creating God, Your Fingers Trace, it read:
"Creating God, your fingers trace
The bold designs of farthest space;
Let sun and moon and stars and light
And what lies hidden praise your might.
Sustaining God, your hands uphold
Earth’s mysteries known or yet untold;
Let water’s fragile blend with air,
Enabling life, proclaim your care.
Redeeming God, your arms embrace
All now despised for creed or race;
Let peace, descending like a dove,
Make known on earth your healing love.
Indwelling God, your gospel claims
One family with a billion names;
Let every life be touched by grace
Until we praise you face to face."
As a part of God’s creation, let us join with all of creation, as reflected in Psalm 148 and proclaim God’s praise.
posted by Pastor Christopher @ 7:23 PM
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