Words for Worship

Ministry Today

Doubtless in common

with more than half the country,

you watched Andy Murray

fight a somewhat unequal battle

with Nadal

on Wednesday evening.

 

Yet there was more than

a difference in skill

being displayed –

there was also

a difference in style.

 

Whilst Murray went through

the ritual air pumping

and shouting at himself,

Nadal played

almost without emotion –

he was a regular tennis-playing automaton.

 

And in a way

this is not unlike Noah.

 

For in his story, he is depicted

as emotionless a

nd rather 2 dimensional.

 

Indeed, little more than

a God obeying automaton.

 

However, there is no doubt

that the rather confused

Noah narrative

represents a sea-change

in the Genesis saga.

 

For in the stories before it,

God is shown as dealing

with all humankind.

 

It was as if

there was a triangular relationship

between God, humanity

and creation.  

 

But after Noah,

the impression is

that God has become

far more interested

in his chosen people.

 

And why is this?

 

Well, it is all do with

that strange word

Covenant.

 

Now a religious covenant

is a belief shared

by members of a community

that God has made

a formal alliance with them.

 

In other words

they have become

a chosen people.

 

However, the word arose

from ancient eastern politics

where a major power

would offer

a one way promise

to a weaker nation

in turn for them

meeting certain obligations.

 

Put in the context of Noah,

God was promising

to look after him

and his descendants

of which we are adopted part.

 

However, in giving

all of the earth

to his chosen people,

the divine

required certain responsibilities –

duties which we too

must adopt

as our share of being

in the chosen crowd.

 

So where does that leave

our triangle of God, humanity

and creation?  

 

Does that mean

the lines of communication

between God

and humans in general

are broken.

 

By no means,

the covenant

simply puts our names

on the links between God

and his creation.

 

Indeed, we are now

God’s lines of communication

with all that he has made of atoms.

 

And to see how that works out

in practice,

we can start with our

transmitting  God’s message

upon creation.

 

Now I know

that we are bombarded

with environmental demands,

requests and suggestions

at the moment

and it is easy to switch off.

 

But surely Noah is

the first eco-story in history.

 

For it confirms that God

is not just concerned

about humans

but equally for every living creature.

 

Therefore, we too

must remind everyone

that they are obliged

to look after this creation

not just from

an ethical and pragmatic perspective

but also from

a religious perspective.  

 

And it was this divine perspective

that a minister

recently thought about

when he was stopped

at a railway level crossing

near a power station.

 

 

 

For he sat there

for nearly twenty-five minutes

watching a stream of coal trucks

making their way to the plant.

 

He thought about his complicity,

as an energy consumer,

in the degradation of Creation.

 

When the train passed,

he continued home.

 

Now as this was Christmas

and he was suddenly aware

of all

the garish displays of lights

and the lit images

depicting Santa Claus

in every conceivable scenario

including in a helicopter!

 

He wondered  

what is the electricity cost

and how might the poor

be served

for the same expense?

 

Then, how much pollution

is generated by

this holiday season’s power usage?

 

And finally, he wondered

if this was the true spirit

of the holidays?

 

 

For he reflected

on the many “disconnects”

in our society:

the disconnect of

the religious and spiritual

from our festivals and celebrations;

the disconnect of personal actions,

consumption, and energy use

from their consequences –

pollution, deforestation,

species extinction, global warming,

and even war;

and the disconnect of modern humans

from the natural world –

God’s Creation.

 

It was then he realised

he had a covenant responsibility

to reconnect them.

 

But when we too realise

our obligation

to reconnect

creation and God

in human minds,

we should not just use

admonishments.

 

In helping others to see

God’s hand in

the beauty and wonder

around us

is also to offer

a  truly breathe taking view.

 

In reminding of our responsibility

for all creatures

is illustrative

of God’s covenanted care of us.

 

Above all, in talking of God,

humanity and planet

as one integrated whole –

we bring to life

Christ’s reconciliation

of one to another.

 

Put another way,

we indeed contribute

to the renewing harmony of Eden.

 

I heard an amazing statistic last week.

And it is there for every two people

on the planet

there is one active mobile phone.

 

Yet with all that talk

it seems strange

that our next covenant obligation

requires us

as a chosen people

to improve communication.

 

But this time

it is the reconnection

of people themselves

with God.

 

For who can doubt

so many people

walking and talking

on our streets

are disconnected from God.

 

In fact, the recent

Naval Christian Fellowship magazine

reported that

one Christian serviceman

was told by his boss

he did not need God

because he was

already a good person.

 

Well, leaving aside

that individual’s sense

of self-righteousness,

surely those

who have been given so much

should be closer to God

in gratitude

to their benefactor.

 

But sadly, it often those

with the most

in terms of wealth,

opportunities and talents

that are most alienated

from God.

 

They see no need for Christ

and must be deaf

to the holy spirit.

 

Yet they miss the point,

for the whole purpose of life,

the whole direction

of everything we have

and the whole legacy

we will leave

is bound up

in restoring the harmony of God,

humans and creation.

 

Because that alone

is the way to walk

the rainbow

between heaven and earth.

 

Or as Rabbi Arthur Waskow

writes towards

the end of his Haftarah

for the Rainbow Covenant

 

 

 

I call you to walk forth before all nations,
to pour out water that is free of poison
and call them all to clean and clarify the rains of winter.

I call on you to call on all the peoples
to cleanse My Breath, My air,
from all the gases
that turn My earth into a furnace.

I call you to light the colours of the Rainbow,
To raise once more before all eyes
That banner of the covenant between Me,
and all the children of Noah and Naamah,
and all that lives and breathes upon the Earth --
So that
never again,
all the days of the earth, shall
sowing and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
ever cease!

I call you to love the Breath of Life --
For love is the fire
That blazes in the Rainbow.

 

I have to say

at every wedding

I conduct

my heart is in my mouth

at two specific moments.

 

And these are when

the couple

are taking their vows.

 

For the church’s book of common order vow

has them ‘promising and covenanting’

to each other.

 

And it is the second word

that always seems

unpronounceable.

 

Yet the covenant with Noah

does have an element

of marriage in it.

 

For Eric Meier

in his book ‘Tears from a lonely God’

writes in an echo of Isaiah:

 

My rebellious yet ever-beloved spouse,

how I still love you!

 

How My heart still pulses for you!

 

Would it not be much more pleasant

to return unto Me in all faithfulness?

 

So long as you abide with Me,

I will give to you all that you desire.

 

I will fulfil your deepest longings.

 

Why do you run to my enemies?

 

This is to me a sharp slip of bitterness,

and my jealousy burns as a consuming fire.

Return to me, and I will heal you.

 

Return, and turn to me with your whole heart,

and do not cling to your old ways

, or to your old loves.

 

I will give to you all that you will ever need

, lo, even more: your cup shall run over.

 

Here then is a prod towards

our final and greatest commitment

as a covenant people.

 

And that is to be a companion

to God himself-

to reconnect and stay

with him ourselves.

 

For early Genesis reminds us

that he created humans

to be his companions

with which to talk

in the garden of the universe

in evening after his labours.

 

Yet too often

we forget this

and leave

God’s telephone calls unanswered

and his pleading letters

on the door mat.

 

Too often we are like the man

who is daily

visited by his friend

whom he ignores him

except for the occasional one-way diatribe.

 

To often

we abandon his desire

for our friendship

as we might

an awkward old relative

and go on

to do our own thing.

 

In other words, we do not walk

willingly

with our Father

in a paradise restored.

 

Now that is, of course,

sad.

 

But it also defeats us

as a chosen people.

 

Because it is only

in our constant conversations

with our creator

do we find his wishes

for his disconnected

animate and inanimate creation;

do we learn

how to assist

in their reconnection

and do we feel

our lives truly blessed

with a rainbow at its heart;

a rainbow

to push our days of roses

back to their gracious giver;

a rainbow

to pull our days of ashes

back to the possibility of Eden

and a rainbow to bridge

the dividing net

between all inhabitants

of heaven and earth

and forge them

once more

into one game, set and match.

 

Amen

 

HYMN………………..

 

Noah’s Arc!