The Paths of the Sea

Sermon for Trinity Sunday C RCL 5/30/2010, Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Psalm 8; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15

Today, my friends, as you know is Trinity Sunday. What you may not know is that this feast was first formally established by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, in 1162, as a day to celebrate the glorious mystery of the Holy Trinity. From England it then spread throughout the churches of the world.

But I will not speak with you today about the Trinity – at least not about this doctrine and how we understand it. There is something today that requires more immediate attention. Did you hear the words of the 8th Psalm which we prayed together?

“You [,Lord,] give [man] mastery over the works of your hands; you put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, even the wild beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever walks in the paths of the sea.”

And whatsoever walks in the paths of the sea. As I meditated upon the lectionary texts this week, these words grabbed my heart, since so much of our collective awareness has been caught up in this horrible disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

But there is a connection, of course, between our understanding of the Trinity and our role within creation. All doctrine, everything we believe, is given to us as tools in order to shape and mold the way we think, and therefore, the way we live our everyday lives. This is as true of the complex doctrine of the Trinity as it is for any other. At its core, the truth of the Holy Trinity is all about community: all three divine Persons living together in complete equality and unity but with distinct tasks in the economy of creation and salvation.

When we speak of our role within God’s creation, we speak of another kind of community: the community of life of which we are a part but over which we have a distinct task as stewards and caretakers.

God, the Great Creator of all, has given all of this earth into our care, even the paths of the sea. How are we doing with our stewardship of the earth and the life of the sea? I don’t think this needs an answer, as we daily watch the greatest environmental disaster in our nation’s history. One that will cause the death of millions of creatures of the sea and birds of the air, as well as the devastation of the livelihoods of millions of American people.

When the Lord Jesus finished his earthly ministry, he told the apostles that there are many more things that he wished to teach them, but they were not yet ready to receive them. This is what he said: “When the Spirit of truth comes” – the Holy Spirit released into the world with power historically on the day of Pentecost– “he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). It is clear now that our responsibility to care for the planet earth, our island home, is part of the truth into which the Holy Spirit has been guiding the Church.

As Christians, we value and protect life as inherently good. This, of course applies first to the protection of all human life, but the well-being of human beings cannot be separated from the well-being of the home in which we live. If the house is despoiled and dangerous and unhealthy, how will the inhabitants of the house survive in good health?

Let there be no doubt that God intends for us to care for the earth, the “till it and keep it”, as it states in the first chapter of Genesis. This has always been God’s calling for humanity.

Of course, others who do NOT understand God’s will for humanity – they may use our natural resources only for pleasure of profit, allowing greed to drive them. But we who know Jesus, who have committed our lives to live for the glory of God, we know better. We know that we cannot do that. We know that we cannot use the things of the earth for selfish gain.

For us Christians, the goal is always to live our lives free from selfish ambition. As St. Paul said so well: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). That love will not allow us to sit back numb to the pain and suffering that our own sins and addictions cause to the community of life around us.

That love of Jesus Christ compels us to protect the living today. But our faith in Jesus also calls us to greater responsibility for the unborn generations to come. To till and to keep the earth means to use our gifts and resources to improve the conditions for human life here on earth, to leave things in better condition than how we found them.

There is great wisdom in the ancient rule from the Confederacy of the Haudenosaunee, commonly known as the Iroquois. In their Great Law created at least 600 years ago, the following principle is stated: “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decision upon the next seven generations.”

Friends, imagine how our world would be so radically different – and much, much better- if we put that principle into effect. Imagine if we all carefully considered the impact of deep-water oil drilling on the next seven generations of those who will follow us, before we ever allowed such drilling to begin. Unfortunately, we never do. Instead, the brazen market demand for profits, and our foolish obsession with oil, blind us to the destruction that our behavior causes to the community of life on this earth.

Our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori has expressed this well when she wrote just a few days ago: “We are all connected, we will all suffer the consequences of this tragic disaster in the Gulf, and we must wake up and put a stop to the kind of robber baron behavior we supposedly regulated out of existence a hundred years ago. Our lives, and the liveliness of the entire planet, depend on it.” The Presiding Bishop: Lessons From The Gulf Oil Spill

Now, I know that it is right for us to pray for, and about, this disaster. But, to be frank, I’m not even sure even how to pray about this Gulf Oil spill. Do we pray that the damaging effects of this spill be miraculously eliminated? For the sake of the innocent animals and people who will suffer from this for years to come, I would like to. I really would. But we cannot pray for that. God does not work that way. No, we must suffer the consequences of our folly. For how else do we learn except through the experience of pain and loss?

If we ever are to become adept in our God-given task as stewards of the earth, if we ever are to accept our responsibility to improve the quality of life for those who will follow us, then we must repent for our sins, learn from our mistakes, and change our ways of thinking and acting to include the health of the entire planet as vital to our own well-being. This is God’s will for all humanity, and particularly for us who follow the teachings of the Son of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.