Psalm
19:1-6
Mark
15:33-39
The
heavens are telling the glory of God!
Who has
time to look at the sky?
The
heavens are telling the glory of God!
What about
when the sky turns dark?
The
heavens are telling the glory of God!
But it
isn't enough to capture our attention.
The Psalmist
tells us that the heavens are telling the
glory of God. In the Old Testament heaven refers to the sky, it is a reference
to the sky above us, not to some place where God might be. In Mark's gospel we
hear of the sky turning black at the death of Jesus. The passage from Jeremiah
reminds us of the interrelationship between our living and the creation around
us.
Jeremiah
isn't particularly talking to individuals, he is speaking to a community that
are about to go into exile. Jeremiah tells the people that they have forgotten
who they are, they are ignoring God's way, they are living for themselves and
themselves alone.
The
heavens are telling the glory of God!
In many
places it's hard to see the sky, tall buildings cast such long shadows,
pollution, bushfires and dust storms cloud the sky at times. The heavens are telling the glory of God! what does that mean when we can't see the sky,
or we don't look any more.
On the
news this week there have been reports of violence in parts of the Middle East,
targeted against Americans. This hasn't happened in a vacuum. A filmmaker based in the US made a movie
which he acknowledges was ‘intended [his
film] to be a provocative political statement condemning the religion.’
People's
concern about the movie, and the way that the Prophet Muhammad is presented,
has led to demonstrations, rioting, injury and death. There is a place for
discussion about different religions and their role in the community and in the
world, but making a movie of this nature reveals an ignorance about the
interconnection of life.
We live in
a time when self overrides community. It's the time of the ‘I’ Revolution,
iPhones, i-Pads, iPods, a whole range of technology that puts us, as an
individual, into the centre of our world. Can we all really be
the centre of our own little universe? We live in a culture that tells us that
we can have what we want, and be what we want, and say what we want. That is
not the message of the gospel of Jesus. The good news of the gospel is about
losing our life so that we can find it in Christ, together we are the body of
Christ. The gospel is not about me or you, the gospel is about Jesus, about God
acting in and through creation, God coming in human form.
The
Psalmist writes:
“There
is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.”
their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.”
We live
not only in a culture where it is normative to be the centre of our own little
universe, but all so a culture are which relies heavily on words. Or it seems
that the way to get your voice heard is to yell louder, to be more
controversial, to the point of obscenity. It is not only our words that can
hurt or heal relationships and the universe, our actions, our behaviour, also
have the ability to hurt and to heal.
Our
actions have consequences, consequences for people, for creation. When we
forget who we are, when we forget that we are part of the whole Web of
creation, when new live as isolated islands, we no longer live as the people
that God created us to be.
Over the
last two Sundays with been reading the creation story from the first chapter of
Genesis. We read about the various parts of the creation, night and day, land
and water, plants and animals and treatments. And we read of God seeing that
all is good, the creation in its wholeness, its Holiness, is good.
Our words,
our actions, the way that we treat people and all of creation tells about who
we are and what we value. The only value our little i-world own little i-
universe that we create for ourselves; do we value people, human beings, over
other parts of creation. Is it only people like us that we value?
The
heavens are telling the glory of God!
In the
gospel reading that we heard from Mark this morning the heavens declare that
Jesus is the son of God, not in bright shining stars or clear blue skies but in
the darkness of his death. It is like the whole creation was grieving at the
death of the Messiah, the one who came to heal and renew the whole creation.
The
heavens are telling the glory of God!
In
Jeremiah has a picture an image of a world gone awry, of the world are no
longer living in harmony of all creation, no longer living as a community of
God's people.
The
heavens are telling the glory of God!
in the
Psalmist reminds us that our lives our actions are relationships our behaviour
speak just as loudly as our words.
The
heavens are telling the glory of God!
In what
ways do you see the glory of God in the world around you?In what ways does your living reflect the glory of God?
