Today, Zimmerman picked a picture of a stone for the ornament’s decoration. She quoted from Psalms 24:1-2, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. “
Our earth demands our attention these days. As developed nations, we have let our emissions spiral out of control. There can be little doubt that climate change is a real and pressing matter.
If you live close to the coast, as I do, you can see it with your own eyes. One of my sons used to live in Cambridge, MD. There are streets there and in Crisfield that are increasingly becoming a part of the water in front of them.
The Washington Post did a great visual article on A Virginia barrier island. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2022/east-coast-sea-level-rise/ Click the link and you can see for yourself what is happening not too far from my home.
If you live in the Mid West or Mountain West you may not be able to experience the changes taking place as we can here. The far West, however, is going through a terrible drought. Access to safe drinking water is at risk for them, right now.
What does this have to do with me and Advent you may be asking yourself! If the earth is the Lord’s and he has put us here to care for it, then we have been pretty poor stewards. Advent is the perfect time to have our consciences pricked.
Advent is an apt time to add, care for our earth, to our everyday to-do list. No, we cannot solve this with just our little practices. But if we all started thinking of our earthly home a little more then we could make a difference.
I know I don’t need to list options for you, if you need some inspiration, consult a young person in your life. They are not shy about telling us what we need to do! The bigger challenge is getting ourselves to do it.
Dear Lord, during Advent and every day, help us to keep in mind our earthly home. We have only our time here to get it ready to pass on to the next generation. Let us have the courage to do our part, wherever we live, to make our physical earth a pleasing gift to present back to you.
Amen
The Last Lap (and what comes next) 