23rd March 25

Imagine that you find yourself cast ashore on a mysterious island, like Tom Hanks in Castaway or Robinson Crusoe written by the Scottish author Alexander Selkirk, who is believed to have been a castaway himself, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  These men must have been bombarded with questions, where are am I? How can I get home?  Am I alone? Is there anyone else here? And who does this island belong to? Is this island forbidden or hostile?

These are the questions that CS Lewis explores in his excellent story of Narnia, as three children explore this mysterious world that they have entered through a wardrobe. CS Lewis is explaining the God story.

In your desert island, suddenly you come across a footprint – what does it tell you?

It tells you that you have company. The footprint gives you a sign to expect company.

As we look out into this amazing planet, we are surrounded by footprints and signposts, telling us that we are not alone, that there is something out there, something greater than ourselves.

The hymn writer caught this thought perfectly when he composed,

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the works thy hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed:

Refrain:
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!

This wonderful hymn, composed we believe by a Christian from Russia, stirs our souls and our imaginations, for it points to the one who has put his signs and footprints all over our world, in the sky, on the land, in the sea; as it says, God's power is displayed throughout the universe.

Friends, we are not alone!

This is God's creation that we live on. We are his guests and he invites us to “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”. Micah 6 v8.

But the problem and the challenges are, our eyes are often blinded to this incredible truth: that behind the signs and the footprints, there is a loving God who is with us and cares for us.

If God opens our eyes, then we will see that creation points us to a designer, a planner, an artist, a creator, a lover, and that can be the only plausible fact for such variety and beauty.

The psalmist looked up to the night sky, and was blown away with what he saw, and he said, “What is man that you should be mindful of him?” – he caught something of the sheer scale of our Creator God, and he saw how small he was, and he felt overwhelmed!

But he goes on to say, that he is blessed because this God considers us special, “A little lower than the angels but he has crowned us with glory and honour”.

So today, in our Caring for Creation service, we look at Creation, through a particular lens and that lens is God given; if you like, its God's spectacles helping us to see into another world, and understand the universe through God's eyes, and so we turn to his Word, for where else or what else do we have to see the universe as God sees it.

The Bible tells us that through Christ this world was created, that’s why we sing, Jesus is Lord of All Creation.

His word gives us glimpses into the eternal realm; it doesn’t give us all the simple answers, but glimpses, that’s why Paul said, “We see but through a dark glass, we see traces and glimpses of his mighty power but one day we shall see him face to face.”

Psalm 104, is a powerful psalm about Creation and our Creator.

We worship a God, who is not absent from his creation, but a God who is present, and in our gospel reading today, Jesus in his parable gives the fig tree another chance.

The fig tree was about to be discarded, after three years of not producing fruit, but the gardener said, “Give it another year, let me care and tend to it, dig round it, fertilise it and let's see if it will grow”.

God is at work in his creation, there are many issues and many problems which humans have created, and we have much repair to do, but this parable tells us that God has not given up; He has given us another chance, another year, another opportunity to put things right.

But we need opened eyes to see that God is giving us another year, another opportunity.

Today we encounter the story in John's gospel about the blind man and Jesus putting mud in his eyes, and sending him off to the pool of Siloam, to wash his eyes, and in doing so, his eyes are opened and he can see.

Yes, Jesus is speaking of the blindness of the Pharisees, and their hard critical attitude towards him and God, but could he be saying to us also this morning, that in order to look after our world, we need opened eyes, we need to see with spiritual eyes? Our world has become blind to the forces of materialism, consumerism, symbolised by plastic; we need God to open our eyes, to see the world that he sees and that his Father created.

Open our eyes to see his majesty.

Psalm 104 focuses on the power of God who is clothed with splendour and majesty, and in control of the seas and the water. “He sets the earth on its foundations and it cannot be moved.” The psalmist has his eyes opened to see that God is still in control of his creation.

The psalm focuses on a God who has the power over nature, and that is an important point for us to remember this morning, that God is King, majestic and still in control.

Yes, man has caused carnage, but God is able to pick up the pieces and to reassemble. It was a great flood that devastated the world in the times of Noah; the issue was that humanity had turned away from God, and people were living for their own selfish ends, and that’s why a flood came and washed away the known world, but the psalmist informs us that God has power over the water and it went to the place assigned for it.

May our prayer be, the words of the old hymn…

Open my eyes that I may see

glimpses of truth thou hast for me.

Place in my hands the wonderful key

that shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now I wait for thee,

ready, my God, thy will to see.

Open my eyes, illumine me,

Spirit divine!

Open our eyes to see that the world belongs to you, that you created this world by your word, and all things came into being.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”, and this is where the Christian has to have his or her locus when dealing with Caring for Creation; God is in her midst, God is at work, and we do him a disservice, if we do not look to him and recognise his healing and redeeming spirit at work in the world.

Finally, open our eyes Lord to see our responsibility.

We all have a part to play and the psalmist highlights that human's role is to cultivate the land, human's role is to nurture and develop God's world in a way that is glorifying to God.

He entrusted us in the Garden of Eden to be wise stewards, to look after his land and creation; when Adam and Eve disobeyed, they were banished from the land of plenty and were sent to till the land, to work the ground. From stewards enjoying all the privileges, they now became gardeners cultivating the land.

We have been encouraged by the Church of Scotland, to have Caring for Creation as one of our markers for mission; for too long churches were too focussed on other issues, salvation, being one of them but in more recent decades, the church has become aware of its role in Caring for Creation, salvation goes beyond our personal salvation, it also includes the salvation of this planet,  and now Christians and Churches are seeing something that is long lost, and that is the importance of caring for this beautiful planet.

We all have a responsibility from the youngest to the oldest. Caring for Creation is presently organising a conference with Christian Aid, to be held here in the South Hall on the 2nd May and Frank and his team are preparing this, along with children from Meadowburn Primary and our local MP, we will be along to consider issues that are connected with the environment and how we can make a difference.

There is also an opportunity for you to come along on Thursday evening where environmental workers from East Dunbartonshire Council will be updating us on recycling; we are all in this together,  for we are co-inhabitants of this planet, and we all have a responsibility to cultivate and nurture the land. God opens our eyes to see that He is also at work in the healing of Creation.

My final point today is really where I began and that is to see God at work with us in his creation. It is not a desert island, God is already on it before we arrived, and he will be here after we’ve sailed from this island.

We don’t do it alone. God has placed his natural laws into our world and they are laws that bring healing and restoration. Nature heals quickly.

God's ultimate plan is restoration and he invites us to work with him;  just as Jesus taught about sharing in our burdens, and he used the farming metaphor of a yoke, so God comes to us and invites us to share in what he already is doing; he doesn’t want to burden us further, but says , “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”.

So the future of the Church looks very different from what it looked several years ago. The Church has to become a green environment, it has to lead the way, where the main principles are working together with God and others, to bring restoration and healing to God's world, but also to remember the four other Marks of Mission; which are teaching about Jesus and his world, telling the Gospel to others, tending to the sick and the needy and transforming unjust structures, these are the five Marks of Mission, that this church has and is building upon as you go forward.

I've said it many times, survival of this church will depend on how well you keep God's mission to the front; keep reaching out, keep looking to see where God is at work, and join him in this amazing adventure of bringing restoration to this world.

In the psalms we discover that Creation praises its maker; Creation reaches out to its maker; the trees of the field shall clap their hands and sing for joy. Psalm 19, the heavens tell the glory of God and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech and night to night declares knowledge; the psalmist eyes were open to see that all of Creation was in praise of their maker. Let us also join in with Creation!

Amen