"Humanity"- Season of Creation videos Sep 13

"Where are you?"

God asked this of Adam and Eve in their shame.  

Adi Mariana Waqa brought me up short when she wondered aloud whether this is what God is asking the church now, whilst "stepping inside the destruction and devastation that we have caused."

Where am I?  Where are you?

I'm in my own garden.  Sometimes.  Not often enough.  More weeds than vegetables.  More slugs than salad greens.

Where are you?  Where is your congregation in the midst of this devastation being wrought on God's garden?

Earlier in her sermon for Humanity Sunday in the Season of Creation, Mariana reflected on her stay with her farmer uncle in his garden in Fiji.  How does his garden connect to the Garden in Genesis 2?  How does Genesis 2 provide meaning for Genesis 1?

I highly encourage you to engage with Mariana's story of her transition from indifference to Creation, to realising that the salvation she professes in Jesus Christ must offer hope to the whole of Creation.

And if we find ourselves, like Adam and Eve, tempted to hide in shame when God comes knocking to see what we are doing to serve the garden, we can take hope from Maria William's children's story of the kangaroo paw, and the ever open offer to learn from our mistakes.

Don't miss these two great reflections: if you don't get the ProjectReconnect DVDs, you can get them free for download from UnitingEarth. 

Mariana is a 3rd year student at the United Theological College.  Her main academic interests include Old Testament studies, Oceanic hermeneutics, church history, Patristic theology and ethics/ecotheology.

"Earth"- Season of Creation videos for Sep 6

There’s a particular quiet which settles over the forest as the storm clouds approach, before the riot of frog calls begin to herald the first rain.  Yesterday’s lull reminded me of Jan Morgan’s invitation for Earth Sunday to stop, be quiet, and really listen to God’s world. 

Like most children’s addresses, it’s meant for all of us.

Her sermon invites us to share a moment when we felt really connected with God’s Earth.  But how do we choose?  I’ve so many moments, in Adelaide, Queensland, and here.  Today Gabriel and I set ourselves the task of working out how much rainwater our roof should be collecting for us.  It’s all we have to drink: connection.  The sun is all we have for electricity.  We miss it when it’s gone.

Jan’s pastoral care work with cancer sufferers leads her, round about, to ask us to reflect on of faith in endless economic growth, remembering that endless growth is the characteristic of cancer cells.  Is unending growth progress, or suicide?

Jan draws on Job to remind us of our humble place in Creation. Even though now humanity can answer in the positive some of the rhetorical questions God throws at Job from the whirlwind, there is definitely still an uncontrollable tempest on the horizon.

Jan teaches at the Centre for Theology and Ministry (CTM) in Melbourne, integrating pastoral care and ecoministry.  Her book "Earth’s cry: prophetic ministry in a more-than-human world" is published by Uniting Academic Press.

If your church isn’t subscribed to Project Reconnect, you can download Jan’s addresses through UnitingEarth.