Third Sunday – January 2018
Our fourth installment of the Third Sunday Lord’s Table was held during our January 21st worship service. The title of the message was ‘Creation is Groaning’ and the focus was on the struggle our environment is being subjected to due to misbehavior, ignorance, or apathy on the part of both corporations and individuals. The ‘voices’ of Air (Ruah), Soil/Ground (Adamah), and Water (Mayim Chaim) were all heard regarding their needs and responses to pollution and the ongoing abuse of these essential elements of life.
The morning’s altar was truly one of our Lord’s tables. It is a simple yet powerful symbol…a common 55 gallon plastic barrel adorned with plastic water bottles, various bottles of chemical herbicides and insecticides, aerosol paint cans, leftover netting, and plastic rope such as that used in fishing nets. Imagine if you will that the barrel could contain any number of petroleum products – fossil fuel products that contribute so deeply to the anguish of our environment. And attached to the barrel as well were some white fiber face masks such as those worn by many in poorer and developing countries in an attempt to shield the wearer from the effects of the toxic air pollution in which they live and move and have their being…
The ‘barrel table’ set for the morning worship was holy because our Lord made it so, and because our Lord is always present in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the one cup. A call was issued to all present to remember the increasing anguish of Creation and to insist that all of our actions become more directed towards reverencing the Creation from which we came, and in which we are called to prosper.
For more insight refer to the November 19th post of ‘The Pastor’s Pen’.