Stewards Of Trees, Time, Talents, And Treasures

Stewardship Of......

Trees, Time

Talents, Treasures

Bible Reading:

Psalm 8

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-11

1 Peter 4: 7-11

Deuteronomy 8: 10-18

PREPARED BY

KEN GEHRELS

PASTOR

CALVIN CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH

NEPEAN, ONTARIO

Steward ship o f.... Trees, Tim e, Talen ts & Treas ures p.1

STEWARDSHIP OF TREES

(PSALM 8)

What an utterly amazing thing it is - this universe in which we live.

Enormous.

Stand under a clear night sky,

away from city light pollution

look up - and what word other than majestic can you use?

Or at the base of an old white pine, gazing up towards the crown?

Or - like we hope to do as a congregation next Sunday afternoon - head up to Gatineau Park and

gaze out over the lookout, seeing G od’s paintbrush splash acros s the forest?

O Lord, how m ajestic!!

And we????

How sma ll it mak es u s all feel.

How limited.

Live s tha t, as we’v e se en s o trag ically, c an dis appe ar so quick ly.

What are human beings; mere mortals??

What of the lives of these little ones just baptised?

their value?

their reason for being?

Psalm 8 picks up and amplifies a call that comes in the very first chapter of the Bible about who these four

children are, and what their task on earth is all about: You have made them a little lower than God

and crowned them with glory and ho nour....

Lindy, Elianna, Jason, Shauna - royalty, they are.

Princes and princesses in the Cosmic Kingdom of Heaven.

Royalty with a challenging task.

You have given them dominion over all the works of your hands;

You have pu t all things under their feet....

All th at w hich God has made - at their disp osa l.

Res ponsible for it a ll.

Stewards, they are - of trees, and of all creation.

Talked about that with a couple of parents this week. As with just about everyone - well, you can guess what

we talked about.

September 11 h as shaken up just abo ut every North American. It has ripped away our com placency.

The sheer pain has woken us from a rather lethargic stupor in our comfortable, painless and at times

decadent lives. It has forcibly confronted us with the meaning of tragedy, fear, helplessness. Something

we’ve been so insulated from. Something that is the regular part of the lives of humanity in most other

regions in the world.

Ruwanda.

Sierre Leonne.

Bosnia.

Chechnia.

Sudan.

Palestine.

Violence, poverty, starvation, slavery, persecution.

Steward ship o f.... Trees, Tim e, Talen ts & Treas ures p.2

And here we sit on this heap o f wealth, consumption, and a grow ing environmental cesspool called North

America.

Parents, congregation - fellow pilgrims in the family of faith:

We made a pledge this morning before the Lord, a pledge to raise these royal children. It’s a

continuation of our pledge to raise all our children as responsible servants of the Lord.

Even more basic than that - in living this pledge we face the challenge of growing ourselves as

servants of the Lord. Leading these little ones not only by our words, but by our example.

Growing them in Christian obedience in basic elements:

- getting them into church community life right from an early age

- teaching them the rhythm of bible reading, prayer in the home and in their personal life

- help ing them grow in ethic al and mora l purity.

And then, remembering this call of Psalm 8 -

Helping them not to be jaded by North American riches, and Canadian insular peace. To see beyond

the richness of Ottawa’s suburbs and into the huge challenge of living as caretakers in this world made by

Majestic God.

Caretakers of th e creat ion - w hat a ch allenge w ill face them, with inc reas ed le vels of to xins in

groundwater and air, global warming, dwindling natural resources, challenges in developing new technologies

and biological processes.

And as co-caretakers of other royalty - of fellow human beings. The cries of children dying agonizing

deaths by starvation.... thousands each day. Or those who grow up in refugee camps. Or die as victims of

ethnic cleansing.

Our children will not be able to stand before God, shrug their shoulders and sa y, “but was I to be my

brother and s ister’s keeper? ”

God will hold them accountable.

Jus t as H e hold s us accountable toda y:

accountable for how we handle our responsibility of being dominion keepers, stewards and guardians

of Creation and its inhabitants

accountable for how we raise our little ones to heed this stewardly call of God.

And when He does, when we one day stand before Him: