The Oceans – an invitation to awe


This sermon can be listened to here

Gate Pa –  3rd Sunday in Season of Creation - Year C - 2019
Readings:
Psalm -                        Psalm 104: 1-9, 24-26
First Reading -            Job 38:1-8
Second Reading -       Ephesians 1:3-10
Gospel -                      Luke 5:1-11   
What I want to say:
The Oceans are important
·         they inspire our awe and wonder of God
·         the hold life in an intricate self-sustaining web
·         we are damaging if not killing it
What I want to happen:
how we might nurture both the oceans and this web of life as:
-          an act of devotion to God, Source of all Being;
-          an expression of our being image bearers of God’s creating and life giving self;
-          for our survival?

The Sermon 

       1.      Introduction:

Last week we got into this Season of Creation
when the world’s 2.2 billion Christians are invited to honour God as Creator and Sustainer of all life
-          to recall that this is God’s world,
-          and that this planet and all who live on it belong to God.
During this annual celebration
join global ecumenical movement 
-          Some of us pray,
-          some of us do hands-on projects,
-          some of us advocate.
-          small changes – resource sheet (another one this week)

       2.      Genesis

read Genesis 1: 1-27
-          reminded that this world belongs to God not us
-          we are made in image of God who is creating and giving life
o   relationship with creation should be marked by these qualities
-          given dominion -> usually read as domination
o   Hebrew word is rabba - means kingly rule
Ü  rules for long term good of all subjects, starting with poorest.
Ü  our dominion is to live in such a way that the long term good of all, including world we live on – God’s gift to us – is paramount
-          all of which stands in stark contrast to way we West treated God’s gift last century or more

       3.      Oceans

this week invited take note of oceans
fun facts about the oceans - thanks Wikipedia
-          oceans cover 70% surface of planet
-          If all of Earth's crustal surface was at the same elevation as a smooth sphere, the depth of the resulting world ocean would be about 2.7 kilometres (1.7 mi).[14][15]
-          About 97.5% of the water on Earth is saline; the remaining 2.5% is fresh water.
o   Most fresh water – about 69% – is present as ice in ice caps and glaciers.[16]
-          Sea water has an important influence on the world's climate, with the oceans acting as a large heat reservoir.[21]
-          Shifts in the oceanic temperature distribution can cause significant weather shifts.[22]
-          By volume, the ocean provides about 90 percent of the living space on the planet.[1] The science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has pointed out it would be more appropriate to refer to planet Earth as planet Ocean.[24][25]
-          Most life forms evolved initially in marine habitats.
-          A total of 230,000 documented marine species exist, including about 20,000 species of marine fish,
-          some two million marine species yet to be documented.
-          Marine species range in size from the microscopic, including plankton and phytoplankton which can be as small as 0.02 micrometres, to huge cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), including the blue whale – the largest known animal reaching up to 33 metres (108 ft) in length
-          Marine microorganisms, including bacteria and viruses, constitute about 70% of the total marine biomass
Wow!
how do you respond to all of that?
how make you feel?
admit I am in awe
quite overwhelmed – it’s so big and astounding,
sea itself is both amazing and little terrifying

       4.      Readings

our Psalm 104 and reading from Job speak of how writers were awe-struck
The oceans and all creation led them and leads us into place of awe and wonder
at creation
more importantly
-          awe and wonder at the one who created all.
when overwhelmed by awe and wonder
we are invited as Job was invited
-          let go of our safe answers about God
o   about life
o   about ourselves
Ü  invited to see world with bigger mind talked about last week.
we can see that bigger mind in action in story we heard from Luke
-          Peter, James and John and silenced by abundance of generosity that Jesus shows in vast catch
-          invited to reimagine what catching fish might look like
o   invited into bigger mind born out of awe and wonder
o   pushed them to live in ways they had never imagined

        5.      Web of Life

overall theme for this year’s Season of Creation is “The Web of Life – biodiversity as God’s blessing
no better place to encounter the gift of this web than ocean
è video of currents -  NASA Views Our Perpetual Ocean
this web like intricate net
-          self-sustaining net of complex relationships and feedback loops
-          natural life-support systems
article published in Guardian in May[i]
“Human society is in jeopardy from the accelerating decline of the Earth’s natural life-support systems, the world’s leading scientists have warned, as they announced the results of the most thorough planetary health check ever undertaken.
From coral reefs flickering out beneath the oceans to rainforests desiccating into savannahs, nature is being destroyed at a rate tens to hundreds of times higher than the average over the past 10m years, according to the UN global assessment report.
The biomass of wild mammals has fallen by 82%, natural ecosystems have lost about half their area and a million species are at risk of extinction – all largely as a result of human actions, said the study, compiled over three years by more than 450 scientists and diplomats.”
what that means is that we are rapidly cutting the threads of that complex web of life
if we keep cutting
will collapse
effect warming seas
-          do know expand – rise (without any glacial ice involved)
-          is affecting weather and water cycles
-          seen in more droughts
-          larger and more frequent storms and floods
what are unsure about
-          effect on those currents
-          biodiversity within sea – most of which would be pretty temperature specific

     6.      Invitation

offer some ideas what can do – sheet
more importantly  - wonder how we might nurture both the oceans and this web of life as
-          not out of act of desperation
-          but an act of devotion to God, Source of all Being;
-          as an expression of our being image bearers of God’s creating and life giving self;
what mean for us to join Peter, James and John
-          be invited into bigger mind born out of awe and wonder
-          pushed to live in ways we have never imagined
[i] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/06/human-society-under-urgent-threat-loss-earth-natural-life-un-report

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