I hope to see you on Sunday at 10:30 am. Many will watch via livestream, Sunday or another day. We are grateful to our AV team: Barry Paton, Rob Steeves, Steve Morley, Glen Knapp, & Penny Allen. Here is a link to the service:
We find ourselves, in the season of Easter, focused on Earth Sunday and Jesus the Shepherd Sunday. I find these two themes weave well together when we reflect on our relationship with the natural world. In every church I have served it has been my practice to “turn off lights”, “turn down the thermostat”, “turn off the computer”, when a room has been vacated. At Bethany I have seldom need to do this, others beat me to it. But in a previous church, a colleague frequently left lights on, turned up the heat, left his computer on. I recall his words, “You go around turning off lights, turning down the temperature, wearing a sweater, riding a bus, but none of this is going to affect climate change. It’s air travel, car emissions, large scale fossil fuel extraction, clear cutting, those things make the difference, not your tiny acts stewardship.” He was right. But that doesn’t mean our actions go unnoticed. Our witness can move people to support the larger changes we need to address climate change.
I spent a winter living in Winnipeg with a household of Mennonites, they practiced simple-living, dumpster diving, community meals, a connection between the global south with the prosperous west. Their Volkswagens displayed bumper-stickers, “Live simply so others may simply live”.
It’s very interesting that the early church frequently used depictions of Jesus as a shepherd in art. He is depicted in simple clothing (a white tunic), with a staff, amidst sheep. Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire in the year 380 CE. Soon after these shepherd images gave way to depictions of Jesus as teacher or as King. Christianity became the religion of the Empire. It was now on top. No longer did they need a humble, protective Saviour who could identify with the meager and offer protection for the vulnerable. Instead, artists showed Jesus as a King.
God-like love lays down its life for others. It sees God’s Creation hurting and in need, and it responds. Follow Christ as we in turn will lay down our lives to increase the abundance of life on earth.