Pastoral Page (Sunday 22 August 2010)

Dear Friends

This is the second week of our 'Season of Creation'. Many thanks must go to the Anglican Church for their 'fact sheets' which they have made available to us. I hope you have found them to be inspiring and practical. If you have missed out on any and would like a copy, please let Hannah know and she will make one for you.

Thomas Aquinas once said: Because the Divine could not express itself in any single being, the Divine created the great multiplicity of beings so that the perfection lacking to one would be supplied by the others. Thus the whole universe together participates in and manifests the divine more than any single being whatever. St Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274)

Perhaps that is why creation care was the very first command that God gave to human beings. One day we will each have to account to him for how well we did what he asked us to do. Perhaps his questioning of us on that day will be a little like when he bombards Job (in chapter 38-40) with these questions:

Job 38 Then out of the storm the LORD spoke to Job. 'Who are you to question my wisdom with your ignorant, empty words? Now stand up straight and answer the questions I ask you. Were you there when I made the world? If you know so much, tell me about it. Who decided how large it would be? Who stretched the measuring line over it? Do you know all the answers? ...Job, have you ever in all your life commanded a day to dawn? ... Have you been to the springs in the depths of the sea? Have you walked on the floor of the ocean? ... Do you know the laws that govern the skies, and can you make them apply to the earth? Can you shout orders to the clouds and make them drench you with rain? And if you command the lightning to flash, will it come to you and say, "At your service"? Job 39 Was it you, Job, who made horses so strong and gave them their flowing manes? ... Does a hawk learn from you how to fly when it spreads its wings toward the south? Does an eagle wait for your command to build its nest high in the mountains?' Job 40 Then Job answered the LORD. 'I know, LORD, that you are all-powerful; that you can do everything you want ... I talked about things I did not understand, about marvels too great for me to know ..., but now I have seen you with my own eyes. So I am ashamed of all I have said and repent in dust and ashes.'

In Christ's service

Debbie