Thoughts of a Ragamuffin, Part 5: Homilies, Heaven, Earth
Psalms 104:24 (MSG)
What a wildly wonderful world, God! You
made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful
creations.
What good are poets?
When I was much ounger poetry just wasn’t my thing.
Unless of course it was Doctor Seuss
That I wasn’t very mindful of poetry was probably because my poetry teachers
were women and they just picked girly stuff to read and hiku to write.
I was more interested in action, blood and guts,
the usual attractions for an elementary school boy.
That prejudice hung with me through Junior High, High School,
and even in college where I did not take a single course in poetry.
I was just not interested in words that rhythm unless they were put to
a good beat.
What good are poets anyway?
Often they are hard to read and even more difficult to understand what is
that they are trying to say.
But I have had a change of heart,
the poets out there would probably say I’ve grown a little wiser.
I now see poetry as an expression that requires
words be painted rather than spoken.
Poets see the world in a different way than I do,
they try to get me to see with new eyes.
Today I want to share a truth you already know,
but this time through the eyes of a poet, Rich Mullins.
Last summer Carol dropped into my hands a book by James Smith
called “An Arrow Pointing To Heaven.”
It’s a book about his friend Rich Mullins who died in a car crash back in 1998.
I think Rich Mullins is the only singer that I have all of his CD’s.
His words and melodies are different from the usual fare that comes
out of the Contemporary Christian Music industry.
Some of his songs grab my heart, some engage my thinking,
some help me see life from another perspective,
all of them in some way point me towards God.
An Arrow Pointing To Heaven just spoke to me
and so I had to make a sermon series out of the God thoughts I found in it.
Here we are part five of the Thoughts of a Ragamuffin.
Today we’re going to consider how Creation reveals God to us,
how the Earth speaks to us,
how the heavens sing to us,
we are going to look at having a right relationship to the Earth
through the eyes of poet, Rich Mullins.
Psalms 19:1-2 (MSG)
God's glory is on tour in the skies,
God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
2 Madame Day holds classes
every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening.
If you have been under my teaching for any length of time I am sure you’ve picked
up on my thought that everything rises and falls on relationships.
Relationships, our interaction with others is vital to our well being.
I’ve taught you that humanity is created in righteousness.
Righteous means rightly related, the way its intended to be,
the way it is designed to be.
I have told you that in the Garden of Eden humanity enjoyed a right
relationship with God, with Others, with Self and with the Earth.
I try to encapsulate those right relationships in simple descriptions.
Sound bites are easy to digest, but they are not the full meal.
There is always so much more to understanding and experiencing and
living out right relationships than just the sound bite.
A right relationship with God is demonstrated by our obedience to His
commands.
A right relationship with Others is demonstrated by our seeking to meet their
needs at the cost of a personal sacrifice.
A right relationship with Self is partnering with God to become more like
Jesus.
And a right relationship with the Earth is being a good steward of all that
God has entrusted you with.
For the most part I have explained that right relationship with the Earth rather
materially.
The Earth represents the source from which we draw all the resources
that we need to survive and thrive.
The Earth represents the material blessings God has placed in our care
for wise management.
But today I want to add another dimension of thought to our
understanding of having a right relationship with the Earth.
I want to explore with you is that the Creation, the heaven, the earth, the universe,
speak of the Creator and can serve as a means of grace
in which you can encounter the One who spoke it all into
existence.
In Genesis we learn that in the beginning God created everything. (John 1:3)
This entire vast universe is an act of God.
The Earth and everything in it God declared as good. (Gen 1:13)
The heavens declare the glory of God (Psalms 19:1)
Since glory can mean a physical manifestation of the presence of God,
The creation makes the invisible God visible to us.
“This creates a whole new vision of the person of God.
God is not cold and His work is not mundane.
God is burning with passion and energy and creativity.”
(Smith, Arrow, pp. 90-91)
“God did not create the world out of necessity.
He created it that it might praise Him and lead us to Him.”
(Smith, Arrow, p. 91)
A true art aficionado can look at a painting and by its style tell you who painted it
or at least who is the great master you influenced the artist.
The true art appreciator can tell a Rembrandt from a diVinci,
an O’Keeffe from a Pollack,
a Rubens from Renoir.
For me it’s a nice painting.
I’m an art cretin.
My point though is that the art speaks of the one who
created it.
When it comes to architecture a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is easily
distinguishable from one designed by William Van Allen
which is easily distinguishable from a building designed by Julia
Morgan.
The point again is that the creation reveals something about the creator.
The scripture declares God is the author of the universe.
Isaiah 45:12 (MSG)
I made earth, and I created man and
woman to live on it. I handcrafted the skies and direct all the constellations
in their turnings.
So the Creation, what I have referred to as the Earth,
everything that has been made, tells a story about God.
The Creation is an image of the Creator.
A right relationship with the Earth goes beyond managing your personal
assets well,
it goes beyond responsibility for the environment,
it moves to encounter with God through His Creation.
A right relationship with the Earth leads to encounters with God through
what God has made.
Psalms 19:1-4 (NLT)
The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.2 Day
after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.3 They
speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.
4 Yet their message has
gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.
“Rich wrote,
‘Maybe we can hear it in the chirping of the crickets or in the sound of old
friends laughing…
Maybe the heavens do declare the glory of God,
and the skies proclaim the works of His hands.
Maybe they themselves are His proclamation,
His declaration, His sacrament…
I hope you see the faithfulness of God in everything He has made. “
(Mullins-Smith, An Arrow
Pointing To Heaven, p. 89)
What an incredible way to look at the things of this world.
The craftsmanship is a reflection of the craftsman.
When you begin to see the reality that the creation points to the Creator,
that the natural world can be a pathway to encounter with God,
it opens a whole new set of options for drawing near to God.
Last week the moon was clearly visible most of the morning.
That’s not an everyday sight.
I’m driving to the office and look up and there is half the moon
shining in a blue sky.
I pictured in my minds eye how the Earth and the moon must be
aligned to the sun to create such an effect.
I thought how important the moon is to life on the planet.
If you didn’t know it the moon plays a huge role in the Earth’s climate
and some scientists think if there was no moon,
there would be no life on the planet.
I started thanking God for the moon,
for the beauty He created.
Once again I felt my heart strangely warmed,
kind of like God saying well thank you,
I am so glad you are enjoying my work today.
The Apostle Paul is coaching Timothy.
Apparently there were some rather well to do people in Timothy’s
congregation. Paul advises:
1 Timothy 6:17 (NIV)
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Notice what God has done.
God as provided us with everything for our enjoyment.
The creation is for our enjoyment,
and when we enjoy what God has provided it’s a form of
worship.
It’s giving God His due.
It’s showing appreciation.
It’s giving thanks.
Rich Mullins was leading a group and asked the participants to write down ten
things they enjoyed.
I think it’s a worthy exercise.
We get so busy doing business that I think we tend to forget we are to
enjoy this life.
Let me encourage you to make a list of ten things you enjoy.
One thing on Rich’s list was laughter.
“Laughter for him was a great sign of God’s grace.”
(Smith, Arrow, p. 93)
One thing on my list is ethnic foods, especially Italian.
If you’re hard pressed to remember ten things you really enjoy,
it’s probably time to take a vacation,
its time to go on a spiritual retreat and rediscover your heart.
Last summer my son Grant was able to attend Wheatstone Academy,
We call it philosophy camp.
It’s purpose is develop a Christian World view and use that world
view to experience life as a believer.
One of the lessons that is taught is that beauty is objective.
The old adage “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” isn’t true.
Beauty is not subjective,
it is not based on the perspective of the one looking upon it.
Beauty is beautiful regardless of who beholds it.
Beauty is a sign of completeness and wholeness; a sign of righteousness.
Ugly is just the opposite, ugly is what is unrighteous.
When you look at something that is beautiful it judges you.
The reality of the beauty judges your ability to see what is beautiful.
Grant told me you can train yourself to see beauty.
I’m working on that.
The training starts when you stop long enough to look.
We need to stop and look with our eyes and our heart,
we need to stop and listen to the winds in the trees,
the sound of the rain, the laughter of a creek
not only with our ears but also with our heart.
We need to smell the roses, and the orange blossoms,
and the grass not only with our noses but our hearts as well.
We have to stop and start practicing that 7th habit of a disciple,
contemplation.
Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote:
“Earth’s crammed with heaven; and every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
the rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.
(Browning—Smith, Arrow, p. 97)
The 7th habit of a disciple, contemplation,
Contemplation requires creating a quiet place in which one communes in a
heart to heart conversation with God.
The outcome is one’s eyes open to the burning bushes of God’s
presence.
Our cities, and our technology, our artificial,
They tend to cause us all to be blackberry pluckers.
Our busy schedules, the time wasting distractions that numb our minds,
They tend to cause us all to be blackberry pluckers.
To get free you will have to plan your escape so that even in the middle of
the city,
you can see something of what God has made and enjoy it,
and use it to ride the bridge between what has been made
to its Maker.
Romans 1:19-20 (MSG)
But the basic reality of God is plain
enough. Open your eyes and there it is!
20 By taking a long and
thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see
what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery
of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse.
Training starts with a long and thoughtful look.
What a great description of the spiritual habit of contemplation.
Let beauty transport you to the Creator.
Let the Earth, your right relationship to the Earth,
become a conduit for communing with God.
The great reformer Martin Luther said:
“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone,
but also on trees,
and in the flowers and clouds and stars.”
Rich Mullins read from this other Gospel and through it he encountered the
Creator.
You may not be a poet,
but you can see beauty if you train yourself to see it.
Contemplation involves looking and listening, tasting and touching with your
Physical and spiritual senses.
First you have to stop the rush, remove the distractions,
create a quiet place in your heart and mind.
You can do this in a moment,
just like I did driving into the office,
or you can sit yourself down and wait on the sunrise,
the task is to be able to stop and as they say,
smell the roses when you happen upon
them.
Second you have to look, maybe a better word is behold.
I am really at a loss of words trying to explain this
but you have to let the sight, the sound, the smell, the touch ,
to be experienced,
you have to give it your full attention and
let it soak into you,
you have to stop analyzing and
start appreciating.
Let the beauty imprint on your soul.
Have you ever been awestruck into silence before something verged
on rapturous?
It draws you in and you are silent as you observe the
wonder.
This sounds kind of nuts, but you have to let it see you.
You have to present yourself.
After all this is a two way communication.
You have to listen to what it is speaking.
Its not as hard as it sounds either.
Contemplation can happen very quickly,
You don’t have to psych yourself up into it.
Third you have to ask God to let you hear what He has been saying through this
creation of His.
When Mike, John, Kylie, Mike and I went fishing in Alaska,
God created a glorious sunset while we were off the Barren Islands.
When you see the pictures you ask yourself if they have been somehow
electronically enhanced, photo shopped,
but no, the scene just was so spectacularly out of the ordinary.
In my heart I sensed God say to me, “Mike enjoy all this.”
God is always speaking to us through His creation, ask Him to help you to
hear what it is that He is saying.
Rich Mullins wrote the song: “ I See You”
The chorus is very simple—
“And everywhere I go I see you.”
When you get into the habit of doing this 7th habit of a disciple,
Contemplation helps you see the whole universe as holy,
As a sacrament, a means of grace by which God reveals Himself.
By which God speaks to you.
When that happens everywhere you go you will be able to see the
hand of God, hear His voice,
When that happens you live in His presence and your life fills with the
wonder of His world
Song: With The Wonder
A right relationship with the Earth
is more than about your stewardship of the resources God has entrusted you,
it is more than being green, caring for the earth’s natural resources,
a right relationship with the Earth turns all creation into a revelation of the
Creator,
a conduit for God to speak to you,
A means of grace by which you can encounter God.
Ask God to open up your mind to see Him everywhere you go.