It’s Your Turn!
Dear Green Blades Roundtable Reader,
Throughout the year, a variety of preaching writers offer their reflections on the ecological and eco-justice implications of the lectionary. This month, it’s your turn! Each Monday for the next four weeks, you will receive the gospel of the day and the Connections with Creation from Sundays and Seasons, along with a prompt I write to begin your own process of reflection. Write a comment or question of your own in the comment box to share with others.
Let’s see what happens when it’s our turn!
May the conversation begin!
Pastor Kristin Foster, Editor, Green Blades Preaching Roundtable
Luke 10:25-37 NRSVUE
25 An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.[a] “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” 29 But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Pastor Kristin Foster's Conversation Starter
If you were exploring the practices of discipleship this month with the whole creation in view, this Sunday would be a no-brainer for the practices of serving and giving. The Samaritan sees and responds to a man suffering from wounds inflicted on him by another person or persons. Who is lying wounded by the side of the road today? Creation itself – the human and other than human - is wounded, daily and systematically. Nor can we separate the ways we wound the Earth from the wounding of our human neighbors. Those wounds are not remote. Even the wounding of the Amazon or the Arctic or oceans are not remote. They are near to us, exquisitely near, as near as God’s commands according to our passage in Deuteronomy. Explore some specific ways to identify and tend the wounds of creation, reminding each other that God wants us to flourish “in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your flocks, in the fruit of your soil”.
Rev. Kristin Foster
Cook, MN
Kristin Foster, long term pastor on the Mesabi Iron Range of northern Minnesota, now retired from parish ministry, is the co-chair of the Northeastern Minnesota Synod’s EcoFaith Network and editor of the Green Blades Preaching Roundtable. Over four decades of ministry, including fifteen years as internship supervisor, she has written, preached, and worked for the rights of organized labor, the full inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and the empowerment of small communities. As pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Mountain Iron, she was also the founding chairperson of the Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability. She lives outside Cook, Minnesota with her husband, Frank Davis, on an old Swede-Finn farmstead. They take every available opportunity to spend time with their two daughters, their partners, and their three grandchildren.
Thank you Kristin. I am enjoying a good book for the second time, Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a more than Human World. by Brandon Keim. A great compilation of information regarding the neighbors we may not think about. Because of good research and good writing, you can't read this book without your empathy and compassion for our non-human neighbors reaching new depth. We cannot not pass by on the other side as these amazing neighbors suffer. Moreover these neighbors are part of the care and healing we need. Simple examples: Yesterday we visited our beaver neighbors who are busy creating wetlands for our forest biodiversity. Insect neighbors have been pollinating our garden. American Redstart warbler neighbors have been cleaning our balsams and spruce in the outbreak of budworms. These neighbors are doing good for us every day. To whom can we be neighbors? From the ecologic point of view it is unlimited.
Thanks Kristin for the invitation. I find stories to be helpful for people to wrap their heads around an idea. Here's one for today's Gospel.
This morning I hosted 24 middle school youth and 3 adult chaperones on my farm. Their goal was to weed my 30 daylily gardens, and clean up around my stream and pond, so that the farm and gardens would be ready for the 16th annual Daylily Dig for Malawi. As I explained what was a "weed" and what was to be left growing, it was an opportunity to talk about how creation needs our focused attention, and not our "walking by on the other side of the road." The youth wondered why I was allowing the dozens and dozens of milk weed to grow along my stream, since they assumed it was a weed and should be pulled. It didn't look like a flower, so they wanted to get rid of it. This gave me an opportunity to talk about how monarch needs milkweeds to lay their eggs on, so that the caterpillars have something to eat. They need our help so that there is habitat left for them to survive.
As you have mentioned above, Kristin, we've often just walked on by and ignored creation and the impacts on it of our farming practices, and lifestyle choices. Imagine the difference these 24 young people can make if they realize they have agency and can be a good Samaritan to the creation in their own neighborhoods!