I was discussing column topics with our daughter, and she thought Earth Day was too far away for a piece. Then, I saw Earth Day Campbell's soup in the store, so I'm going with that inclination.

I had to look up information on the first Earth Day, as I remember it vaguely as a hippie tree hugging festival with those awful non-competitive games, like keeping a balloon globe up in the air for hours. Gaylord Nelson, a Wisconsin senator, had been pushing for a focus on the environment for years. He announced a national teach-in for the spring of 1970, and the response was overwhelming. As he said, "it organized itself." Around the same time, it was proclaimed as a special day in San Francisco. (Yeah, big surprise). An impressive statement was signed by well-regarded people all over the world. Over the years, the schools have been a critical tool in maintaining its focus on the environment and the spring in our part of the world.

As usual, the church was late to the emphasis on creation, even though the creeds speak of God as Maker, or Creator, of heaven and earth. Part of the reason would be that we have turned the bible into a ticket for heaven and ignore its richness. Some of it comes from the obsession with Genesis 1 as an anti-evolution tract. Seminaries emphasized the struggle between Judaism and the "nature" religions in its cultural environment.

Most Christians worship on Sunday, as the day of resurrection. In that way, Easter light shines on every Sunday service. Maybe we can consider making our relationship to God's creation as part of every service as well. For instance, we all know John's prologue of the "in the beginning was the Word." Word equals logos in Greek. It refers to the logic, the structure, the plan of God's creation. when we despoil the creation, are we not violating the structure of that creation? Notice the the Roman Catholic Church has made clear that we should see social sins, such as pollution, as a violation of God's work in creation. even a cursory look at the Psalms show the use of natural images to capture a sense of the divine. We use flowers as decoration in church, but we would be more true to our roots in using them as vehicles for contemplation of the goodness of creation. Apocalyptic visions often use changes in the logos, the course of God's creation, as a sign of divine intervention in the future unfolding of events, as the "shaking of the foundations" a moral earthquake.

The Bible sees natural cycles as part of God's blessing. It even links human life and natural life. Perhaps we could bid blessings on our gardens as we prepare them. Before farmers hit the fields, they could bow in prayer before the god of nature. The garden club making the library grounds beautiful and selling flowers next month are doing the work of deacons for ecology. Youth groups cleaning roadways and streams are doing mission projects for the health of God's work. Already, we are seeing a "green" mindset growing in churches, both for their own physical plant and in the political realm. I have no trouble with churches fearing the growth of , say, gambling, but we are moving toward a sense of our moral responsibility to help safeguard creation for generations to come.

So, work and pray on Earth Day. Praise God for the wonders of creation. Confess our sins toward God's ecological balances. Plead the case of the earth. Put hands and feet behind those prayers for the natural world. In responses, the "trees will clap their hands" (Is 55:12)

April 8- I moderate a group of remarkably dedicated group of folks who prepare for the upcoming Sunday lessons. When we hit Ps. 23, we grew a bit quiet at the line about preparing a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Gone are the soft words about no lack, food, protection, restoration. Of course, most of us feel we lack recognition. This is like going back to your high school reunion acclaimed by the cheerleaders and jocks, and all of the popular kids. This is being cheered at an athletic banquet by your foes. This is your in-laws praising you at your 15th wedding anniversary. Let yourself imagine what it's like to be the guest of honor.

April 7- It is hard for me to fathom that it is now 40 years since the murder of martin Luther King. I was in 8th grade. A song was written then; "the King of Love is dead." of course, we would think of Jesus, but few people follwed The King of love as much as Dr. King. He had a sense that charity covers symptoms, but justice seeks to root out the causes of suffering. It is remarkable how much moral weight his non-violent movement carried. I don't know if we would now even be close to his dreams as we are, if it had not been for this tool of Christian protest. Where would you think non-violence could work to change our society and laws now?

April 6- I was reading a piece by Roseanne Cash on her return to songwriting after a serious illness. She quotes a friend who says we spend our time with a flashlight to the ground ( I would add, when the universe is alight).That's a great image for Easter time. We foucs on our own issues, when God's world is lighting up with new hopes and new options. With so many things flushed wiht light, does the flashlight od much good anyway?

Sermon on Lk. 24:13-35 and I Peter 1:17-25

Jesus meets up with two disciples whose world has collapsed around them. The7y are going back and forth, not arguing as much as struggling to come to grips with what happened. Jesus pays the great compliment of community. He asks them a question. Jesus listens to their story. Peter speaks of the living and abiding word of God. Jesus gives them the events of which they spoke within a frame of scripture’s story. They report that their hearts burned within them as Jesus explicated his life within that story. Jesus gives them a new way to understand the bible, through his life and death, and indeed resurrection. The elements of communion and the elements of liturgy, of Sunday worship, the day of the risen Lord, open their eyes. Even after Easter, Jesus continues to heal spiritual blindness, or at least poor spiritual vision..

I Peter is trying to encourage its readers. They are going through the struggles we all go through in life, but they are also suffering for their faith. They have a new birth of hope, new confidence in God. (The word has faith at its core Latin root). They have a new birth of understanding. That new lease on life allows them to live the life that I Peter commends. The Pennsylvania city draws its name here, philadephia, mutual love of the brethren. They were already granted their vision when they were together. Easter visions do not come when we are alone but also together. Easter opens our hearts out to each other. Jocelyn and I were offered hospitality in an Amish home with the Historical Society Friday evening. After supper, they took questions, and they spoke of their attempts to be a mutual aid society in times of trouble, Philadelphia. In Rush County.

Only one disciple is named in the Emmaus story. The other is left unnamed because we are to read ourselves into the other disciple. Jesus appears sometimes to one, sometimes to a larger group, and here to two people, or a small church. Jesus comes to them in their grief and confusion and helps to begin to make some sense of it. He begins to turn their disappointment into new hope, living hope as Peter calls it. First Jesus asks them about their experience. Then, Jesus interprets it through Scripture. Then, he accepts their hospitality, and shares a meal with them. That meal takes on special significance for us, when we recognize the words of the Last Supper employed at this new supper on the road.

Jesus walks with us for a while. Jesus can be an elusive presence sometimes, even in worship. Still, we re-experience Emmaus in the very structure of worship. Jesus comes when we need that presence on our road the road to Emmaus story is the door to perception to show that we encounter the living, risen Christ in the Sunday liturgy, together. It is a deepening presence, with us in our walk through life, with us more fully in Scripture, with startling clarity in the prayers and action of Communion. The presence of Jesus is not limited to worship, of course. This is a sacramental story about life, not only about the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. We do well to be on watch for the Christ in each other. We do well to notice the Christ in the guise of the stranger. Even when they spoke with Jesus, they did not recognize him. Even when Jesus did a Bible Study, they did not recognize him. Only in the sacrament were their eyes opened. We say things: open your eyes; keep your eyes open; eyes wide open; look there. Emmaus is always around the next corner. When we come to the garden of worship, or the everyday, we may come to the garden alone, but he continues to walk with us and talk with us.

April 5- Jocelyn and I went to a small Rembrandt exhibit in Cincinnati yesterday. Then we went tos upper in an Amish home. Rembrandt's representation of the extravagances of a growing middle class gives evidence of what the Amish rejected in their founding. They continue to try to conform to the simple life, even though our host rides to work in a truck and carries a cell phone that kept going off. Where would you like to make your life more simple, even more frugal? When do possessions start to get in the way? When do they make life easier, more abundant?

April 4- I was asked to think about biblical passages on encouragement. Immediately, I thought of Barnabas, whose name means son of encouragement, but few other things came mind. The word means to take heart, to bring courage inside deeply, I suppose. That moves us to psalms, both of lament and assurance. When have you found courage? when have you been encouraged? when have you encouraged others? Where do you look for encouragement, and when do you need it?