PASTORAL PONDERINGS

May 2006

by Pastor Jim Berger

^{Mt 6:25} "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink: or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

^{Mt 6:28} "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³² For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I love the flowers of spring.

This may surprise those of you who are familiar with my allergies and asthma. I struggle with the pollen at this time of year. But they don't blind me to the beauty that surrounds us.

After a long winter it seems a miracle to see the reds, blues, yellows and greens. I look with a wonder at the works of God the Artist, not the mechanic. As I shared with some of you, I believe that no matter how difficult it is for the Christian to deal with the problem of pain, it is even more difficult for the atheist and the presence of beauty. What evolutionary value is there is in recognition that the rose, lily, hydrangea or orchid is beautiful? Why should we find their scent wonderful, even when it makes us wheeze? Why should I smile when I watch terns and swallows swoop and dive at the nature center? What survival worth is there in a willow, holly or oak coming to leaf? Why should we gather on the beach and watch in awe the play of light in a sunset and want to shout, "Hurray!"

The God who delights in His artistry creates it all. He knitted us together and placed a mind and spirit within that can delight in His world. We are not to worship it or place it before the love of neighbor, but the creation God called "good" remains so even in its fallen state.

How marvelous is it then that God loves us even more.

Of all creation only humanity was made in God's image. I know of no other species that can look upon the world and see beauty. What other creature looks to the stars and sees wonder? Only we look upon the roaring lion with not just fear but also a fierce joy in its very lion-ness? Where else in this world will you find a being who looks upon the storm and waves not just with fear but also with a sense of awe that can hold a man through the heart of the tempest?

Yes, there is pain and sorrow and loss in this world. It was allowed to fall when we deserted the garden so that humanity in its sin would have a place to dwell. Yet, as Paul writes in Romans eight, all creation is groaning for its restoration, Despite our sin God allowed beauty to remain within the heart of joy; for that emotion requires thanksgiving and if the universe came into being through random variation, chance and mutation, they can have nothing to which they give thanks, for it is all an error and might easily have been otherwise.

As for me, I will give thanks and I will have joy and I will celebrate my Creator and Redeemer. Even as the pollen assaults me and my allergies cause my sight to blur, I will give thanks for the flowers of the field and the trees that bloom, for I know that they are given by our Father above as a gift of love to a fallen world of which I am the greatest of sinners.

Let us give thanks to God for sharing beauty with us. He who spun the stars into being loves us this much and more. Sinner that we are, the Lord's will is still to do us good. Let us stop living in a state of worry so much and instead appreciate what has been done. With the Psalmist may we say, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good: His love endures forever."

Alleluia, Amen!