Julie Thompson - First Presbyterian Church

The answers we find in scripture are quite different message from the ones we get from our popular
media.
In the responsive reading, from Psalm 8, which is first psalm of praise included in the Book of
Psalms, the psalmist reminds us of the nature of the universe. The stars, sun, moon, flocks, beasts,
birds, and everything else in creation declares God’s glory and makes God visible throughout the
earth. Genesis reminds us that God, the Creator, spoke creation into being. Out of nothing God
created every leaf, flower, bird, reptile, and spider, and every sight and sound and smell that inhabits
our ecosystem. God loved his creation so much, that He came to be with us in it in human form as
Jesus Christ, and sustains it by the Holy Spirit.
We can point to a star and say, "I see God there!" or see a field of wildflowers and say, “Thank you,
God.” Now, this is not to say that the creation IS God. When an art expert sees a painting and
declares, "That's Picasso!" he does not mean that the artist and that oil-streaked canvas are the same
thing. Instead it means that the artist's handiwork is so clearly on display that you can see the artist in
his or her work. I have often heard people say, “How can anyone look around at the beauty of nature
and not believe?” In the first chapter of Romans, the apostle Paul explains that what can be known
about God is plain to everyone, because God has shown it to them through the things he has made.
To answer the second worldview question, “What is the nature of humanity?” in Genesis we learned
that when God came to the task of creating humans, instead of the usual benediction of “and it was
good.” God says “it was very good.” We are God’s crowning jewel of creation, made in God’s
image. And as God’s image-bearers, we have been given the honor and privilege of caring for God’s
creation as its stewards.
The psalmist saw the moon and stars and felt like nothing by comparison. And that was before the
Hubble telescope could show him how vast the cosmos is! I wonder what the psalmist would say
now. The psalmist asks God directly, “Who are we, O God, that you even know who we are?” In
other words, Why do you even bother with us, God ? The psalmist answers his own question…
“You have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.” You
have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their
feet.”
Not only does Psalm 8 help us to marvel at the sheer scale and splendor of the universe, it also
reminds us that really do matter. We have been crowned with glory and honor. And though the glory
has been marred by sin and the honor has frequently fallen, we have incredible, priceless worth in the
eyes of God. And we have been entrusted with an amazing task -- to take care of and rule over this
planet on God’s behalf.
Psalm 8 may tell us that God has put everything under our feet, but that hardly means we're allowed
to trample those things with our feet. Because, as verse 6 makes clear, what God has placed under
our feet is the work of God’s hands. But we don't want to smash God's fingers. Through the years
many well-meaning Christian folk have confused “dominion” with “domination” and have
understood “fill the earth and subdue it” as liscense to do whatever we want to the planet whenever
we want. In only the last 40 years the world has awakened to the some of the negative effects of the
Industrial Revolution, and what we're seeing is not pretty. Humans have caused the extinction of
untold species. We have razed and burned large patches of this earth. We have spilled oil that killed
creatures of the sea. We have emited sulfurous fumes that cause birds to drop from the sky and
people to develop lung cancer. This week I bought Al Gore’s book An Inconvenient Truth, and was
humbled and convicted by some of his photographs and proclamations.