From the Study April 2024

From the Pastor’s Desk

April is Earth Month and Earth Day is April 22, 2024. You ask why is this coming from the pastor’s desk?

First, Earth Day was established on April 22, 1970, when 20 million people across the country began to see climate changes and rampant pollution of our rivers and lakes. This was the beginning of environmental activism to teach people to honor nature because we need a healthy planet earth in order to survive.

Scripture reminds us that we are to take care of God’s creation, not overuse and abuse as history shows we have done and continue to do. Genesis 1:26 says, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. Dominion does not mean to take everything for granted and use until it doesn’t exist anymore.

Genesis 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. Of course, we know that didn’t last long before he wanted more.

Deut. 22:1 You shall not watch your neighbor’s ox or sheep straying away and ignore them; you shall take the back to their owner. If you don’t know who the owner is, you shall bring it to your own home, and it shall remain with you until the owner claims it. We have thousands of abandoned dogs and cats roaming because someone got tired of them and abandoned them. Rabbits and chicks are bought for Easter and once the children are tired of them, they are abandoned or left to die. There are other messages in the Bible as well telling us that we are keepers of the earth.

There are many things we can do to eliminate some of the waste we make. We have become a throw away society. Appliances are only made to last about seven years. Fix, don’t throw away.

Reuse instead of using disposable. Use re-usable water bottles, coffee cups, plates and silverware instead of paper or Styrofoam and plastic silverware. We are filling our land fill areas at an overwhelming rate.

Some facts on the breakdown of disposable products: 450 years for a plastic bottle to decompose. 450 years for a disposable diaper to decompose. Think of the volume between infants and the use for the elderly in nursing facilities and hospitals. 400 years for the six pack rings around your soft drinks and the other problem with these is that fish, birds and small animals get caught in them if they are not cut up so there are no rings. Styrofoam coffee cups take 50-500 years to decompose and now scientists have found that Styrofoam bleeds cancer causing chemicals into your hot cup of coffee or whatever you are drinking.

Remember that we need clean air to breathe and clean water to drink in order to survive. Air pollution is a big problem in industrialized cities and clean water has become a national and world wide problem everywhere.

So, let’s thank those first twenty million activists that in 1970, called our attention to our overuse and abuse of this beautiful earth. I’m asking each of you to be aware of things you can do to make a difference.

My prayer is that this world in all its splendor is around for many more generations to enjoy.

Blessings,

Pastor Alice