Sermon, January 15, 2023 Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle… and Repent?
Listen to this, from this morning’s scripture:
"Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
It appears that God wants us to do something. Not just be, not just live our lives for our own happiness and edification. Here I am, Lord. I delight to do your will. So, we begin this time with asking, what is God’s will? How can I match my will with God’s, and be delighted? Let’s imagine that the command to reuse, reduce and recycle might have come from God.
3 years ago next month, I went with a group of about 20 to Uganda. This group, led by Paul Phillips, has been traveling there over 20 times, almost every year, to give time, energy, money and desperately needed supplies to help an organization called AOET, AIDS Orphans Education Trust. This organization was created by Sam Tushabe, a man from Kenya who, almost 30 years ago, visited Uganda. In his travels he observed a toddler, probably an AIDS orphan, scrounging through a pile of garbage for a scrap of food. It broke his heart to the extent that he went right home, cutting his vacation short. He began this organization which allows people to sponsor children who have lost one or both parents, and who might themselves be HIV Positive. These children then receive an education, food, and medicine. Their lives are saved, and through their education, they save others as well.
In February of 2020, we went to meet the children we have been sponsoring and for us to become educated about the country of Uganda and its citizens.
While there, we spent money, putting cash in the pockets of the people as one of the activities that we could do. Many of us had clothing sewed for them. I commissioned this robe to be created.
I went to a stall near the guest house where were staying. The stall is a three-sided shed with a roof, that can be closed up at night. One woman who was the owner of the shop, spoke with me through a translator as I described what I wanted. She had no patterns, just pictures on the wall of various articles of clothing, including graduation gowns. She measured me for the gown.
On the other half of the shed was fabric, and there were used bedsheets that were repurposed for this robe. And the two women who sewed the robe, pictured here, used treadle foot machines, and so, used no electricity. Reuse – the sheets - and reduce – no electricity. The carbon footprint of creating this article of clothing was close to nothing. I had to travel a full day to Uganda and a full day back, using quite a lot of fuel to learn this lesson. And now I pass it on to you.
What can you do with old bedsheets? I recently used an old cut up pillowcase to strain bees wax that I had received from a bee keeper. Once I had done that, I could throw it away, knowing that I had really used that 30 year old pillowcase well in its lifetime!
What do you have that you could reuse or give away for someone else to use?
There are many ways to reduce as well. When I was a kid, my parents made sure we turned off every light when we left a room, and kept the heat at an uncomfortable low temperature all winter. I frequently buy very nice designer clothing at the consignment shops nearby. The jacket I am wearing under this robe came from a consignment shop. How are you reducing your carbon footprint? Surely this is God’s will. We will look at other ways that we are called to reduce in the coming weeks.
Recycling is required by our government. So I know you are already doing that.
And that brings us to the other R word in the sermon title, repent.
When young, I felt so much shame and guilt from the words sin and repent. I always felt that I was not good enough, and that God rejected me as I was. Let’s look at this differently.
In newer language about these words, we can look at sin as doing things that are other than God’s will. And of course, most of us do these things often. Eating a piece of fudge is not honoring our body as a temple. When we talk about Santa Clause we are perpetuating a beautiful lie. When we spend money on a lottery ticket we are worshipping a different god, money. And yet, we do these things, and they are normal in our society. By the way, the examples I chose are things I have done recently. As we move forward in our spiritual path, and we open our eyes to ways that our will does not match God’s will, we also open our behaviors to return (another RE word) to God. This is the newer meaning of REpent – to return to God. Another phrase for this is to atone for our behavior.
At this point, please go to the blank space on the back of your bulletin, or if you are at home, just grab an old piece of paper or back of an envelope and pen or pencil. Take this next period of time, and write on this paper how you will reuse or reduce in the next week.
Now, make a pact with God to repent, to return to God’s will, to be a good steward to this Earthly Mother that we have been hired to take care of.
My favorite quote from Dr. King is “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” We cannot improve the conditions on earth by blaming other people, governments and corporations. We MUST come from a position of love. We must do what WE can, with love in our hearts for our home. Take a second and recall your favorite place on earth. Visualize the colors. Smell it. Feel the ground and the plants. Listen to the sounds, like wind and birds. Feel the love in your heart grow. From this place of love, you can accomplish what you have promised.
At the end of the scripture this morning it was written, “Do not, O LORD, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever.” We are asking God to keep us safe. It is my belief that when we are acting with God’s will by caring for our earthly home, that God is also at work, ultimately keeping us safe.
Let us end today with the prayer that I read last week that Jesus taught the Essenes after the Lord’s prayer. Let us pray:
Our Mother, who art upon earth, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, and thy will be done, in us as it is in thee. As thou sendest every day thy angels, send them to us also. Forgive us our sins, as we atone all our sins against thee. And lead us not into sickness, but deliver us from all evil, for thine is the earth, the body, and the health. Amen.
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