Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E120 | Everyday Eurasia |  Caleb Cray Haynes

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S1-E120 | Everyday Eurasia |  Caleb Cray Haynes · Eurasia Region Podcast

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  Hello and welcome to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
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  Inspiring Faith for Every Day. Each day we are on a journey
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  with Jesus in our churches, our homes, our workplaces, and in so
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  many different places around the world.
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  Is it beautiful that no matter where we are, we can walk with
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  him every single day? Jesus is the one who connects us
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  all and stands at the very center of our lives day after
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  day. Through this podcast, you'll
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  hear voices from across the region sharing devotionals that
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  reminds us of God's presence in our everyday moments.
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  This week, we will join Reverend Caleb Gray Haynes.
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  He directs Ness Rings for Creation Care.
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  He has written multiple books on creation care, including his
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  newest book, Urban Christian. Caleb host the Econ Christian
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  Podcast and serves on the Board of Directors at Creation Justice
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  Ministries. Greetings friends, Reverend
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  Caleb Grahanes. In an age when creation
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  desperately needs new attention, and often the church has been
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  without healthy theologies on care of creation, I wonder if
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  the doorway back into a Christ like relationship with the rest
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  of God's creation doesn't begin in the head, or maybe even the
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  heart, but in the hands, in the feet, in your body as it touches
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  the earth. Research has uncovered all the
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  benefits of what's called grounding.
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  In fact, over 20 studies have shown data on how simply placing
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  your bare feet on the ground can aid in your physical health.
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  From inflammation to blood pressure, to sleep, or to
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  dealing with pain, it's been shown that simply reconnecting
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  your body to the soil around you brings healing.
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  But really, should we be surprised?
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  What we learn about ourselves in the first page of the Bible is
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  that we are being created from the ground.
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  So perhaps this is a wonderful place to begin confessing the
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  ways in which we have attempted to place ourselves at the center
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  of God's creation. Too often today we get caught
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  promoting A theology that places us humans at the center of the
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  story and at the center of creation.
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  Yet Even so, we know that this cannot be true.
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  Our Creator God is at the center of this drama.
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  Amen. And we ourselves are part of the
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  holy ecosystem of God's creation to reflect the loving and caring
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  image of God in the world, which is then reiterated in Genesis
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  215, where it says calls us to serve and conserve, to serve and
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  keep this garden we call home. So what does it mean that we are
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  not separate from creation or higher than creation, but we are
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  parts of God's creation? You know, Genesis 2 gives even
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  more clarity in context. I love how the chapter begins
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  it. It writes, it says in the day
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  that the Lord God made the earth in the heavens, when no plant of
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  the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet
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  sprung up. For the Lord God had not caused
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  it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till Avadh,
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  serve the ground. But a stream would rise from the
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  earth and water the whole face of the ground.
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  And so there's no plants and no herbs, because what?
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  There's no rain and there's no one to serve the ground.
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  And then the Lord God named the human, right, the Ha Adam, from
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  the dust of the ground, which is translated out of mud, and
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  breathe life into the human's nostrils, the breath of life.
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  And the human became a living being.
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  And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and
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  there he put the human who he had formed.
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  You see, human beings are always dependent for their life on the
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  fertility and fecundity of soil, which in turn is dependent on
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  the breath of God for its animation.
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  That's a quote from Norman Weirspah.
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  You see, we are created in a symbiotic relationship with
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  creation dependent upon the land for survival.
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  And I would argue that creation also is designed to thrive in
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  our care, just as a garden depends on the on the care of
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  the gardener to thrive. You and I are made from the same
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  material as the rest of creation.
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  We are literally of the earth. We are earthlings.
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  We are pulled from the ground and brought to life by the
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  breath of God entering our bodies, lumps of dirt created in
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  the image of God. You and I cannot be separated
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  from the ground beneath our feet.
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  We are creaturely part of creation ourselves, created from
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  it, here to serve as it serves us.
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  And so actually, both Scripture and science continue to convey
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  how we are not separate from creation, but part of it.
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  In other words, we know that the microbes inside you and I's body
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  and inside of our gut from the ground where all these living
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  particles are, are the same or reflective of the microbes in
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  the soil. Right now.
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  We are actually microscopically made-up of ground, and if we
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  were to be removed from it, if we could somehow transfer to
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  another planet like we love to talk about, what would happen to
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  our bodies and who would we be? By the way, 96% of your body is
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  made-up of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, and
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  those four things make up the majority of the entire natural
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  world. Did you know that a human body
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  is 60% genetically similar to banana trees and 75% genetically
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  similar to chickens? This symbiotic relationship was
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  ordained from the start. We are not a people separate
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  from the earth as if we live on top of it, grazing it for our
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  needs until we need it no longer.
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  But we are tethered to the life of the earth along with
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  everything that comes from the earth as God created it to be.
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  Ecologists are the 1st to see this, that our well-being is
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  creation's well-being. Which begs further questions.
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  Can we take a role in destroying God's creation and at the same
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  time proclaim that we also love our neighbor?
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  So today, let us consider what it means that we are God's
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  gardeners, stewards within creation, not as a side hobby or
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  a special ministry, but as people whose very lives are
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  tethered with all creation the way God designed it to be.
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  Let's pray, friends. God, I confess that I have
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  fallen short of your divine intention for my life.
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  Then, in times when I should have cared more, I couldn't have
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  cared less. In times when I could have
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  spoken up, picked up, cleaned up, and mended, I didn't.
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  God. Admittedly, there are times when
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  I don't care. Or rather, I don't want to care.
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  Times when I fear that I have utterly failed at caring.
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  Deep down, I want to care deeply, but so much gets in the
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  way. I confess that I often feel
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  powerless to care, like swimming upstream against corporation and
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  culture, waste and wealth, powers and principalities.
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  God, cleanse the thoughts of my heart by the inspiration of Your
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  Holy Spirit. Give me a new mind set on Your
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  healing activities amidst A groaning creation.
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  Transform my apathy into empathy.
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  Help me to see myself within the setting You have set me as Your
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  means of grace in this place and time.
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  In my weakness lore, be made strong.
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  In my smallness be great. In my human frailness be
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  sustainer, just as we are your hands and feet.
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  O Christ, be our head spirit be our breath Creator be our heart.
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  Amen. Thank you for listening to the
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  Everyday Eurasia podcast Inspiring Faith for Everyday.
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  For more Everyday stories, subscribe on this podcast
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  newsletter snapshots. For our newsletter and further
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  information about the Eurasia region, visit our website,
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  eurasiaregion.org.