Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Psalm 104 is one of the treasures of the psalter. This marvelous creation hymn which shows many similarities to the Egyptian “Hymn to the Aten”, the Egyptian sun god, is unique in the hymnody of Israel. It affirms God’s creation of the elements of the natural creation for their own purposes, independent of human beings. Streams are created to water the trees that grow beside them, birds nest in trees beside these streams, storks nest in the trees provided for their nesting, craggy mountain peaks are created for mountain goats, and the goats for the mountains! Day is created for mortals, night for wild animals.

The psalm stresses the value of the non-human elements of creation, independent of human beings whose creation is not mentioned explicitly but only presupposed. The mandate to care for and enhance the natural world is not mentioned as it is in Genesis 1. All the more shocking is the line in the last verse which sounds as if it was written not thousands of years ago but today: Let the sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more.

Talking about the stewardship of creation must begin with a confession that we are sinners, litanies should be said about our disdain for God’s work, about our greed, self-aggrandizement, neglect to live out the promise of the New Creation accomplished through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We live in the city that has the second most polluted air in the United States after Los Angeles. The wealth and the opportunities of our city are based on the oil industries which are largely responsible for the polluted air here. Our industries are actively involved in the exploitation of natural resources in every conceivable corner of the earth. To be sure, ecological damage is caused by the entire global human economy and its peoples. We humans created this system and it remains our responsibility before God both to reform and to manage it for the common good.

In Genesis 1 man and woman are made to be active stewards of creation. Since we are created in the image of God to mark the earth as God’s territory, humans are called to work with and not against nature so that we can remain worthy of this fragile blue planet, the earth. As we know and are beginning to experience in our own lives through hurricanes and global weather changes, our world is not passive in all of this. If we disfigure her, she will reject us and make our life hard and miserable.

If we were to enter an orthodox church we would most likely see in a central place in the apse or in a cupola above the nave an image of Christ the Pantokrator - the Lord over all creation.

Christ Pantokrator means, there is no place in the whole of the Cosmos from which Christ is absent. He fills all, with the intention of resurrecting all into newness of life. Our relationship with and to Christ is not a "me-and-God-contract." It is a relationship which enhances and affirms our connectedness to all things and our dependence on them. We are not plucked out of the world into some sort of mystical corner to be alone with God. We are with God in a New Creation. The only possible response within this holistic relationship is to fulfil our calling to be co-creators, serving the One Creator of all.
We need humility to see our place in the scheme of things and obedience to work actively according to our calling.

To be stewards of creation means to be practical. This is one of the strengths many of us have. Let’s put it to use, here at church, in our homes, schools, and workplaces.

First of course, let's be realistic. The Church cannot hope to match the power of international corporations and globalization on their own ground. Many of the global corporations have turnovers exceeding the Gross Domestic Product of developing countries. Yet people in the systems of governments and corporations do have power both to confront the evils and at the same time defend the good inherent in these systems. We ourselves as individuals have power as consumers, shareholders, educators of our children and voters. If we let ourselves be overcome by a paralyzing sense of powerlessness we both miss these opportunities and judge ourselves as part of the problem and not its solution. Furthermore, we do not have to act alone and nor should we. There are scores of organizations working for sustainable development and ecological care that we can join in good conscience and work with.

Having said all that we must take care not to disqualify our message with our lives. It's no use protesting the waste of energy that comes with life here in Houston where one needs to get in the car for a jug of milk, if we do not try to share more rides or be creative in other ways. We can't protest the abuse of resources through over-packaging unless we start to avoid Styrofoam packaged, hermetically plastic-sealed immaculate products. We can’t shake our heads at the use of paper at this church, if we do not advocate curb recycling pick-up for paper, plastic and glass. These are day to day decisions. We must take responsibility for them. We can be practical and turn this into an ecological ministry here at Christ the King Church.

Psalm 104 sings. It sings the praise of God, the beauty of the earth, the benefits of what it brings forth: Food for nourishment, wine to gladden the heart, oil to make the face shine, bread to strengthen the heart.

Let us not be discouraged.
Let us take heart and remember what we prayed: Let us pray to the Lord for those who bring offerings, those who do good works in the congregation, those who toil, those who sing, and all the people who await from the Lord great and abundant mercy. (Evening vespers litany, LBW)

Let us sing, let us toil, let us do good works. Bless the Lord, o my soul. Praise the Lord!
Amen