by Pastor Laura Gentry
Psalm 8
During our trip to Chile last month, William and I saw the constellation known as the Southern Cross for the first time. It is one of the most distinctive constellations because it is in the shape of a cross. Reportedly, it has been easily visible from the southern hemisphere at practically any time of year, since the time of Christ. You can see it from the northern hemisphere, but only in tropical latitudes and only for a few hours every night during the spring months. It was pretty awe-inspiring to look up at the infinite night sky from a totally different place on earth to behold a constellation we’d never seen before. It gave us a sense of the vastness of the universe.
Perhaps you’ve gotten than sense too, gazing up into the night sky or just looking out a beautiful scene in nature. Some of my relatives from Germany were visiting and they had just been at Yellowstone. It was the third time they’ve visited the national park and they say they believe it is one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Many people report having religious experiences when they are in nature. Drinking in the beauty of a natural scene can be overwhelming. It can fill you with a feeling that is hard to describe because it is so powerful. You can call it “awesome” but these days, that word is so overused it seems inadequate to simply say that it is awesome.
Well, that’s the sense that the Psalmist had when he wrote the Psalm we read today. The 8th Psalm expresses amazement: “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.” God’s glory is overwhelming—it is above the heavens. Clearly, he is looking at Creation with awe.
When the astronauts were returning to earth from their first trip to the moon in 1969, there was a radio broadcast. In it, Buzz Aldren, the second man to set foot on the lunar surface, put his experience in a Biblical perspective. He quoted Psalm 8: “When I consider Your heavens, the works of Your fingers, the moon and stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visited him?”
And among the items left at Tranquility Base on the moon, there was a silicon disc carrying statements from Presidents Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower and leaders of 73 other nations. The Vatican was invited to place a message on this disc too. What was chosen included the words of Psalm 8. So when you look up at the moon, you should remember that this Psalm is there. These powerful words have been placed there.
Yes, God created the whole universe, of which the earth and our moon are just a small part. It’s rather mind boggling to consider the work of God’s creation. Even scientists can’t fully explain this amazing universe. It is so vast and wonderful that it remains largely a mystery.
And yet, as the Psalmist declares, God created us in God’s image and is mindful of us. It seem rather bold to make this statement. I mean, why should God even be mindful of us? After all, the universe is so big and we are so small.
Furthermore, there are so many of us. How many people live on Planet Earth? I went to a earth population calculator web site to find out. Using mathematical principles to estimate the births and deaths of the planet, this calculator has numbers that are constantly in motion as it displays how many people are on earth. Last night, for example, the number was: 6,948,161,486 and this morning at 6:32 a.m. it had grown to: 6,948,327,953. That’s 166,467 people more than there were just last night!
Now how in the world does God have time to be mindful of that many people? If God spent just one second paying attention to each person it would take God over 220 years! Fortunately for us, God is able to pay attention to each one of us simultaneously. Only God could handle that job.
Yet the amazing thing is that God seems to love the job. God is apparently delighted with creation. Remember that in Genesis, God declared every part of creation God and people were declared “very good.” God has created each one of us in God’s very own image and loves us. God wants to have a relationship with us.
Now if that doesn’t cause you to be enthusiastic, I don’t know what will. The God who created our expansive universe knows YOU and is excited to spend time with you. God has crowned you with glory and honor. This is remarkable news, indeed!
But with this good news, there comes a great responsibility. Our Creator is mindful of each one of us. So that means that we, who have been made in the image of God, are called to be mindful of one another. This is more than just a hymn of praise, this is an imperative. We cannot say that we love God and then go around dismissing our neighbor. We must attempt to view our neighbors as God does.
While this may sound daunting, I think it is best approached through gratitude. You didn’t have to wake up this morning. In fact, you didn’t have to have life at all. But you you do have life and you did wake up! That in itself is a blessing that deserve gratitude. When we really acknowledge all that we’ve been given by God, we are filled with the joy of thanksgiving. Count your blessings, it will make you feel great. And then give God thanks for your blessings because it will make God feel great. Gratitude is music to our Lord’s ears. The theologian Meister Eckhart once wrote: "If the only prayer you say in your whole life is 'thank you,' that would suffice." Thank you is THAT powerful.
As we ponder our place in the universe and our identity as human beings, we must first and foremost give thanks. When we do, it opens us up to the gift that we have in one another and we begin to find more and more gratitude for those with whom we share the earth.
Gratitude will also give us deeper appreciation for earth-home God has given to us. It will make us more mindful about the ways in which we pollute and harm this good earth. In Lynn White's now-famous essay, "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis" (1967) he argues quite persuasively that Christianity bears a "huge burden of guilt" for the environmental problems that now face us. He explains that we have interpreted God’s imperative that we have dominion over the earth to mean that we are free to destroy it. The worst environmental problems, it has been pointed out, have been caused by those countries that are predominantly Christian.
Today, however, Christians of many different denominations are coming to see that having dominion may mean just the opposite—that we are to be good stewards of God’s creation and do what we can to take care of it. Christianity, many argue, is actually an eco-friendly religious tradition.
Yes, this psalm seems like a simple little song of praise that we could easily read and then forget. But when we look at it in this way, we realize how meaningful it is. Simply to follow the indications of this single text presents work enough for a lifetime. May it inspire us to look at God’s creation with awe and deep gratitude so that we will look upon our fellow human beings with love and respond that together, we may work to preserve and protect the awesome world we’ve been given by our Creator. Amen.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
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