During the last several weeks we have been following the intersection of news and faith from many different perspectives. One of the issues that has been receiving attention in the news almost every day is that of global warming. This morning we will be addressing global warming by looking at it through the lens of our faith.

But first a bit of a history lesson. The idea that human activity was having an effect on the temperature of the earth was first proposed by Svante Arrhenius, a Nobel prize winning chemist. In 1896 Arrhenius suggested that the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels was warming the earth. No one, including Arrhenuis himself, was overly concerned by this observation. Today is a different issue. The New York Times recently took a look at the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and their findings over several years. The first report of the IPCC was issued in 1990 and declared that there was evidence of global warming, but the cause could be from either natural causes or human activity. In their next report issued in 1995, the Panel found that the balance of evidence suggested: "discernible human influence on the global climate." Then in 2001 the IPCC said that the probability that humans were causing most of the warming of the climate over the last half century was between 66 and 90 percent likely. Their most recent report, released in January of this year places the likelihood that we are causing global warming at 90 to 99 percent. In other words – very likely.

It would seem then that reasonable doubt about the effect we are having on global warming is vanishing. Climatologists say we can expect to see several events – in temperate zones the frequency of cold days and nights will diminish as heat waves increase; droughts will become longer and more intense; precipitation will decrease in the tropics and sub-tropics, but increase elsewhere; and we can expect rain and snow storms that produce unusually intense levels of precipitation. (Above information can be found in the NY Times science section 2/6/07)

Politicians are jumping into the fray of global warming, as are community groups and activists. This church will be showing the movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," on February 28. The headlines surrounding global warming are not likely to go away any time soon, and as we confront the issues, once again, we wondered – does our faith have anything to say as we live as citizens of the world?

We start this morning by going back to the very beginnings … the story of why we came to be as God's people. The story of creation was told from campfire to campfire, generation to generation to remind humankind of who they were. Finally, in the years of the Babylonian Exile, somewhere in the late 500's BCE the story was crafted into the one we have today. Imagine living in a strange and hostile country. Everything you know taken away and the rituals of your faith … the rituals that shaped and gave order to your life … prohibited. Imagine being in a place where you can only see the present moment of hopelessness. This is where God's chose people sat – and they wondered in the words of Psalm 137: "how can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land. It was in such a time that the writers of the people "remembered" the story of how God called creation into order and shaped all that is. And so they wrote down the story – to remind people of God's awesome-ness and power … to remind them that God called them into being. The people were reminded that it was very good once before and in spite of current evidence to the contrary, there would come a day when it would be very good again.

To a powerless people these words gave great comfort and hope. The writers knew also to speak of regaining power. So, we find the words in the part of the creation story we read this morning: "Then God said, '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 on the earth. So, God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'" Sitting in the midst of the wreck and ruin of their lives, the words that proclaimed having dominion and power over the very earth itself gave great promise – there would come a day when God's chosen people would be restored to their place. Humanity has managed to distort the hope and meaning of this promise over the years. Groups that were in power claimed these words as being their God-given directions for whatever actions they chose. These words have been used to justify atrocities of nation against nation. And they have been used to justify humankind's treatment of creation – we have been told to be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over all living creatures. Perhaps in looking at the issue of global warming we would do better to hear the creation story as paraphrased in The Message: God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth." God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God's nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth."

As God's people we are called to responsible, gentle living. It starts with us. We can choose to look around and say there is nothing really we can do to change the course of global warming and such – we are only one or two in the face of so much. We can argue how much one person can do, but I would argue further that it doesn't really matter whether one person can effect change or not. Our motivation for how we live, what we do and say, goes far beyond that. Our motivation for how we are called to live and move on the face of this earth comes from our being called into being in the love of God … and as Christians, how we live is guided and directed by the life and example of Jesus Christ. We have no choice but to live responsibly and gently on this planet.

This morning we have some charges for that in the gospel text – familiar words that tend to get passed over. If we can get past their familiarity we will find these words charge us to careful living, right down to being good stewards of our resources. In hearing people complain how difficult the Bible is to understand, Mark Twain said he was more bothered by the parts of the Bible that he could understand than the parts he could not understand. We can pretend that we don't understand the beatitudes, we can try to pretty them up. There is a facetious story about the disciples reaction to hearing them that goes like this: "Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people … then he looked up at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, for your reward is in heaven … Then Simon Peter said, "Are we supposed to write this down? And Andrew asked, "Are we supposed to know this?" And James asked, "Will we have a test on this?" And Phillip said, "I don't have any paper." And Bartholomew asked, "Do we have to turn this in?" And John said, "The other disciples didn't have to learn this." And Matthew asked, "Can I go to the boys' room?" And Judas asked, "What does this have to do with real life?" Then one of the Pharisees asked to see Jesus' lesson plan and inquired of Jesus, "Where is your anticipatory set and your objectives in the cognitive domain?" And Jesus wept. (Homileticsonline; Feb 1992)

As Luke lists the beatitudes, there is no softening of the message … they are listed as physical, human conditions. Jesus is listing observations, telling the crowds this is the way it is. And in doing so, we are called to a way of life that brings about healing and restoration and hope. Just as the creation story reminds of us why we came to be, the words of Jesus charge us to living faithfully in the world. There are of course many ways we do that. This morning we are charged to live faithfully as stewards of God's creation … to live so that we are not the cause of poverty and suffering a weeping; and further to be those who work to bring about God's kingdom at all levels.

We sit somewhat in exile today … wondering if we are too late. We remember the hope the exiles found in looking back at the story of God's love in creation – and proclaim with them, it was good once … it can be again. And we go out into the world in the name of Jesus Christ, to live by his example, carefully and gently in the world, so that we work towards the creation of the kingdom of God on earth.