Camp Hill Presbyterian Church
News

The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,

the world, and those who live in it,

for he has founded it on the seas

and established it on the rivers. (Psalm 24:1-2)

 

Dear Siblings in Christ,

 

I have always found this psalm to be a powerful reminder that nothing truly belongs to us, not even our own lives. We are made by God and we belong to God, as does every living creature. And if we take this seriously, we are challenged to see how we might care for one another, and for this creation.

 

This planet is a gift which God shares with every living creature, and we are called to care for it, because it does not belong to us. And this beautiful planet is also home, and it is far more fragile than we may realize.

 

And this planet is even something greater than our home, it is a reflection of God’s grandeur and God’s love poured out all around us.  As the poet and priest Gerard Manley Hopkins writes in his poem “God’s Grandeur”:

 

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

 

And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs--

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

 

This is a world filled with wonders and glimpses of God’s grandeur. I hope we have eyes to see the wonders all around us, and I also hope that we have hearts afire with God’s love for one another and all of creation.

 

As always, I am grateful that we share this journey together.

 

Be Blessed,

Pastor Richard E. T. Jorgensen, Jr.