April 22 Unto These Hills Psalm 104

Today is observed as the festival of God’s creation and Native American Sunday in United Methodism. John Muir once wrote, “The mountains are fountains not only of rivers and fertile soil but of men. Therefore, shall we feel that in some sense we are all mountaineers, and going to the mountains is going home?”

I can relate to his comments. When I was growing up my parents had an Apache fold out camper and every year we would go to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, usually staying at the Elkmont and Cades Cove campgrounds on the Tennessee side of the park. We liked to go in June right after I got out of school so we could see the beautiful Catawba and rosebay rhododendrons blooming throughout the southern Appalachians. That is why I feel so blessed that you have a rhododendron outside the parsonage. That is my favorite flower.

William Bartram, a famous 18th century naturalist and devout Quaker, believed that the essence of divinity was found in plants. They were simpler, more humble creatures than animals, he thought, and closer to the essence of God. He wrote, “Perhaps there is no part of creation that exhibits a more glorious display of the Almighty Hand than the vegetable world.” Those of you who enjoy gardening or the cultivation of roses know something of what he meant by that statement. Yet Bartram was a rarity in his day.

Early American pioneers placed their faith in God and the Bible. They did not adore the beauties of nature, nor did they look up to nature’s God. They were too busy clearing rocks and felling trees and facing the ravages of disease. Life was hard, the elements fierce, and nature was something to be conquered. The pioneer looked at his surroundings and thought that resources would last forever.

Francis Asbury, the Methodist missionary sent by John Wesley to America in 1771 knew the southern Appalachians well, crossing the mountains at least forty times. In 46 years as a circuit rider he covered an estimated 275,000 miles. averaging at least one sermon a day, and at night sleeping more frequently on the ground than on a bed with a roof over his head. A trail in the southeastern part of the park is named for him.

I thought of native Americans as I hiked in those hills, visiting Laurel and Abrams falls and hiking up to spend a night on top of Mt. LeConte. One chief, after listening to sections of the Bible being read, commented, “It seems to be a good book. It is strange that white people are not better after having had it for so long.”

But there was a Christian witness in the area. When Andrew Jackson pushed through Congress the of 1830, forcing the Cherokee to relocate west of the Mississippi, a storm of protest arose. Because the Cherokee were helpless before the law, missionaries prepared to sacrifice themselves on their behalf. The government ordered the missionaries to leave the area or take an oath of allegiance to federal laws. Eleven of them refused and were sentenced to four years of hard labor. And our conference asks our churches today what we are doing in the area of risk taking mission and service? The case of those missionaries who were sentenced was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court in the case of Rev. Worcester vs. . To the joy of the missionaries and the Cherokee, the Supreme Court ruled in their favor. The land was theirs, the would not have to leave. But Rev. Worcester languished in jail for yet another year and Andrew Jackson, motivated more by politics than by human rights, made his classic remark, “Chief Justice John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it.” And the began for the displaced Cherokee, a story told in the outdoor drama “Unto These Hills,” at Cherokee on the side of the park. Perhaps some of you have seen it.

Over the years humans have distorted and misinterpreted the Biblical mandate to exercise dominion over creation, seeing it as a license to destroy and exploit. We now know that the Hebrew word translated as dominion in Genesis does not mean to exploit. Rather it means “to take responsibility for” in the sense of stewardship and well being of the realm. According to Genesis one exercising care over God’s creation is the main reason humans were created.

The second creation story in Genesis has Adam and Eve placed in the garden to keep and till the land. Those Hebrew words mean to care for and preserve. And Psalm 104, part of which was read this morning, the psalmist celebrates all of creation. The earth is God’s creation and it is filled with God’s glory. Part of what it means to honor God is to care for God’s creation.

So often we make our plans and ask God to bless them, as we will do as we spend some time at lunch today revising our vision statement. Humans are most certainly part of God’s good creation. We are called to be stewards not just of the earth’s physical resources but in ways that sustain those who are vulnerable. Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, and we craft our vision statement to show how we are going to do that.

Many scholars today see Christ as the agent of creative transformation within our world. God calls us to be stewards of all precious resources. God calls us to live in harmony with nature and with each other. God calls us to invite others to partake of this stewardship by becoming disciples of Jesus Christ and living in his way and responding to his life giving vision.

Countless Biblical references urge us to care and love not in the abstract but in the specific sense. We are to rest once in seven days, allow the land to lie fallow to restore itself, free slaves, remit debts, and be stewards in the sense of caretakers for all that God has entrusted unto us.

And we are stewards of this congregation here at Dunlap UMC as well, not just of our physical building and its needs but of the people who have needs within it in Christ’s name and the people that God expects us to invite and reach outside of our church and in our community. May we be responsible stewards of the bounty God has entrusted unto us.