United Methodist Church Westlake Village

Stewardship in a Broken World: Finding Hope After Easter

• United Methodist Church Westlake Village

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What's a pastor to preach after Easter? With Earth Day approaching, the answer seemed obvious – celebrate God's gift of creation during this feasting season. But any honest environmental sermon must confront an uncomfortable truth: we haven't been the best caretakers of God's garden.

Genesis establishes humanity's purpose with startling clarity – God placed us in the garden "to till it and to keep it." We are stewards, not owners, of this remarkable planet. As Psalm 24 reminds us, "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it." We're merely temporary tenants with responsibilities to the divine landlord and future generations. Yet our environmental report card reveals serious failings: accelerating climate change, massive food waste, plastic pollution, deforestation, water insecurity, and more. Even our technological solutions come with new environmental costs.

A visit to fire-ravaged Palisades reveals both devastation and renewal. What if we approached creation with greater humility, working with natural cycles rather than constantly fighting against them? Romans suggests that creation itself "waits with eager longing" for transformation – perhaps the natural world seeks renewal just as we humans do. The landscape recovering from the Woolsey fire illustrates this divine remodeling already underway.

Despite environmental challenges, hope persists. Climate awareness grows steadily, with economic benefits of sustainable practices becoming increasingly apparent. The US climate movement strengthens, particularly in population and economic centers. Most importantly, creation demonstrates remarkable resilience when given the chance – a testament to divine wisdom embedded in natural systems.

This Easter season invites us to feast on God's natural world – to hike trails, swim oceans, and marvel at creation's wonders. When we step into nature, we leave humbled, inspired, and drawn into right relationship with the world around us. Our environmental situation remains serious, but so does our capacity for hope and renewal – a fittingly Easter message for Earth Day.

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Pastor Darren:

Well, again, good morning, good to be with you today. I keep waiting for us to get some closer to summer weather, but it was cold this morning when I got going. I still have the sweater on it's spring after all but I'm glad that you guys are all here and that we're actually getting a pretty good day as it evolves here. So the big question I had for today what do you preach after Easter? All right, what do you roll around with? We feel like we culminated so well, we took that journey through Lent and then Easter and then the next Sunday. Huh, all right, I guess this just keeps going right. We're here next Sunday as well. What do we preach about?

Pastor Darren:

And I talked last week about it being a feasting season. Right, we have a fasting season in Lent about self-discipline, and then we have this feasting season where we look to where God is present and God's gifts are evident and we enjoy them and we soak. Gifts are evident and we enjoy them and we soak them up and we get inspired by them, look to share them. So I thought, all right, well, it's Earth Day this week. This would be Earth Week. I guess Earth Sunday. I could preach that there's a feast there God's gift of the natural world. Only once you kind of knuckle in on Earth Day, there's one problem. It's a bit of a bummer. We're not all that great with our stewardship of the earth. These days I'm trying to think, all right, it's Easter season, it's feasting, it's celebration. We should celebrate and run free through the earth. And then you realize, oh shoot, but we're not so good about that these days. So today's sermon kind of a mini Lent to Easter sermon, where we start in that self-discipline, looking in the mirror we need to get better at things but then land in hope, land in that feasting season. So I hope that you will appreciate that journey. I also trust most people don't necessarily disagree with the science of climate change. We just sometimes disagree over the priority of that, that other things probably need to get fixed first and we can't let other things get worse trying to fix environmental problems. So hopefully everybody can understand the value of these challenges.

Pastor Darren:

And I'll tell you too these scriptures. Actually they came with some material from the denomination, the United Methodist denomination, and I thought, oh, should I pick one or two? And I thought, no, I see a journey here. I see a journey I can take through a few different scriptures, so I hope that you can appreciate that journey as well.

Pastor Darren:

So we start in Genesis, right from the very beginning actually, and then the first early lines are midway through the second creation story, with another really important line. In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and to keep it. Genesis, we know, first book of the Bible, founding text of our Christian faith. This is how we understand ourselves, this is how we understand God, how we understand our role in the world, is kind of locked away in these two verses. We're supposed to come here and take care of this place. That's what God wants us to do. So our report card these come from a website called earthorg.

Pastor Darren:

Are you ready? You might want to gird your loins. Are you ready? You might want to gird your loins. Those of you who know what that is, don't gird your loins. Those of you who don't, don't worry about it.

Pastor Darren:

All right, here's a couple problems we got. We got global warming coming from fossil fuels. We've been hearing it over and over and over decades and decades and decades. Well, it's a real thing, right? And we think, oh, one temperature every 20 years, 30 years, is that really going to be so bad? And then you realize, well, that's an average. Some places it's going to be 5 degrees, 10 degrees, Other places it's going to be underneath what they're used to. So that average, that one degree, yeah, we can go sit down there at the beach, right, and one degree is not going to matter so much. But we need to recognize that's actually a big deal. It affects a lot of what goes on in the world that God created. Also, our fossil fuel dependence is still pretty strong. We're not really looking to move very intentionally to other ways of creating energy. Here's another one I looked up here Food waste.

Pastor Darren:

We waste 1.3 billion tons of food annually. The party is like oh shoot, we should be using that. Obviously people are in need, we should use it. But then you also think that's 1.3 billion tons that we did all the work to create and all the effect on the environment to create and then didn't use. We have to worry about biodiversity loss. Much of the health of our world, the natural world, relies on a certain amount of diversity of different plants, different animal species, being able to evolve to work with what is around. When we lower the environment in which they survive in, they start to die off. We get less of all of that and it becomes its own problem. Let's see here Plastic pollution.

Pastor Darren:

We're eating oatmeal and it doesn't taste very good. They might have put some broccoli in the oatmeal along with something else that's really really healthy, but we're eating it, are you okay? No, I don't want broccoli in my oatmeal. Hey, at some point we got to eat this stuff. 1950, we had 2 million tons of plastic that was made each year. Today, 419 million tons. So in 75 years we've gone up. What is that? 2,000?, 2,000%? Where's my mathematicians? A lot, all right. We've gone up a lot. We make a lot of plastic, and plastic takes about 400 years to disintegrate. So once it's made it's here forever. So a little bit of a problem there.

Pastor Darren:

Deforestation our world itself. The reason it can process, let's say, the carbon dioxide that I just blew out, is because we got trees that process that. Well, if we have less trees, we're processing less of that, right. So it starts to become a problem for the air, air pollution itself being a problem. Melting ice caps and sea level rise.

Pastor Darren:

Our worlds, a lot of our communities are built in places that might get underwater. Is it getting tough? I hate being so negative and yet the mirror shows what the mirror shows, you know, as we're staring at it Ocean acidification. It's a little bit like deforestation. The ocean is this big source of what allows us to process the negative things that we create in the world. Well, the more of negative things we create, the less the ocean is able to process it, and the things that live in the ocean that we need have less place to survive in. So when we have over-ocean acidification, that correction that the earth does for us, they're less effective at it. Our world can't offset the things that we do and the balance that we have with nature. I'll move faster a little bit here. Agriculture produces a big ton of our global warming, soil degradation when we oversoil, we don't produce as well what we grow. Food and water insecurity. By 2020, well, by now, over two-thirds of the world will have at least a month of water insecurity in the world. So we're getting down to where most of the world at some point is going to have a problem with knowing they have enough good, clean water to drink.

Pastor Darren:

Here's an interesting one Fast fashion and textile waste. Do you remember when you wore clothes? Functionally, that was the main reason for clothes to make sure you had something on you, so you weren't running around in your birthday suit, Some other functioning as well around the world Maybe it's getting cold, you need to be able to stay warm, all this stuff and you didn't get rid of clothes, maybe until you were finished with it, or it was ready it started to wear to the point you were finished with it, or it was ready it started to wear to the point. Now we kind of get rid of clothes when they go out of style. Those clothes got to go somewhere. So we're producing, just by culture decisions, more waste. Overfishing, another problem. And then finally, the last one Take a breather Cobalt mining.

Pastor Darren:

Cobalt mining we think, oh great, we found a new resource that we can start using and we're not as much into the fossil fuels. Cobalt is what we mine a lot for new energy, electrical energy, largely lithium batteries and stuff like that and we think, okay, we're doing great, we've transitioned. Here's a little bit of a problem, though We'll run out of cobalt too, and we're doing a bit of work trying to find the stuff we're finding. But anybody using chat GBT yet, right, are you starting to relax a little bit with that thing? You know, maybe instead of the Google search, you do the chat GBT. No, no, we're still nervous about it. All right, we're not doing it. All right, let me tell you, chat GBT, your request, your search, your question, takes about 10 times the amount of energy to produce your answer as the Google search, right? So the better we get at finding that information, the more energy it's taking. So now we got that problem too Right. At finding that information, the more energy it's taking. So now we got that problem too Right.

Pastor Darren:

Anybody see Debbie Downer on SNL. Right, it's Pastor Darren Downer. Right now. You know, wah, wah, I bring all of the bad news.

Pastor Darren:

See, this is what I ran into doing an Earth Day sermon today. I was kind of ready to talk about all the beauty of the earth and all this, and then you get in there and you're like, well, shoot, we're not necessarily doing a really good job with this role that we actually accepted, that we understood coming from God as Christians. So we wrestle with that, all right. Psalms 24, 1 and 2. I like that phrase. The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it and all that is in it. I like that. This points out our belief that it is not our world. We tend it right. We're renters down here, right, we've got a landlord God up there. We've got expectations of future generations. We're tending all of this for those future generations. It does invite questions. If we were to embrace this more intentionally, that we don't own the earth In fact we are tending it with the idea that it's God's earth, that it's the earth for the people that are ahead of us Would that change our mindset at all? Does it change our mindset? There's some humility embedded in that understanding of how the world works.

Pastor Darren:

So I got finally to be able to go visit into Palisades, post-fire Palisades. I don't know how many of you have had that opportunity yet. It's humbling. It is humbling when you start looking at the devastation. And I lived in palisades when we were working at Aldersgate Retreat Center for a couple of years, so I knew what it looked like. So I knew what it looked like. So, driving through and seeing that particular home, that particular store now burned to the ground Palisades United Methodist Church the good news, bad news they've swept everything away. Now it's all flat. So the bad news it all burned down. The good news they're really working on it, they're overworking on that church as a United Methodist, fills my heart to a certain extent, but it does kind of bring. It makes your mind think a little bit about that whole incident and all that went on.

Pastor Darren:

Part of what we don't always recognize is we kind of created a climate over there, a microclimate, that wasn't 100% natural. We brought in the plants, we watered the plants, we kept fires to a minimum and that got to grow. I don't know if you've seen pictures of Palisades 100 years ago, but it didn't look like it did six months ago. We made it look a little different than God had made it and we held off a lot of the natural cycles of creation. Now I don't want to say this was inevitable. I don't want anybody to feel that. It's been a real horror for those who have lived there and they are still living that challenge.

Pastor Darren:

But it is to say maybe we ought to be, as human beings, a little more deferential, To know more about creation and how creation works, more than just how do we keep this thing from burning, but also how do we allow the natural cycles to process in these areas? How do we create room for what we know to be true About the world that God created? How do we work with God In these areas, as opposed to fully adjusting what God created? I wonder if that culture of humility Might help us there, might help us to remember, to recognize that God's here and God built this world and God is at work in it. Let's live in step with that. Romans 8, 19 to 22. That's a long one. I won't reread it, but some of my summary in my head is what if creation, the natural world, is anticipating the same kind of transformation, living transformation that human beings are? You know how we live our lives looking for God's presence to come into our hearts, to guide us in certain ways, to feed us, to nourish us, to inspire us. What if the natural world is looking for that same kind of transformation and living in those cycles of hope and becoming all that God would want it to be?

Pastor Darren:

My drive back from Palisades yesterday, I'm coming down the 101, you know back into the Conejo Valley, and as I drive through and you guys have seen there you guys have been here, most of you way longer than I have been here, but I see the area where Woolsey just brought the fear of God into everybody's heart in 2018. And I drive through and I see it's regrowing, it's getting going again, probably looking a little bit more like God originally intended that area to look, and it warmed my heart a little bit, but it did strike me too. You know, when we get rains or fires, we push the fires out to the natural area, right, because buildings and property those have money, those cost money. So we're going to throw it out into the natural world that doesn't cost any money, which I think would bother a lot of coyotes and mountain lions and other rabbits. They might argue it has more value than that. But we push it out there and it makes me think, think, huh, is that largely, or even partly, because we know the natural world is going to replenish itself, it's going to regrow, and we trust that. We know that cycle is happening, that remodel is happening. There's a human remodel happening in Palisades. You guys have been around for a human remodel after Woolsey, but the God remodel is out there working too. I wonder what it would mean if we were to live more in step with that godly remodel, that transformation that nature is constantly working towards, moving towards. What if we were to look to be more in step with how nature works, even in times like this where it's replenishing?

Pastor Darren:

Finally, colossians when I read this one, I thought to myself okay, this is talking about creation and Christ being that essence of the divine, both of them existence from the very beginning of time. That was always here. It links right. Our writer of the letter to Colossians is linking Christ and creation, that they are of one essence. I wonder how we might do a better job of seeing that connection. As much as we understand God's loving and nourishing presence in Christ, might we also look for that in creation? So I told you it would be hopeful at the end. Here are my reasons for hope. Are you ready for hope? I'll take a little hope. I guess I got nowhere to be Going to hit Taco Bell on the way home and that's it so sure. Are you ready for hope? Good, okay, let's get a little hope here.

Pastor Darren:

The reality of climate change is starting to sink in. We're starting to go. Okay, I think we are going to have to pay attention to some of this. Raise the priority of dealing with this just a little bit. In fact, climate change action is still moving and it's getting pretty active and, in fact, we're starting to see more clearly the economic benefits of moving toward alternative sources of energy and a diversity of energy, not just a focus on fossil fuels, and that economic benefit is starting to become more obvious. Countries like Sweden are figuring out not only how to be highly environmental in the way they do things, but actually also blessing their economy with it. So we're starting to get there, and most of that action, most of the movement, is designed to be equitable and just, where all humans are treated equally and with respect. So there's that advantage that's going on. There is a strong US climate movement. In fact, where you have the majority of people and where you have the majority of our economy are the places that seem to be the most supportive of treating environmental issues with importance, with respect, and those are the ones that are understanding it and those are often the ones that are making decisions, and our economy is already moving towards more renewable ways to create energy. It's happening. It's happening, and so we can have some faith in that.

Pastor Darren:

All these are coming from the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, as well as from Oxfam, and then one more from a program called Tree Aid or a few more here. Here's the one that may bless us the most and the one that we, as Christians, should celebrate the most. Nature is resilient. The world that God created knows how to evolve, knows how to take care of itself, knows how to exist in harmony. That's the nature of the divine presence in the world. So we are blessed not only that we live in that, but that we are a people who believe in that Nature-based solutions help people and help the planet. So, even though we've got a lot of problems and we worry about whether this is the most important problem to solve right away, and we worry about whether this is the most important problem to solve right away we do know that environmental solutions help people and help the planet, and there is a growing resilience in the face of climate challenges. The more difficulties that happen, the more rainless winters, snowless winters that we have, the more people start understanding we need to do something.

Pastor Darren:

So how do I close up such a heavy kind of hmm, thanks for ruining Easter Pastor sermon? I'm going back to a season of feasting. God blesses us with this natural world and most of us who are intentional about getting out there some of us all the time, some of us now and again. We know how we're blessed by being in it. You feel nourished, you feel exercised, you feel a little more in step with the created world that is around us. You feel a little more balanced. Let's feast on what God gave us in the natural world. Let's go out hiking, let's go swim in the beaches, let's go see all that God has created in this world and allow ourselves to be blessed by it. I know that often we can lock ourselves away in our homes. Books are very good things and they stretch our minds, but the world also is a blessed thing. I'm going to do a confession of yours, and we know we're not supposed to share things people share with us.

Pastor Darren:

But I have to pick on Boyd because he's being good about taking notes over here. Boyd plays video games 4 to 8 hours every day. He is addicted to single game shooter games and he's locked away in the darkness in his comfy chair. You all know this, I know this. I'm putting it out there, boyd, sometimes it's best to have a public confession. It's the only way to healing Boyd. Lets me tease him. I appreciate it. He teases me every time. I appreciate it, but let's Tease me every time. Yeah, every, that's right. You're only doing four hours, not six. Like this guy, you'll never win. No, you get the idea. Let's get out into the world. Tech's got its value, but the natural world, creation might have the higher value. We walk into God's world. We leave humbled. We live more in right relationship with the world around us. We leave inspired to share that with the world. Let us feast on that this week, amen, amen.