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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-03-19, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015. By Pastor Gary van Leeuwen Blyth Christian Reformed Church In the creation narrative found in the book of Genesis, when God has finished creating the world, he observes that it is very good. It is interesting that he does not use the word, perfect. Perfection and goodness are two different things, although they are related. We might say something like this: the chest of drawers she built is perfect. What we mean by that is that the wood she used, the joints she cut, and the finish she applied are the best that they could be. No one else has built a piece of furniture so well. We might say that it is perfect. Goodness, at least as the word is used in the Bible, has to do more with the interrelatedness of things. I might take that chest of drawers home and put it in the bedroom, and I might find that it doesn’t quite suit my needs. It doesn’t fit along the wall I intended for it or the drawers are not deep enough. While the chest of drawers might be perfect, it is not suitable for my purposes. For me, it is not good. When God finished making the world, he declared that it was good. As the Genesis narrative describes it, God first formed the earth (the first three days of creation) and then he filled it (the last three days). When he was finished, the world was perfectly formed, and it was perfectly filled. The sea, sky and land provided a place for fish, birds, animals and people to live and flourish. The world was good. Everything had its place, and everything related to everything else in a way that was fitting and beneficial. Human beings, the last to be created, were called upon by God to sustain the earth by being his representatives, caring for all of creation in a way that was right and fitting. All of this began to fall apart, however, when human beings decided that they wanted to move out of the place God had given them. They decided that they didn’t need God. They could become the determiners of their own futures, and they could decide what was right and good. Humanity wrote God out of the picture, and from that point on things began to fall apart. St. Augustine wrote that evil is the absence of good. The first evil was this: that humanity felt that they could get along just fine without God. They broke off their relationship with God. Evil entered the world, and goodness began to disappear. We lack of goodness all around us. Here in Huron County, where we have the ability to produce far more food than we can ever eat ourselves, there are people who need to use the food bank simply because they cannot buy enough food for themselves with their limited resources to last them for the month. The elm tree has virtually disappeared, and the ash tree won’t be long in following the elm, and these species of trees were once ubiquitous in this part of the world. While we might not immediately define the loss of these trees as evil, we must say that what has happened is not good. Had we thought about it a bit more in decades past, we might have been willing to pay a higher price to ensure that wood products brought into our country were more carefully inspected before they were allowed to interact with our native trees. Children are bullied in the schoolyard in spite of the best efforts put forward by their teachers. We could fill pages with lists of things that indicate that there is an absence of goodness in our world. And, if Augustine is right in his definition that evil is the absence of good, then we would have to conclude that there is much evil around us. As human beings we seem to have very little ability to stop goodness from disappearing. We lament the state of things, and rightly so, but we also seem very unwilling to give up our own self interests to do something about it. So, people continue to go hungry, the environment continues to suffer and the world continues to struggle. Things are not good now. We might wonder where the solution lies. At one time, just over a century ago, people believed that humanity had developed far enough that we would be willing to put our minds together and solve our problems. That was before 1914, and when World War I finally concluded, people seemed stunned. Certainly the mass killings made possible by human invention would cease, wouldn’t they? But the 20th century turned out to be the bloodiest century in the history of the world. It has become evident that in spite of our best intentions, we cannot make this world good again. In fact, the harder we try, the more we seem to make things worse. So, what is the solution? The way the Bible writes the story, we need to go back to the beginning and ask the question: what started the problem? The answer: we began to ignore God. We decided to do things without him. We ignored his policies, his values and his ways. And that is what got us into this mess. The solution, then, as the Bible tells it, is to first seek renewal in our relationship with God. It seems counterintuitive, for how could having a relationship with God ever help us fix environmental problems? How can a renewed relationship with God help us confront the THE CATHOLIC PARISHES OF NORTH HURON AND NORTH PERTH CORDIALLY INVITE YOU TO ATTEND HOLY MASS. OUR SUNDAY LITURGIES ARE AS FOLLOWS: Brussels: St. Ambrose Saturday 6:00 p.m. 17 Flora Street Wingham: Sacred Heart Sunday 9:00 a.m. 220 Carling Terrace Listowel: St. Joseph’s Sunday 11:00 a.m. 1025 Wallace Avenue N. CORNER OF DINSLEY & MILL STREETS MINISTER Rev. Gary Clark, BA, M. Div. All Welcome MUSIC DIRECTOR Floyd Herman, BA, M. Ed.OFFICE: 519-523-4224 Sunday, March 22 ~ Lent 5 – “The Calm Before The Storm” Sunday, March 29 ~ Palm Sunday - Sunday School Pageant Worship Service & Sunday School at 11 a.m. MUSIC DIRECTOR Floyd Herman, BA, M. Ed. Children Welcome BELIEVE Know what you believe and why it matters. What you believe drives everything you do in your life; how you treat others, how you measure success, how you raise your kids. So what DO you believe? Who are you becoming? How should your beliefs direct your life? At Huron Chapel we want to help you learn what God’s best means to you for your life. Every Sunday @ 10:30 - huronchapel.com Youre Invited to come worship with us Sunday, March 22 Brussels Business & Cultural Centre at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday School for children 4 to 12 years of age at 9:30 a.m. Childcare provided for infants and preschoolers during the sermon. Coffee & cookies after the morning service For additional details please contact Pastor Andrew Versteeg 519.887.8621 Steve Klumpenhower 519.887.8651 Rick Packer 519.527.0173 getlivingwater.org Living Water Christian Fellowship 10:30 a.m. ~ Worship & Sunday School at 308 Blyth Rd. (former Church of God) Pastor: Ernest Dow ~ 519-523-4848 March 22: Joshua 24:15 Evangelical Missionary Church Small Groups Weekly in Blyth & Wingham “Cultivate Commitment” March 29 6:30-9:00 pm:Palm Sunday inter-church “Walk Through Holy Week” SUNDAYS Morning Service 10:00 am Evening Service 7:30 pm Hwy. 4, Blyth www.blythcrc.ca 519-523-4743 Minister: Pastor Gary van Leeuwen You’re Invited To Join Us In Worship BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH Prayer Day Service ~ Tuesday, March 24th ~ 7:30 p.m. MELVILLE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BRUSSELS Rev. Elwin Garland SUNDAY, MARCH 22 Nursery care available 519-887-9017 Worship & Sunday School - 10 am Coffee & Snacks - 11 am We invite you to join our church family in: Fridays 11:30 am - 1:00 pm ~ Soup & More 2 - a free community meal held in Melville’s basement, and made possible by the Brussels churches working together. BRUSSELS WORSHIP SERVICE AND SUNDAY SCHOOL 10:00 am All Welcome United Church Minister: Rev. Gary Clark, BA, M.Div. Bulletin notices: 519-523-4224 blythunited@tcc.on.ca Church bookings: 519-887-6377 Other concerns: 226-963-1175 From the Minister’s Study Perfection, goodness explored further Continued on page 15