From the Pastor’s Desk

It seems that the weather now agrees with the calendar – spring is here. And maybe a little bit of summer if the temperatures of the last few days can be believed.

This is the time of year I start to hear people half seriously refer to this are as "God’s Country". The full foliage, boating on the Mississippi, driving through the winding curves and bluffs to go to Nelson and get an ice cream cone. It is easy to see what makes this area home for so many despite the winters and snow.

This is the fourth area I’ve lived in in this country. And unsurprisingly, many living in those places call that place or place nearby "God’s Country". And I suspect that no matter where I went, I’d hear the same claim.

Do we ever really think about the truth of this statement - that this is God’s country? And so it is in Maine, and Iowa, and even New Jersey. And just how often do we treat it as if it is God’s, not ours?

One of the awe inspiring moments of the Artemis ll mission was the astronauts describing their view of Earth. Mission Specialist Christina Koch described the impact "honestly, what struck me wasn't necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbingly in the universe... Planet Earth. You are a crew."

Which means of course that everywhere from Antarctica to Iran to Ukraine to the North Pole are part of a lifeboat- as well as any water between. God has provided us this lifeboat- are we treating it as such? I’m afraid that too often we take it for granted, assuming it’s here for "us" to use however we want.

I wonder: if we started talking about all of humanity being in this one lifeboat how that would start to change the ways we live, how the world operates? Would countries think again before bombing another country that is also part of their "lifeboat"? Would we decide to do something if a member or part of the crew started stripping away the boards, poking holes into the raft, or trying to take more than their share of supplies?

Like any metaphor, this can be pushed too far. But I feel we don’t push this metaphor hard enough. Whether it be people, nations, or the land and the waters and all that live upon, in, and under them, God has created (and still is creating) this lifeboat, entrusting us with its care. Not only for ourselves. Also for those on the other side of the world, and those to come after us. Whether we prefer to call this "God’s Country", a lifeboat in space, or some other name, the Creator has entrusted us with its care; both the "lifeboat" and all that lives upon it. Including other people.

What might it look like living upon this "lifeboat" if we treated it more as such that than a supersized Cruise ship intended to meet every need and as many wants as can be found? Especially if we tried to treat each other as if we are all on the same lifeboat?

It wouldn’t change everything overnight. But we could finally start to live just as God creates, God intends for humanity to live.


God's grace and peace.
Pastor Deb Kunkel