—Colossians 1:15–20

This Sunday afternoon at 3:00, right before the Talent Show and the welcome for Jerry Swam Sidi and his family at 4:00, we are having a small Earth Day event for kids. I’m really stoked about this project, and I’ve enjoyed working with Lilly Osborne, Larry Connolly, Randy Cook, and his brother, Clay, to get it ready to go. Our plan is to gather with children and parents to plant four Japanese maples, as well as flowers and other pollen plants in a raised garden bed, marking the first steps towards a children’s garden. The hope is that the project will help beautify the campus as well as support vital pollinators like butterflies and bees. It’s all part of our call to be faithful stewards of the world God created. If you feel the same, we invite you to join us!

I am excited about this project also because it connects directly with my doctoral project at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. My thesis is titled For the Beauty of the Earth: Faith, Ecology, and Care, and (Lord willing and if I successfully defend it) it will be submitted and bound at the beginning of May, and I will graduate with my doctoral degree at the end of May. To that end, I ask that you pray for me.

My central idea is that it is critical to develop an evangelical framework for creation care in light of the many disasters taking place throughout our biosphere. I do so guided by a variety of theologians, from Jean Calvin to Karl Barth (no mean feat; I’m evidently one of the rare birds who see Barth as a resource for a Christian ethic of ecological care), St. Athanasius, St. Augustine, NT Wright, Francis Schaeffer, Norman Wirba, Wendell Berry, and many others.

The outline of my theological rationale is that, as fallen image bearers prone to sin, we must begin by confessing our role in degrading the good world God has given us. From there, we are able to acknowledge God’s absolute sovereign rule over a cosmos that exists as the sphere God chooses to entwine with his glory through the incarnation of the Son; Jesus is the archetype of all relationships between God, humanity, and the world. As a result, all facets of creaturely existence bear witness to Christ as God’s choice to redeem the entire created order in love (see John 3:17). Finally, just as Jesus himself was raised, God has sovereignly chosen to renew all things (see Revelation 21:5) as the site of new creation, from human bodies to the depths and heights of the cosmos. Given this, all elements of our existence and interactions with neighbor and world are destined to be conformed to and bear the image of the Son who is the manifestation of the glory of God.

Whew! That’s a mouthful, and perhaps better left to doctoral theses. You could really boil my argument down to a single passage of scripture, Colossians 1:15–20. There we read that Jesus is the center of all things, and in him, all things are destined to be reconciled to God through the gift of his blood, shed on the cross. As a result, all things (ta panta in the Greek of Colossians 1:16) are destined to bear the glory of the Son. This means that caring for the world, even in little gardens with kids getting their hands dirty in fellowship and love, matters to God. Even trees planted in the courtyard of our church in little old Bristol are destined to bear the glory of God.

So, please, come join us as we take up a note in the symphony of care and worship that is the eternal song of the people of God. See you Sunday at 3:00!

In Christ,

Pastor Sam

When we gather outside this Sunday we will say, Welcome! to the newest addition to our staff, Jeremiah Swam Sidi, and his family. Jerry and his wife, Rachel, have two daughters, Davita and Damita, and a son, David, who will join them here in Bristol when he graduates from high school in Waco this spring.

Jerry came to us from serving as Associate Director of Worship at Highlands Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. We chose him from a very competitive field to fill our new combined post of Director of Contemporary Worship and College Ministry Coordinator, and it has been a pleasure to have him and his family among us. We look forward to joyful ministry together!

9:00: In person: 107;

11:00: In person: 66;

An opportunity to join the fellowship of First Presbyterian Church is coming up on Sunday, May 23. The Session will meet with interested adults in the chapel at 10:00 a.m. before the One Worship service for Senior Graduation Recognition (with bluegrass music!). Prospective members should bring their New Member Information form with them.

If you are interested in joining the church but are unable to be with us on this date, or if you have any questions, please call Dave Welch at 423-764-7176 or email [email protected].

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