Psalm 24:1 “The earth is
the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”
I just can’t
let this verse go by unnoticed. We’re in
the midst of a stewardship focus at church and yesterday was
the holiday I lovingly refer to as “The Feast of St. Chuck,” (otherwise known
as Groundhog Day) so a verse that so clearly and concisely provides a
connection between stewardship and woodchucks cannot be overlooked.
The
foundation for any understanding of stewardship is that God is the owner and we
are stewards, trustees, guardians of God’s stuff. While God gave authority to Adam and Eve in
order that they might tend the earth, God never handed over deed and
title. The Psalmist clearly understands
that the earth still belongs to God, along with everything in it and everyone
on it. Stewardship is not just about
money, it is a fundamental understanding of our identity and purpose in the
world. It’s not our stuff…it’s not our
money, our time, our talent, our yard, our trees, our dog. It all belongs to God and God is expecting us
to exercise the authority we’ve been given according to God’s desires.
And so,
with that foundational understanding of my role as a steward of God’s stuff, I
found myself rising to defend the embattled woodchuck. Now, perhaps you don’t live where there are
woodchucks. A woodchuck is the same
thing as a groundhog, and they live in grassy areas at the edges of woodland
areas. They hibernate for the winter and
folklore has said that when a groundhog wakes up and sets his paws outside of
his hole if he sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. That’s why there’s a Groundhog Day. But in order to survive hibernation, the
woodchuck must spend his “awake” time eating enough to
carry him through. That’s where your
garden comes in.
Woodchucks
like to eat flowers and vegetables and most anything that you like to see
growing in your garden. And so, people
call them pests. They trap woodchucks, they shoot woodchucks, and generally call down
God’s wrath on these cute, furry creatures whose only sin is desiring a bit of
lunch.
Against all
of that stands Psalm 24. Those aren’t
your woodchucks. Those are God’s
woodchucks. God made them with love and
joy and gave them the breath of life.
So, as you stand with your shotgun propped against your shoulder, what
do you say to God when God asks, “Ummm…what are you
doing with my woodchuck?”
I know it
seems silly, but I think it is down here…at the silly level…where both our sin
and our righteousness begin. Our desire
to label things as “pests” creeps its way up the food chain…first the ants at
the picnic, then the mice in the cupboard, then the squirrel, the woodchuck,
the coyote, the deer, the bear. Soon it
is the neighbor’s children, then the Native Americans. If one little thing can be seen as outside of
God’s concern, it becomes easy to add to the list of disposables. Many studies have shown that those who abuse
animals grow to abuse human beings.
On the flip
side, recognizing that even the tiniest bug was created by God and belongs to
God can easily grow to a love and concern for all of humanity. If I can learn to respect even the mosquito
that bites me, I will have a much better shot at learning to love my enemies.
The earth
is the Lord’s and everything in it. God is
the owner, we are the stewards…of the earth, of the
woodchucks, of each other.
God of the woodchucks, teach us how to love your creation and to live
within it in peace. Amen.
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