A COVENANT WITH THE EARTH

21 February 2019

‘A COVENANT WITH THE EARTH’. (genesis 9:1-13)

After the first humans fell into evil, scripture tells us, Abel was murdered and there was wickedness over the earth. God decided to destroy his world and start again – like a potter.  But, we were told yesterday, he regretted his decision and today we hear of a ‘covenant’ with Noah and with the earth.  We can see this as an ancient bible story with little relevance to us or we can see it as sharply topical.  We are aware we need to make a ‘covenant’ with the earth today.  We are destroying it and in the process destroying ourselves. We have to change our thinking from seeing the earth as only there for us to exploit regardless.  Or we can see it as our home – a home that needs care, maintenance, with which we can have an ongoing ‘dialogue’.