Caring for the land

by Pastor Jim Strelan

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You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly (Psalm 65:9a).

Read Psalm 65:9–13

If anyone should be at the forefront of environmental protection, it should be those who believe that the land is ultimately God’s. This reading echoes the thought of Psalm 24:1: ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.’ The land is God’s. Our land, Australia, is his, and he first gave our Indigenous people the task of being its caretakers and now to those of us who are non-Indigenous to also care for it. But the abundant, natural care for the land comes from God.

I don’t know if it still happens, but churches used to hold a Harvest Thanksgiving service each year, where the sanctuary would often overflow with produce from the land that people had brought as an act of thanksgiving. In more recent times, in urban areas, some churches asked people to bring whatever would be a good representation of their work: perhaps a laptop, a musical instrument, a briefcase or an office chair – whatever it was that contributed to them being able to make a living. It’s a good thing. A good thing to acknowledge that God is the great provider, and he crowns the year with his bounty (verse 11).

Caring for the land means acknowledging that land is a gift. Here in Australia, we experience both bountiful years and years of scarcity. We know what it is like when things flourish and how it is when there is drought, flood and fire. Sometimes we can take good things for granted, and perhaps sometimes, when things are grim, we are forced to put a greater value on the gift we have.

This psalm is simply a thank-you song. It begins with the words, ‘Praise awaits you, O God’ (verse 1). When I see how God cares, enriches, provides, drenches, softens, crowns, clothes and covers, what is left for me but to praise? We can add: because God’s gift is so precious, we will care for this gift.

Thank you, gracious God, for your care for our land. By your Spirit, give each of us the will to care as custodians of what belongs to you. Amen.

Pastor Jim is a retired pastor living on Brisbane Northside. He served in Papua New Guinea and as school pastor in several schools and congregations with schools. Jim is married to Ruth, and they have three children and seven grandchildren, who Jim loves unconditionally. He loves to share the gospel as simply and clearly as he can.

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