Today’s Word from Pastor Katrina
“When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2
This is a NASA image taken on April 2, 2026 by the Artemis II crew. Seeing the clouds over the ocean helps to put those words from Genesis 1 into perspective: “a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.”
Earth day was this past Wednesday, April 22nd! There’s a branch of theology called EcoTheology, that explores who we humans are as part of God’s creation, and how we are guided by that understanding, and our understanding of scripture, to care for creation. Similarly, there is a Doctrine of Creation which “points us to faithful practice as creatures… who live in a world that exists for God’s loving purposes.”
I think of this often when we observe Ash Wednesday and say, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The people of the Bible lived with a lot of dust, and in a much closer proximity to the Earth. For transportation they primarily walked on the land. They farmed and foraged for food, and had a very intimate connection with that which nourished them. It’s important to remember that context when reading scripture, staying curious about translation. For example, the word radah in relation to “dominion” might also be better understood as a royal responsibility: caring, nurturing, not exploitative.
Deacon Amy and I were at the Bishop’s Convocation earlier this week (it was a large gathering for rostered church Pastors, Deacons and chaplains), and it was fascinating to hear about the ministry contexts of other Lutheran churches– their joys and challenges of ministry. My next thought is a bit of a stretch when I compare church bodies to planetary bodies, but this is how my brain works sometimes: I’ve often wondered about whether or not there are other planets like Earth in the universe. Then a thought occurred to me recently– what if there is another planet like ours, and those inhabitants are nailing the assignment: there are no wars, there are no climate crises, everyone’s working together for the thriving of all people and creation. Sounds more like heaven than Earth, but if such a place existed, I’d want to learn more. Like the clergy at the Bishop’s convocation, I’d want to know about their joys and concerns, successes and failures as another planetary community in the universe, and how they’re able to structure life on their Earth as it is in Heaven.
One last parting insight is from Artemis crew member Christina Koch (you can watch her very moving speech here). I was struck by how much of what she said reminded me of scripture:
A crew is a group of people who are in it, all the time, no matter what; that is stroking together every minute with the same purpose; that is willing to sacrifice silently for each other; that gives grace, that holds accountable; a crew has the same cares and the same needs and a crew is inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked. So when we saw tiny Earth, people asked our crew what impressions we had, and 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… So, I may have not learned- I know I haven’t learned- everything that this journey has yet to teach me, but there’s one new thing I do know, and that is: Planet Earth, you are a crew.
Blessed and grateful to be on this mission, on this Earth with all of you!
Your humble servant,
Pastor Katrina
