May 4, 2025 • 30 mins
Sacred Earth as Spiritual Teacher, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski. Series: This Sweet Earth A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: Matthew 6.28; Genesis 1.31.
Join us each Sunday, 10AM at bendfp.org, or 11AM KTVZ-CW Channel 612/12 in Bend. Subscribe/Follow, and click the bell for alerts.
At First Presbyterian, you will meet people at many different places theologically and spiritually. And we love it that way. We want to be a place where our diversity brings us together and where conversation takes us all deeper in our understanding of God.
We call this kind of faith “Spacious Christianity.” We don’t ask anyone to sign creeds or statements of belief. The life of faith is about a way of being in the world and a faith that shows itself in love.
Thank you for your support of the mission of the First Presbyterian Church of Bend. Visit https://bendfp.org/giving/ for more information.
Featuring:
Rev. Dr. Steven Koski, Rev. Sharon Edwards, Becca Ellis, Brave of Heart, Guests
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Whitney Higdon (00:40):
Welcome to worship At First Presbyterian
we, at First Presbyterian,practice a spacious
Christianity, which means nomatter where you are in your
faith journey, you belong andthere is space for you at the
table, there is space for yourdoubts and questions. We believe
doubts and questions are a giftthat invite us into deeper
conversations and a moreauthentic faith. We believe
(01:01):
diversity is a strength. Everystory is sacred and everybody
matters. We do our best to livethe spacious and radical love of
Jesus so that all might have achance to flourish in this
world. We are so glad to connectwith you in this way. We would
also love to worship with you inperson if you're ever in the
neighborhood on Sunday morningsat 830, or 10am and never
(01:23):
hesitate to reach out to us tolearn more about us or how we
might support You. I hope youenjoy this worship service.
Welcome you.
Unknown (04:46):
a prayer from the uncumga Gray also known as the
northern ute people Earth teachme stillness as the grasses are.
Stilled with light. Earth, teachme suffering as old stones
(05:11):
suffer with memory. Earth, teachme humility as blossoms are
humble with beginning. Earth,teach me caring as the mother
(05:34):
who secures her young. Earth,teach me courage as the tree
which stands alone. Earth, teachme limitation as the ant which
(05:57):
crawls on the ground. Earth,teach me freedom as the eagle
which soars in the sky. Earthteach me resignation as the
(06:18):
leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me regeneration asthe seed which rises in the
spring. Earth teach me to forgetmyself as melted snow forgets
(06:39):
its life. Earth teach me toremember kindness as dry fields
weep in the rain and Amen. We'rein
Steven (07:13):
the middle of a worship series on our relationship with
and caring for creation. Haveyou noticed how vital it is for
our well being to spend timeoutside in nature. I mean,
nature is our best therapist,physician, teacher. Nature is
(07:33):
our healer. I mean, how ironicthat that we turn to God's holy
earth for healing. When God'sholy earth is in crisis, crying
out for healing. Healing bothourselves and the earth,
involves healing ourrelationship with the earth.
(07:57):
There's an exquisite documentarycelebrating the wonder of trees,
called my passion for trees withBritish actress Judy Dench. Now
Judy Dench walks among the treeson our large rural property in
Sussex, and she's with ascientist who uses a special
(08:19):
instrument that that allows herto listen to the gurgling,
rushing sounds of water movingup through the trunk of a tree,
nourishing its branches andleaves, a sound the film
actually allows us to hear aswell. Have you ever heard the
(08:43):
sound of a tree drawing water upthrough the veins of its noble
body? Probably not. The Earthbreathes. The Earth has a pulse.
How might it change our presenceon the earth? If, if we actually
(09:04):
were able to hear the Earth'spulse? I vividly remember how I
was profoundly changed themoment I heard the the pulse of
my first child, the bump of theultrasound, when the
obstetrician said, Well, Dad,that's your child's heart. You
(09:30):
know, until that moment, Ithought I was separate from my
child, distant from the mysteryinside the womb. But I tell you,
once I heard the heartbeat, onceI once I heard the pulse,
everything changed. I was I wasconnected my my heartbeat was
(09:54):
one with my child's heartbeat.
And to this day, 30 years later.
When my child's heart breaks, myheart breaks when my child's
heart bursts with joy, my heartbursts with joy. Our healing and
(10:15):
well being cannot be separatedfrom the Earth's healing and
well being. Jesus said, considerthe lilies. Now, the Greek word,
translated as consideredliterally means, pay attention,
(10:41):
give the fullness of yourattention. And in that same
passage of Scripture, Jesuslinks paying attention, paying
attention to nature, to reducingour anxiety, the poet Mary
Oliver wrote a poem calledinstructions for living a life.
(11:03):
Pay attention. Be astonished.
Tell about it. We are so, so sofocused on ourselves that
sometimes we miss the sheergoodness and wonder of nature.
Elizabeth Barrett Browningwrote, Earth is crammed with
(11:27):
heaven and every common Bush afire with God, but only she who
sees takes off her shoes, therest of us sit round and pluck
blackberries. We are a humancentric race, aren't we? I mean
(11:51):
the earth. The Earth is 4.5billion years old, billion years
old. Homo sapiens, our tribe,have been around for maybe
200,000 of those years, I mean,a tiny fraction of Earth's
(12:13):
existence. And yet we assume, weassume we've always been here.
We assume we we will always behere. And unless we're wise, and
unless we heal our relationshipwith the Earth, we may not be
(12:35):
I'm not so sure we can be, notso sure we can be so human
centric and actually survive asa species. We've got to move
from being egocentric tobecoming eco centric, from
seeing this incredible Earth asa commodity for our consumption,
(13:03):
to seeing God's holy earth as asacred community, a living web
we get to share with all livingthings. Wendell Berry wrote, we
have, we have lived by theassumption that what was good
for us would be good for theearth. We have been wrong, and
(13:27):
we must change and live by thecontrary assumption that what is
good for the Earth is actuallygood for us, and that requires
rediscovering and recovering thesacredness of God's holy earth,
(13:48):
the description of the beginningof creation in the book of
Genesis, in the Bible, by Theway, is not science, but it's
actually beautiful poetry. Thepoet wrote that on the sixth day
of creation, God surveyed theearth. God examined the skies,
(14:10):
the oceans, the mountains, theforests, the streams, the high
desert, the Rolling Plains. Godlaughed at the centipede, the
tumbleweed, the scampering puppyin the platypus. God rejoiced in
the apple blossoms, the tadpole,the glacier and the glorious
configuration of wrinkles andneurons that make up the human
(14:30):
brain. And the poet says, Godsaw all that God has made and
saw that it was Tov me old,that's the original Hebrew. Told
me old, the original Hebrew thatwe we feebly translated as very
(14:51):
good, a more accuratetranslation. I. It is to say
that that God paid attention andGod saw all that God had made
and exclaimed, wow. You know, aneven more accurate translation
(15:14):
is that that when God took inthe majesty, beauty, beauty,
sacredness, the sacredness ofcreation, the beauty of
creation. God was so overcomewith awe that God was
speechless. The Jewishtheologian Abraham Heschel said,
(15:41):
God is not the object of ourknowledge, but God is the
catalyst for our wonder and awe.
We are to live in radicalamazement, to get up in the
morning, take in the world in away that takes nothing for
granted. To be spiritual, to bespiritual is to be amazed. Does
(16:10):
that describe your spirituallife? Maybe that's what we've
lost, a sense of reverence andawe in our souls are poor for
it, the Earth is poor for it,the environmental crisis, and it
(16:31):
is a crisis. Is a spiritualcrisis. We will not cherish and
protect what we take forgranted. We will not save what
we do not savor and hold sacred.
We will not restore and renewwhat we do not Revere. We will
not humbly serve what wearrogantly assume exists to
(16:55):
serve us. We will not heal whatwe don't recognize as essential
for our own healing. Jewishphilosopher Martin buper said
there are two ways of relatingto one another.
(17:16):
I it where the other is anobject to be used for our
benefit. You know, this is whenwe treat other people
transactionally in terms of howthey might might serve our
needs, how they might make ushappy. And Bubba says, the other
(17:39):
way of relating is, I, thou,where we see and treat the other
as holy, sacred. I mean, what adifference it makes in our
relationships when we are ableto see others as beloved
(18:05):
children of God when we actuallytreat others with respect and
even reverence. The mostimportant question we ask, we
can possibly ask the thequestion I believe that would
would transform everyrelationship you have is simply
asking yourself, do people feelimportant and valued in my
(18:33):
presence now, Just imagine, justimagine if we treated our
relationship with God's holyearth with the same humility,
respect, reverence, rather thanan IT, seeing the Earth as
(18:58):
existing to serve our needs.
What if we saw God's holy earthas a sacred thou to be revered
as Chief Seattle said, the Earthdoesn't belong to us. We belong
to the earth. What if weactually asked, Does, does God's
(19:20):
holy earth feel valued,respected, revered in our
presence? You know, in thesacrament of Holy Communion,
Jesus holds up the bread. Thebread a gift from the earth. And
(19:42):
the first thing Jesus does is hegives things. I think gratitude
inspires reverence. I. Imagineadopting a spiritual practice
expressing gratitude for oneaspect of creation every day for
(20:07):
a whole year. Every day for awhole year. One aspect of
creation, the rising of the sun,the wind in our hair, the grace
of the birds in the air, thebeauty of the flowers, the
salmon that swim in the stream,the stillness of the trees, the
(20:27):
steadiness of the rocks, ourreverence will deepen and we'll
be reminded how deeply,intimately connected we are to
creation. You know, I love tokayak, one of my favorite things
(20:50):
in the world to do. And I wonderwhat would happen if, before we
got in our kayaks, it became ourspiritual practice to pay
attention, really, really payattention to come, to come to
that place of WoW, and then givethanks for the gift of the
(21:15):
river. What would happen if wedidn't see the river as simply
there to serve us and ourpleasure, but made it a
spiritual practice to bow to theriver with reverence. What might
happen if, before we asked theriver to heal us, which I don't
(21:39):
know about you, it always does,what if we listen for the
river's Heartbeat, asking how wemight contribute to her healing?
One more poem to finish, windowberries, the peace of wild
(22:06):
things, when despair for theworld grows in me and I wake in
the night, at the least soundand fear of what my life and my
children's lives may be, I golie down where the wood Drake
(22:30):
rests in the beauty of the waterand the great Heron feeds, I
come into the presence of stillwater, and I feel above the day
Blind stars waiting with theirlight for a time, I rest in the
(22:57):
grace of the world and am free.
Friends, take a moment open yourheart to the sheer goodness, the
(23:25):
WoW of creation. Let it healyou,
and consider what you might dotoday to love and heal God's
(26:45):
holy earth. May it be so,God looked over all that God had
(28:12):
created, and God was speechless.
Friends, pay attention, beastonished, take nothing for
granted, recover a sense ofreverence and awe for God's holy
(28:34):
earth. Let the earth heal you,that you might remember our
first and the holiest calling isto love and heal the earth. May
it be so.
Whitney Higdon (28:56):
Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope
you enjoyed this worshipservice. If you would like to
make a donation helping makethese broadcasts possible or
support the many ways. First,Presbyterian seeks to serve our
community. You can make afinancial gift online at bend
fp.org, every week, we hear fromsomeone thanking us for the gift
(29:16):
of these broadcasts and what adifference they make. Your
support makes that possible. Ourchurch is committed to reach
beyond our walls, bringing hopewhere there is despair and love
where it is needed the most.
Your generous support helps usto be generous in love. Go to
our website, bend fp.org, andclick on the link. Give online.
Your support is reallyappreciated and makes a
(29:39):
difference in people's lives.
Thanks again. I hope to see younext week. You.
Welcome to worship At First Presbyterian
we, at First Presbyterian,practice a spacious
Christianity, which means nomatter where you are in your
faith journey, you belong andthere is space for you at the
table, there is space for yourdoubts and questions. We believe
doubts and questions are a giftthat invite us into deeper
conversations and a moreauthentic faith. We believe
(01:01):
diversity is a strength. Everystory is sacred and everybody
matters. We do our best to livethe spacious and radical love of
Jesus so that all might have achance to flourish in this
world. We are so glad to connectwith you in this way. We would
also love to worship with you inperson if you're ever in the
neighborhood on Sunday morningsat 830, or 10am and never
(01:23):
hesitate to reach out to us tolearn more about us or how we
might support You. I hope youenjoy this worship service.
Welcome you.
Unknown (04:46):
a prayer from the uncumga Gray also known as the
northern ute people Earth teachme stillness as the grasses are.
Stilled with light. Earth, teachme suffering as old stones
(05:11):
suffer with memory. Earth, teachme humility as blossoms are
humble with beginning. Earth,teach me caring as the mother
(05:34):
who secures her young. Earth,teach me courage as the tree
which stands alone. Earth, teachme limitation as the ant which
(05:57):
crawls on the ground. Earth,teach me freedom as the eagle
which soars in the sky. Earthteach me resignation as the
(06:18):
leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me regeneration asthe seed which rises in the
spring. Earth teach me to forgetmyself as melted snow forgets
(06:39):
its life. Earth teach me toremember kindness as dry fields
weep in the rain and Amen. We'rein
Steven (07:13):
the middle of a worship series on our relationship with
and caring for creation. Haveyou noticed how vital it is for
our well being to spend timeoutside in nature. I mean,
nature is our best therapist,physician, teacher. Nature is
(07:33):
our healer. I mean, how ironicthat that we turn to God's holy
earth for healing. When God'sholy earth is in crisis, crying
out for healing. Healing bothourselves and the earth,
involves healing ourrelationship with the earth.
(07:57):
There's an exquisite documentarycelebrating the wonder of trees,
called my passion for trees withBritish actress Judy Dench. Now
Judy Dench walks among the treeson our large rural property in
Sussex, and she's with ascientist who uses a special
(08:19):
instrument that that allows herto listen to the gurgling,
rushing sounds of water movingup through the trunk of a tree,
nourishing its branches andleaves, a sound the film
actually allows us to hear aswell. Have you ever heard the
(08:43):
sound of a tree drawing water upthrough the veins of its noble
body? Probably not. The Earthbreathes. The Earth has a pulse.
How might it change our presenceon the earth? If, if we actually
(09:04):
were able to hear the Earth'spulse? I vividly remember how I
was profoundly changed themoment I heard the the pulse of
my first child, the bump of theultrasound, when the
obstetrician said, Well, Dad,that's your child's heart. You
(09:30):
know, until that moment, Ithought I was separate from my
child, distant from the mysteryinside the womb. But I tell you,
once I heard the heartbeat, onceI once I heard the pulse,
everything changed. I was I wasconnected my my heartbeat was
(09:54):
one with my child's heartbeat.
And to this day, 30 years later.
When my child's heart breaks, myheart breaks when my child's
heart bursts with joy, my heartbursts with joy. Our healing and
(10:15):
well being cannot be separatedfrom the Earth's healing and
well being. Jesus said, considerthe lilies. Now, the Greek word,
translated as consideredliterally means, pay attention,
(10:41):
give the fullness of yourattention. And in that same
passage of Scripture, Jesuslinks paying attention, paying
attention to nature, to reducingour anxiety, the poet Mary
Oliver wrote a poem calledinstructions for living a life.
(11:03):
Pay attention. Be astonished.
Tell about it. We are so, so sofocused on ourselves that
sometimes we miss the sheergoodness and wonder of nature.
Elizabeth Barrett Browningwrote, Earth is crammed with
(11:27):
heaven and every common Bush afire with God, but only she who
sees takes off her shoes, therest of us sit round and pluck
blackberries. We are a humancentric race, aren't we? I mean
(11:51):
the earth. The Earth is 4.5billion years old, billion years
old. Homo sapiens, our tribe,have been around for maybe
200,000 of those years, I mean,a tiny fraction of Earth's
(12:13):
existence. And yet we assume, weassume we've always been here.
We assume we we will always behere. And unless we're wise, and
unless we heal our relationshipwith the Earth, we may not be
(12:35):
I'm not so sure we can be, notso sure we can be so human
centric and actually survive asa species. We've got to move
from being egocentric tobecoming eco centric, from
seeing this incredible Earth asa commodity for our consumption,
(13:03):
to seeing God's holy earth as asacred community, a living web
we get to share with all livingthings. Wendell Berry wrote, we
have, we have lived by theassumption that what was good
for us would be good for theearth. We have been wrong, and
(13:27):
we must change and live by thecontrary assumption that what is
good for the Earth is actuallygood for us, and that requires
rediscovering and recovering thesacredness of God's holy earth,
(13:48):
the description of the beginningof creation in the book of
Genesis, in the Bible, by Theway, is not science, but it's
actually beautiful poetry. Thepoet wrote that on the sixth day
of creation, God surveyed theearth. God examined the skies,
(14:10):
the oceans, the mountains, theforests, the streams, the high
desert, the Rolling Plains. Godlaughed at the centipede, the
tumbleweed, the scampering puppyin the platypus. God rejoiced in
the apple blossoms, the tadpole,the glacier and the glorious
configuration of wrinkles andneurons that make up the human
(14:30):
brain. And the poet says, Godsaw all that God has made and
saw that it was Tov me old,that's the original Hebrew. Told
me old, the original Hebrew thatwe we feebly translated as very
(14:51):
good, a more accuratetranslation. I. It is to say
that that God paid attention andGod saw all that God had made
and exclaimed, wow. You know, aneven more accurate translation
(15:14):
is that that when God took inthe majesty, beauty, beauty,
sacredness, the sacredness ofcreation, the beauty of
creation. God was so overcomewith awe that God was
speechless. The Jewishtheologian Abraham Heschel said,
(15:41):
God is not the object of ourknowledge, but God is the
catalyst for our wonder and awe.
We are to live in radicalamazement, to get up in the
morning, take in the world in away that takes nothing for
granted. To be spiritual, to bespiritual is to be amazed. Does
(16:10):
that describe your spirituallife? Maybe that's what we've
lost, a sense of reverence andawe in our souls are poor for
it, the Earth is poor for it,the environmental crisis, and it
(16:31):
is a crisis. Is a spiritualcrisis. We will not cherish and
protect what we take forgranted. We will not save what
we do not savor and hold sacred.
We will not restore and renewwhat we do not Revere. We will
not humbly serve what wearrogantly assume exists to
(16:55):
serve us. We will not heal whatwe don't recognize as essential
for our own healing. Jewishphilosopher Martin buper said
there are two ways of relatingto one another.
(17:16):
I it where the other is anobject to be used for our
benefit. You know, this is whenwe treat other people
transactionally in terms of howthey might might serve our
needs, how they might make ushappy. And Bubba says, the other
(17:39):
way of relating is, I, thou,where we see and treat the other
as holy, sacred. I mean, what adifference it makes in our
relationships when we are ableto see others as beloved
(18:05):
children of God when we actuallytreat others with respect and
even reverence. The mostimportant question we ask, we
can possibly ask the thequestion I believe that would
would transform everyrelationship you have is simply
asking yourself, do people feelimportant and valued in my
(18:33):
presence now, Just imagine, justimagine if we treated our
relationship with God's holyearth with the same humility,
respect, reverence, rather thanan IT, seeing the Earth as
(18:58):
existing to serve our needs.
What if we saw God's holy earthas a sacred thou to be revered
as Chief Seattle said, the Earthdoesn't belong to us. We belong
to the earth. What if weactually asked, Does, does God's
(19:20):
holy earth feel valued,respected, revered in our
presence? You know, in thesacrament of Holy Communion,
Jesus holds up the bread. Thebread a gift from the earth. And
(19:42):
the first thing Jesus does is hegives things. I think gratitude
inspires reverence. I. Imagineadopting a spiritual practice
expressing gratitude for oneaspect of creation every day for
(20:07):
a whole year. Every day for awhole year. One aspect of
creation, the rising of the sun,the wind in our hair, the grace
of the birds in the air, thebeauty of the flowers, the
salmon that swim in the stream,the stillness of the trees, the
(20:27):
steadiness of the rocks, ourreverence will deepen and we'll
be reminded how deeply,intimately connected we are to
creation. You know, I love tokayak, one of my favorite things
(20:50):
in the world to do. And I wonderwhat would happen if, before we
got in our kayaks, it became ourspiritual practice to pay
attention, really, really payattention to come, to come to
that place of WoW, and then givethanks for the gift of the
(21:15):
river. What would happen if wedidn't see the river as simply
there to serve us and ourpleasure, but made it a
spiritual practice to bow to theriver with reverence. What might
happen if, before we asked theriver to heal us, which I don't
(21:39):
know about you, it always does,what if we listen for the
river's Heartbeat, asking how wemight contribute to her healing?
One more poem to finish, windowberries, the peace of wild
(22:06):
things, when despair for theworld grows in me and I wake in
the night, at the least soundand fear of what my life and my
children's lives may be, I golie down where the wood Drake
(22:30):
rests in the beauty of the waterand the great Heron feeds, I
come into the presence of stillwater, and I feel above the day
Blind stars waiting with theirlight for a time, I rest in the
(22:57):
grace of the world and am free.
Friends, take a moment open yourheart to the sheer goodness, the
(23:25):
WoW of creation. Let it healyou,
and consider what you might dotoday to love and heal God's
(26:45):
holy earth. May it be so,God looked over all that God had
(28:12):
created, and God was speechless.
Friends, pay attention, beastonished, take nothing for
granted, recover a sense ofreverence and awe for God's holy
(28:34):
earth. Let the earth heal you,that you might remember our
first and the holiest calling isto love and heal the earth. May
it be so.
Whitney Higdon (28:56):
Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope
you enjoyed this worshipservice. If you would like to
make a donation helping makethese broadcasts possible or
support the many ways. First,Presbyterian seeks to serve our
community. You can make afinancial gift online at bend
fp.org, every week, we hear fromsomeone thanking us for the gift
(29:16):
of these broadcasts and what adifference they make. Your
support makes that possible. Ourchurch is committed to reach
beyond our walls, bringing hopewhere there is despair and love
where it is needed the most.
Your generous support helps usto be generous in love. Go to
our website, bend fp.org, andclick on the link. Give online.
Your support is reallyappreciated and makes a
(29:39):
difference in people's lives.
Thanks again. I hope to see younext week. You.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.