Feed My Sheep

Creation Sunday / Celebrating Earth Day!

April 19th 2026

Readings: Psalm 148:3-13 & John 21:1-19

Wednesday is Earth Day, but honestly.. isn’t every day Earth Day? Even for those of you who don’t like to get dirty or think the Earth is icky or scary, our faith begs us to remember that we are dirt and to dirt we shall return. We are created by the very same things that make up the entire Earth, in fact, the very same things that make up the entire universe! So, to love and care for the Earth is to love and care for ourselves. Hmm.. perhaps this gives new meaning to Jesus’ commandment to love others as you love yourself.

Every act we take, in love or destruction, in ignorance or apathy, is reciprocal. What we do to one, affects all, meaning what goes around in fact does come back around! But we don’t always feel the effects right away; in many cases, others feel the effects long before we do, which allows us to live in ignorant bliss of negative repercussions from our actions. I think often of God saying that one person’s sins can curse the next seven generations. This is something many indigenous nations believe and preach as well: that we must always live with future generations in mind, for what we do today affects them far more than it affects us.

For example, our addiction to fast fashion and technology, always trying to keep up with the latest trends, means that landfills, mostly in other countries, cannot keep up. For example, Ghana receives millions of our clothing and e-waste every week! Our need for the newest, best trends turns another country into a bed of toxic dumps and pollution that spreads sickness throughout the people, ocean, waterways, and air. For us, it may be out of sight out of mind, most people likely couldn’t point out Ghana on a map, but that does not mean there are no consequences. Everything is connected. We are all interdependent.

There is a line in the Psalm today, “God made a law that will not be broken.” This got me pondering what this law might be.. what law is at the foundation of our existence. Of course, I believe it is the law of love, but scientifically speaking, this got me thinking about the laws of nature. The law of thermodynamics, for example, tells us that energy/matter cannot be created nor destroyed. This tells us that the energy and matter which existed almost 14 billion years ago is the same energy and matter which gives us life today. HOW COOL is that!?

The current theory is that the original energy and matter started from one small point and then expanded. This fits with how I see God, because I believe God is that original source. Which means that all of creation is an expansion of God’s self – we are created BY God and OF God. Now, if God is love, then this energy that runs through all creation is love too and perhaps the very ‘law’ God made, which cannot be broken.

This feels true to me because nothing in nature lives for itself alone (that’s love, right?). We only exist because of an intricate web of life, an interdependent ecosystem. If part of the ecosystem fails, we all fail. As writer Paul Avellino says, “Living for each other is the rule (or law) of nature.” If we cannot even think of our actions having negative effects on other humans far far away, how can we begin to think about how our actions might have negative effects on other parts of our ecosystem? On bees and other pollinators.. on water quality and soil health.. on plankton and algae.. and so forth?

In last week’s scripture, we heard Jesus proclaim to the disciples, ‘Blessed are those who believe without seeing.’ He knows this is hard to do, so he presented the evidence of his resurrection to Doubting Thomas. We too have both options.. we can believe without seeing, or we can, thanks to technological advances, in fact SEE how our lifestyles have catastrophic effects from all the way across the globe. We can watch documentaries, see photographs and videos, google the scientific data and statistics; it is all at our fingertips, if we are willing to see. But beware: to see is to be transformed.

The Artemis II mission was a unique moment, especially in such a divisive time as this, in which the entire human population was able to zoom out and SEE our planet for what it is: a small marble floating in the vast darkness of space with the MIRACULOUSLY perfect conditions for life. We were all able to see the fragility of our planet and just how precious it is to take care of. From far away we cannot see lines dividing us into continents, countries or states. It is clear how we are all ONE. We have one planet and one wild and precious life.. what are we going to do with it?

Are we going to destroy each other and the rest of creation? Or are we going to get back to our roots and once again live by God’s law of love? Thankfully, since God is the guiding source, the life-giving energy of all things, this law cannot and will not be broken; love WILL win in the end. However, that doesn’t mean we can go about destroying life because ‘God’s got us covered.’ This isn’t God’s free insurance plan! Love is a verb, and love beckons us to act!

In our gospel reading, Jesus asks Peter multiple times, “Do you love me?” Which Peter answers continually, “Yes, Lord, you know that I do!” But what does Jesus tell him? “Then feed my sheep.” Jesus reminds us that love is a verb and our love is shown in action. Do you love God? Then feed God’s sheep! Who are God’s sheep? Well, certainly one another – we are all sheep in God’s flock. But we must not forget God’s LITERAL sheep. And what do sheep eat? Plants and grains. So, we should also feed those as well; and what feeds our plants and grains? Sunshine and water and healthy soil! So we should also feed those as well.. but HOW do we do THAT? Well, we can compost, stop using harsh chemicals, and pay attention to the pollution in our water ways… and that is just the start. When Jesus asks, “do you love me?” We can say yes as often as we want.. but Jesus is going to keep moving us toward action. “Feed my sheep.”

Indigenous author, Robin Kimmerer, writes, “We are the planters, the ones who clear the land, pull the weeds, and pick the bugs; we save the seeds over winter and plant them again next spring. We are midwives to their gifts. We cannot live without them, but it’s true that they cannot live without us. Corn, beans, and squash are fully domesticated; they rely on us to create the conditions under which they can grow. We too are part of the reciprocity. They cannot meet their responsibilities unless we meet ours.. this is how the world keeps going.”

Unfortunately, too many of us live in a world where there is no connection to the land. Even here in the Midwest, some children do not understand that the food they buy at the supermarket originated from the Earth. If we are not taught or exposed to the ways in which all that we have comes from the giving up of something else, we are doomed to experience the Earth as a commodity to be used and discarded, rather than as an equal, deserving of respect, gratitude, and reciprocity.

Kimmerer writes, “What would it be like, I wondered, to live with the heightened sensitivity to the lives given for ours? To consider the tree in the Kleenex, the algae in the toothpaste, the oaks in the floor, the grapes in the wine; to follow back the thread of life in everything and pay it respect? Once you start, it’s hard to stop, and you begin to feel yourself awash in gifts.”

The Earth and all that is in it, is a gift.

YOU are a gift, but like the rest of nature, you do not exist for yourself.

You are one part of an intricate ecosystem, a web of life whose law is love.

What you do affects the whole.

Your gifts are to be used for the GOOD of the other.

Do you love God?

Great!

Feed God’s sheep.

Amen.