PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

June 14, 2023

REVERENCE FOR LIFE

The Old Testament reading for June 7, 2020, Year A, in the Revised Common Lectionary  was Genesis 1:1-2:4a, the first creation story.  The text is God’s calling into being the whole world as we know it.  Genesis 1:31 says “God saw everything he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”   God did not say that some of the world, that those parts we like best, are only very good.  God said that the whole creation was very good.

The text from Genesis reminds me of a book I read while I was a student at Purdue University.  It was Albert Schweitzer’s Autobiography, Out of My Life and Thought (1933).  Dr. Schweitzer was a theologian, accomplished organist, writer, missionary to Africa, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician.  Born in Alsace-Lorraine, he was a Lutheran who became famous in the English speaking world with the publication of his book Quest for the Historical Jesus (1906, English translation 1910).  In 1952 Dr. Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “Reverence for Life.”

What caught my attention in Schweitzer’s book was his personal philosophy of “Reverence for Life.”  As the first creation story points out, everything we know was created by God and is very good.  Therefore, all life, no matter its form, is sacred.  I have found Dr. Schweitzer’s “Reverence for Life” to be an organizing philosophy which has helped me to address a variety of critical issues in a comprehensive and consistent manner.  In thinking about the major issues facing our world, I have always found it useful to ask the question “What does reverence for life mean in this situation?”

Our nation is faced today with a number of difficult and divisive issues.  Schweitzer’s philosophy of “Reverence for Life” could well prove to be a common thread around which constructive dialogue might take place.  Except for the fringe few who is only interested in destruction, chaos, and mayhem, all of the competing parties have in their guiding principles a nod to Dr. Schweitzer’s philosophy.  The problem arises when each group is rather departmentalized in their understating of what aspect of life is important.

“Reverence for Life” is not a magic bullet that will solve all of our nation’s problems.  Two persons may ascribe to the philosophy but come out on drastically different positions on a specific issue.  What the philosophy does is provide a common starting point for discussion to take place.  It calls for the parties involved to have respect and reverence for each other.  They are both children of God who has created them a little lower than the angels. (Psalm 8:5)

When the Hebrew people fled Egypt God parted the Red Sea so that they could pass through.  When the Egyptian army followed, the waters returned and the soldiers were all killed.  This brought rejoicing on the part of the Hebrews.  However, there is a Jewish tradition that at the same time God was weeping because so many of his children had died.  It was not just the Hebrews who were children of God, it was also the Egyptians.  In saving one, the other perished.

June 21^st is Father’s Day, the day we remember our earthly fathers.  It is also a good time to remember our heavenly Father.  He is like the father in Jesus’ parable who is waiting for both of his sons to come home.  Both are precious in His sight.  All life is sacred to our Father in heaven.  He is equally concerned about all of us.  May each of us appropriate Schweitzer’s “Reverence for Life” as the keystone for discussions with others.

This article was originally published June 14, 2020.