A look into Rosi’s world - Psalm 24:1-2

Sermon for Sunday 30/04/06 @ 1045am

Occasion: World Church Sunday & Christening of Miss Rosalind Elizabeth Cooper
 

When I visited Rachel and Matt to plan today’s service, the house was full and fizzing with activities and conversation. There were Alexandra, Isobel, Emely, Ryan, Louise and Keith, Sarah and of course Rachel and Matt. Rosi was sleeping upstairs. Ian and Kate couldn’t be with us that morning; but they would be pleased to know that they were very well represented. It was an interesting morning, but a challenging one, as our conversation was every now and again interrupted by Alexandra, Isobel, Emely and Ryan who, not knowing exactly what we were talking about, wanted to take part in the planning of this day. Then all of a sudden they brought my attention to Rosi’s world, there in front of us.

On this World Church Sunday I want to share a few things about Rosi’s world; which consists of a rotating chair on which are fixed toys which represent things you find in the real world out there: a crab, an octopus, a sea lion, a lobster, a frog and a ship. These are some of the things Rosi sees everyday. She touches them and plays with them. Fixed on Rosi’s world there is a little mirror from which she can see what is happening behind her. So Alexandra and Isobel cannot get away with anything; playing or fighting which like all children, they occasionally do, because Rosi is looking at them. On the chair there is a button which, once pressed, produces a song, ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star how I wonder what you are’. So you can see why I was fascinated by Rosi’s interesting world?  

But what riveted me was that Rosi’s world was given to her by Emely her cousin. A few years ago Rosi’s world was Emley’s world. I watched Emely enjoy once again pressing the button to produce the music. Clearly not only did she enjoy having that world when it was hers, but she still does. Yet she knows that the world now belongs to Rosi. At this point I asked Sarah and Rachel whether Emely had ever wanted her world back. The answer was no.

In the book ‘Best friends, worse enemies’, which I borrowed from Stella when she spoke to us in Guilds about her teaching experience, there is a story of two girls, very good friends, one American and another Vietnamese. The American girl was commenting on how she had to wait ages for her Vietnamese friend to finish a meal because she had to eat everything on her plate. In her culture, in the Vietnamese culture, it is disrespectful to waste things like food. And she added: ‘Americans don’t associate any guilt with buying something, throwing it away, and then buying more’.

Rosi’s world, the world she received from Emely and hopefully the world she will handover to some other child; has a message for me and I hope for you as well, that we should feel guilty when we buy things, throw them away, and then buy more.

Rosi’s world, the world she received and one day will pass on, and the comment by the American girl have a biblical support: Psalm 24: 1-2 reminds us that this world is not ours, but the Lord’s. I don’t think we humans have really understood what this means. It means among other things that we cannot be arrogant about our wealth and possessions; it means that every day we should recognise God as the only owner of our world and thank him for entrusting it to us. But the most important implication of all this is that we should look after it for God and for the generations which are coming after us. Imagine if Emely had broken her world and thrown it away. Rosi wouldn’t be using it today. I heard a frightening comment the other week that if Chinese and Indians, the two fastest growing economies in the world today, use their cars as we do in the west, we shall be in serious trouble; not only do we not have enough reservoirs of oil to go round but in any case we shouldn’t be able to breathe. Do you know what the Chinese and Indians might be saying? If the West can have all these cars, why can’t we have them if we can afford them? Globally we are using our resources as if there is no tomorrow. Let Emely and Rosi teach us that our children and grand children expect us to handover to them a world that is still functioning; not a broken one.

This is what the first Letter of Paul to Timothy 6:17-18 reminds us: first Paul says to Timothy: ‘Command those who are rich in the things of this life not to be proud, but to place their hope, not in such an uncertain things as riches, but in God, who generously gives us everything for our enjoyment’. Yes! not to be proud or arrogant. In other words there is nothing we have that has not been given to us by God. And this is why we are called to put all our hope in the God who has given those things to us. The second thing is this: ‘Command them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share with others’. Because the world is God’s world it is to be shared by all the people he created.

Consider how do we relate to our world? How do we shop; where and how often do we go on holiday; how much food we eat, and what do we do with our clothes? So as you remember this day think of Rosi’s inherited world, think of the world God has given to us, think also what we can do in this world so that it will be a safe and good world for our children and grandchildren. God bless you

By RevPaul Nzacahayo

© 2006