Monarch Butterflies and the church.

 So I just can't hold it in any longer. I have GOT to rant a little. I am sick over the news that the monarch butterfly is on the endangered species list. I am so sorry little flying flower that we care so little for you. 

But here is what makes me even sicker. I have felt this for years but as a pastor of a church have attempted to be polite and keep my discussions within the confines of the council meetings. I am no longer a pastor of a church so listen up! Here I go!

I am devastated that the church, the bride of Christ, the loud proclaimer of worshiping God the creator, doesn't give a snap about the monarch butterfly or any other creature that is dying. How can I say that? Simple. Look at the lawns of most churches. They are pristine. They have been sprayed with chemicals to kill the very "weeds" that pollinators live off of. Did you know that without milkweed we will have no monarch butterflies? I have heard people ask why we don't see the lightening bugs like we used to. Because people poison the ground in which they live.

If my daughter brought home a picture she had drawn, I proudly hung it on the refrigerator. I still have some of the things my now 38 year old daughter made as a child. If I had crumbled them up and carelessly tossed them in the garbage most people would have labeled that as a lack of love and caring for my child. And they would have been right.

But church, your Lord, the one you claim to love, has created a wondrous masterpiece for you. Each time you poison it, each time you add more black top or cut down another  healthy tree, you show disregard for what your Creating God has given you. And you don't seem to care. Why? Why don't you care? Why do you insist on destroying lightening bugs, and monarch butterflies with poison?

I expect this behavior from businesses that only have dollars and cents on the brain. They make no claim of love for God, creation, or humanity.

 But you church? Why? How dare you sing "This Is My Father's World" or "For the Beauty of the Earth?" How dare you?

There, I have said it. 

Lord, hear my prayer.