The Neighborhood Podcast

"So Glad You Could Make It" (February 8, 2026 Sermon)

• Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

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Preaching: Dylan Lewellyn

What if “so glad you made it” isn’t the finish line, but the starting bell? We open with Genesis 2 and Revelation 21, then move through a seminary walk, a well-timed lyric, and a fragile cat to uncover a deeper truth: our place in the garden is not ownership, it’s guardianship. Instead of lingering on survival, we pivot to responsibility—tilling and keeping, serving and guarding, receiving and returning.

We talk honestly about how “dominion” became a license for harm, and why the text actually points us toward devotion and restraint. The story of The Little Monk and his cat exposes how even the smallest life bears the weight of our choices. From oil-choked seas to throwaway habits, we name the wounds without despairing. Then we reach for practices that heal: consuming less, restoring habitats, honoring limits, and treating creatures as neighbors rather than resources. Along the way, we connect sacrament to soil—baptism’s waters to streams, bread and cup to fields and vines—so grace is no longer abstract but rooted in living systems.

Hope threads through every moment. Revelation’s promise that God makes all things new does not excuse waste; it energizes repair. We offer two invitations: delight in creation’s goodness and take up the daily duty of care. Learn your place’s names, mend what you can, and make choices that let others live. If only humans have sinned and yet all nature suffers, then our repentance must be ecological and communal.

Listen, reflect, and then act in your own watershed and neighborhood. If this conversation moves you, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves the outdoors, and leave a review with one commitment you’ll make to tend your corner of the garden.

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SPEAKER_00:

Good morning. Please join me in the prayer for illumination. God most high, illuminate the darkest corners of our mind. Brighten the darkest corners of your creation. May we receive your word and be transformed, enlightened, and bettered by it. In your name we pray. Amen. Today's scripture reading, first scripture reading, is from Genesis chapter 2, verses 4 through 9, 15, and 18 through 22. Hear now the word of the Lord. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground, but a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole face of the ground. Then the Lord God formed men from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for the food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper as his partner. So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field. But for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept. Then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God.

SPEAKER_01:

The second lesson today comes from the book of Revelation, chapter 21, verses 1 through 7. Listen for the word of the Lord. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God. They will be his peoples, and God Himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away. And the one who was seated on the throne said, See, I am making all things new. Also he said, Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true. Then he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. Holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God. Friends, I'm so glad you made it. Please join me in prayer. Almighty God, great creator and author of our existence, may the meditations of our hearts and our minds be pleasing to your sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. Amen. Most of you know that I'm in seminary right now at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. And I believe there's a running joke that, like with many things, when you're in seminary, you mention it as many times as you can. Jokes notwithstanding, I'm in seminary. And in one of my classes, we have some pretty difficult assignments. Just last week, I was reflecting on Psalm 51. That was the assignment. Reflect on Psalm 51. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love. Wash me according to my iniquities, for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Indeed, I was born guilty. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. That will be relevant in just a moment, I promise. On to the story. Last semester in the first half of this class, I was completing one of these difficult assignments, and I took a 15-minute walk around my yard to reflect on the beauty of nature. That was the assignment. Reflect on the beauty of nature. As per usual, when I'm taking walks, I had my headphones on, listening to music as I enjoyed the breeze, watching the branches dance in the wind, watching the grass bow to God as the wind swept above. While walking, I passed a row of trees that accompany one of our property lines, and I stopped for a moment to do the assignment to reflect on the beauty of nature. At this moment a lyric played. It was perfectly timed, as most things with God are. The lyric belongs to a song from which the sermon derives its name. And to save you a moment from checking the bulletin, the song is entitled So Glad You Made It by the band Fantastic Cat, which is a fantastic name. As I stared at the tree line and reflected upon these trees that had watched me grow up, these trees that our cats had climbed, and I would always panic as to how they would get back down from these trees. Trees that my best friend and I ran through and explored and we tried to climb ourselves and collected sticks for bonfires. Trees that I didn't quite understand how much they meant to me until I stood there in otherwise holy silence. As these words echoed in my ear, and don't worry, I'm not, I'm not gonna sing it. Fell asleep in a flower bed with rows of roses round my head, and oh my God, so glad you made it. Oh my god, I'm so glad you made it. When I first heard this song about a year ago, the song meant something else to me entirely. Just as this sermon was planned with a different meaning. When I first began planning this sermon and heard this song, I meant to make it about the stories of survival. Stories that are about hurt and about pain, about all that we have endured, and stories that are getting more and more common by the day. And I realized my last sermon was also kind of a downer, so I decided not to do that. I wanted to communicate how glad I am, and how glad our Creator is that you all have made it through all the hard times. Like many things in life, the sermon did not stay the same once I actually began to prepare it. Although it is still important to remember that our God has given you the strength to get through every dark night. The main focus here is the work of creation that we are all called to do. Our first reading was almost certainly familiar to everyone here. Another account of the creation, as subtitled by the NRSV. It begins with a slightly different telling as to how the earth was formed, that God created the earth and the heavens and the earth was barren, God brought forth a stream that would spread water across the globe, and then from the dust of the ground and the breath of life, God formed the first human. First human was placed in the garden and was commanded to till and keep Eden. We know the rest of the story, and not just because Doug read it to us. God determined the first human needed help, second human was formed, the second human was deceived to disobey a command given to the first human, so on and so forth. I am being intentionally vague about the gender here because that's not the point. The point that I'm pulling from Genesis 2 is that we were placed in the garden for a reason. And that reason is not to dig oil from the ground. That reason is not to produce mountains of waste that we then pollute the garden with. That reason is not to lay claim to the land or wage war over land, resources, or ideologies. The reason is certainly not to kill or oppress people who may differ from us in country of origin, religious affiliation, gender, sexuality, or political opinions. In fact, we see just a few chapters later exactly how God feels about a person killing their sibling. Humanity was given dominion over animals in Genesis 2, but if we flip back a page, we see that the first creation story, the seas, plants, and animals were all created before humanity. Read a book last month for seminary. Remember that I'm in seminary? The Little Monk by Harry Farah is a relatively short read that covers the life of a weak child plagued by illness that grows up and eventually decides to become a monk. About that time he finds a kitten that miraculously lives throughout the entire book, despite the intense struggles that both the little monk and his cat, Perr, go through. When he finds Perr, she's incredibly weak, so hungry that she can't even meow and hurt. And yet, even in such a broken state, you could tell that she was proud to be a cat. She had never wanted anything more. I'm sorry, she knew that was God's purpose for her. She had never wanted to be anything more than an ordinary day-by-day cat, man's friendly companion. And after he takes care of her hurt paw and gets her some milk, the little monk becomes overwhelmed. He was seized by the awful knowledge of what the fall in the Garden of Eden had done to even the smallest of God's innocent creatures. Please forgive me, he said quietly to her. Then he whispered to all of the animals of the world, forgive me. I can't be vegetarian. But if there ever was a convincing argument, this would be the one. Friends, we were not created to subject animals to the torture that so many regularly go through. We were not created to spill oil upon the land of the sea, just as ducks, penguins, other waterfowl, and sea creatures were not created to be covered in oil, or to live with trash that's been discarded into the sea. And we most certainly were not created to destroy God's creation, including the children of God's creation, you, me, and every life wheresoever dispersed. We were called to join in on creation, not to attempt to undo it. I like patterns, and I found it very fitting that our second reading should be the second to last chapter of the last book, given that we just did the second chapter of the first book. And how wonderful is it that this pattern reading should begin with a discussion of the new heaven and the new earth. The revelation of John saw the end times, but he also saw a renewal of all things. Earth would be done away with, and a new earth with a new Jerusalem, a new garden, would be brought forth and created. Sin and death that were introduced by the betrayal in Eden would be done away with, and God will wipe every tear from our eyes. God will make all things new, and we will dwell in the new earth and new heaven with God once more. Our thirst will be clenched, quenched by the waters of life, and all creation will rejoice. See that I am making all things new, God has said from his throne. Our creator is a renewing creator, as we see time and time again in Scripture. A covenant-making God is our God, and our God renews our covenant in so many ways. In the living waters of creation we are baptized. By consuming the product of wheat grown from the earth, drinking the juice from the grapes of the vine, we are receiving the body and blood of Christ. In all of creation, God is present. And we are called to protect that creation and join in. So today, friends, I invite you to do two things. First, delight with our Creator, and join with me in saying, Oh my God, I am so glad you made it. Second, and perhaps more importantly, I ask you to remember our role in creation. We were created to be tenders of the garden, to plow the fields, to plant the seeds, to take only that which we need to live, and nurture the rest so that it can do its part in creation. Remember that only humanity has sinned, and yet all of nature has suffered. The parents among our congregation know the beauty in joining in creation, even if it is a perilous path at times. And those among us who are not are still called to join in the community during baptism to protect, nurture, and teach the next generation about God. The work of creation is not done until Christ returns to make all things new again. But until then we can rest in knowing that our God is a creating God, and we are called to be a part of God's creation. By the hyssop we are cleansed. By frankincense, we bless and sacrifice. By oil we are anointed, and by water we are washed, and born anew into a family of creation. We may have been born a sinner, we may have sinned time and time again. It is only to God that we will answer, and we can rest in peace of knowing that our God is a loving creator, and that even though we stray time and time again, the beautiful creation of God is waiting to cleanse us. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. May all of the children of God's beloved creation say, Amen.