Pastor Larson’s Corner: Busy bees

For 15 years I was an active beekeeper. However, other aspects of life came along and crowded this wonderful hobby from my life. This year my daughter-in-law asked if I would help her get started in beekeeping. I agreed, and next week we will be installing honey bees in two brand-new bee hives. I am really looking forward to working with the bees once again.

You may have read or heard on the news that honey bees are going through some very difficult times these days. A combination of shrinking habitat, increased use of insecticides, and new diseases has led to a phenomenon known as “colony collapse.” Fewer and fewer colonies are able to survive the winter or endure being transported for pollination purposes.

Honey bees are so universally loved and respected that they have heightened our awareness of just how fragile our ecosystem is. They are making us painfully aware that we are limited in just how much we can abuse nature and still survive. If the honey bees can’t exist the way things are, we will have to make some changes or the crops they regularly pollinate will also cease to exist. Making major changes in the way we farm the land or take care of our lawns and gardens will not be an easy task.

People of faith have known for a long time that God calls us to be caretakers and stewards of creation, not conquerers of it. We know that the natural world in which we live has been given to us by God as a gift. In the book of Genesis, God calls us to “dress, till, and keep” earth. We can all do our part when it comes to caring for the creation. The honey bees have shown us that we cannot go on with business as usual. Now we must make some changes or risk great consequences for our future.

Pastor Larson’s Corner is written by Jerry Larson and appears weekly in the Norwegian American Weekly.

Pastor Jerry Larson retired to his cabin in Zimmerman, Minn., after 39 years in parish ministry for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In 2011 he published a book entitled “Speaking the Word Freely: Writing with purpose, preaching with power.” Contact him at jerlarson@visi.com

This article originally appeared in the May 8, 2015, issue of the Norwegian American Weekly. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.