HOW TO DO WE CARE FOR ALL OF CREATION?

 

This last in the blog series based on John Wesley’s Manifesto gives us instructions to care for the environment. Wesley’s actual words say: “lead us beyond an exclusive concern for the well-being of other human beings to the broader concern for the well-being of the birds in our backyards, the fish in our rivers, and every living creature on the face of the earth.”

 

Of course, the Book of Genesis starts right out with environmental care as God creates EVERYTHING. Starting with verse 20 of Chapter 1, God creates the animals in the water and in the air, then the creatures on the land. It’s only then that humankind is created. However, I think caring for the environment goes way beyond caring for “living creatures” as Wesley would say. Prior to the creation of the “creatures”, God created a lot more: light and dark, land and water, earth and sky.

 

Environmental care is creation care. Because right after everything is created, humankind is created and given instruction to care for everything that had been created before. So caring for creation isn’t done because we think we should, but because we must. God was pretty specific. When God said to rule over everything, it was to care for it, not destroy it.

 

The Social Principles of the Untied Methodist Church has one entire section on the “Natural World” alone. That section starts out by saying “all creation is the Lord’s, and we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it. Water, air, soil, minerals, energy resources, plants, animal life, and space are to be valued and conserved because they are God’s creation and not solely because they are useful to human beings. God has granted us stewardship of creation. We should meet these stewardship duties through acts of loving care and respect.”

 

The entire section is very detailed, and I strongly encourage you to take the time to read it. You can find it online and in printed resources. It spends time to talk about the topics of “Water, Air, Soil, Minerals, Plants,” “Energy Resources Utilization,” “Animal Life,” “Global Climate Stewardship,” “Space,” “Science and Technology,” “Food Safety,” and “Food Justice.” This takes it beyond what we read about in Genesis, doesn’t it?

 

How good are we at caring for ALL of creation? We have to realize that everything we do puts a fingerprint or a footprint on God’s creation. We need to look at our lives and our attitudes and our activities and see how creation is affected by them. And changing just our own attitude isn’t enough. There is so much that we can do to encourage others around us to care for creation.

 

Being kind to animals is certainly part of it. Our history has many stories of how some animals were hunted to the point of extinction. I am not anti-hunter by any means; for many people, hunting is how they eat. But hunting to get ivory or skins or heads or other trophies isn’t putting food on the table for anyone!

 

We have to be kind to our earth as well. Using parts of the earth are fine, but we need to be conservative and replace what we can. Planting trees, nourishing the earth, etc. are part of caring for creation. Mining or stripping the land in other ways simply for the profit of someone and not for the benefit of humankind is not creation care.

 

“For the beauty of the earth, For the beauty of the skies, For the love which from our birth Over and around us lies, Lord of all, to thee we raise This our grateful hymn of praise.” (Hymn: For the Beauty of the Earth; Author: Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (1864))

 

There are an abundance of books and small group studies for adults and children that could be used to study creation care. “Green Church: Caretakers of God’s Creation” (for children) is one. Even Dr. Seuss has “The Lorax”, which I have to say I have always struggled to watch, even as an adult. There are multiple resources for children. For adults, the list is long as well. UMC Discipleship has a discussion of creation care and gives a list of books and other resources for adults and children. It is a great resource to read and consult.

 

As part of my appointment, I have been setting aside time just a few days a week to read through some of my stewardship books. I have many, and use a lot of them as resources for my teaching and writing, but to sit and simply read them has been something I haven’t taken advantage of. As part of that commitment to reading, I have also started posting book reviews of the books that I read. Some of them I recommend, and some I don’t.

 

As part of this blog on creation care, I have ordered the book “For the Beauty of the Earth: a Christian Vision for Creation Care” by Steven Bouma-Prediger. Most stewardship books include a chapter or a section on creation care, or caring for the environment, but I have never read a book completely devoted to it, and creation care must be a large part of any life of stewardship. I’ll let you know what I find out!