SOCIAL PRINCIPLES #1 – THE NATURAL WORLD

            I thought I’d spend some time in my weekly blogs talking about the United Methodist Social Principles. The first section deals with The Natural World, with sub-sections of:

• ·         Water, Air, Soil, Minerals, Plants
• ·         Energy Resources Utilization
• ·         Animal Life
• ·         Global Climate Stewardship
• ·         Space
• ·         Science & Technology
• ·         Food Safety
• ·         Food Justice

            It may seem unusual to discuss Social Principles in a stewardship blog, but I believe it’s not unusual at all! When I’ve presented workshops on stewardship and talk about scripture, I frequently say that it’s my belief that the first stewardship scripture in the bible is Genesis 1:1. If that is true, then the entire first chapter, titled “In the Beginning” of Genesis, encapsulates this section of the Social Principles. I have copied some of that first chapter here, dealing with the natural world.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds...” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

            If we truly are Christians, believing that God created everything, then this first section of the Social Principles on our Natural World is important to review and understand. Are we stewards of our natural world?