Celebrate Creation!

For many of us, when we think of creation, our minds immediately turn to the first chapters of Genesis. The creation story is placed at the beginning of scripture because it establishes the type of relationship God desires to have with all of creation and God’s purpose for humankind. From Genesis, we learn that it God created because God wants to be in relationship with all of creation and we learn that creation is fundamentally good. We learn that creation is wisely ordered and balanced and that God’s provision of sustenance and environment extends to all life forms on the earth. In these first verses of scripture, also we discover that God shares the creative process with creation itself: God invites the earth to bring forth vegetation and the waters swarms of living creatures. And we discover that human beings are created, not to exploit and abuse creation for our own gratification but rather are called to be God’s stewards and to act as caretakers nurturing life.
     In addition to Genesis, there are many other passages of scripture that reveal God’s love for all of creation even the parts that humankind, from our self-centered vantage point, might not consider as valuable or may even view as harmful. In the final chapters of the book of Job, God takes Job on a whirlwind tour of creation celebrating the wild and the dangerous: delighting in the lions, ostriches, bears, and ravens, and boasting of the fierceness of Leviathan, the great sea creature; and the power of Behemoth, the giant hippo-like land creature. These verses in Job remind us that God, and not humankind, is the center of creation and that God delights in the vast variety of creatures for who they were created to be.
    There are many other passages of scripture that provide us with insights about God’s relationship with creation and consequently, about our responsibility for caring for it. A few of these include: Genesis 6-9, Psalm 104, Proverbs 8:22-31, and 12:1-7, Isaiah 40-55, and Colossians 1:15-20.  Two excellent books that explore the Christian mandate for creation care are For the Beauty of the Earth by Steven Bouma-Prediger and The Seven Pillars of Creation by William P. Brown.
   Earth Day was a perfect day to rejoice and give thanks to God for all of creation and to recommit ourselves to the care and tending of our precious planet and all those creatures who call it home. But, so is every day.  Let us delight daily in the beauty of God’s creation and live into our vocations as care takers.   
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Sue Holland