Care of Creation

I have spent a good bit of time lately thinking about creation: what it is, why it’s important and what difference that makes. I have come to the conclusion, as much as one can conclude anything, that Creation is Relationship, and Relationship is Creation. I share a personal experience to illustrate my point.

Last week I met a young couple for lunch in final preparation for their upcoming wedding. I have known the bride, now a 23 year old woman, since she was 13. Her great grandparents had been founding members of the church where I was pastor and I got to know her grandmother and the rest of the family when I officiated at her grandfather’s funeral. More relationships were created and have grown from these earlier relationships. Creation is relationship, and relationship is creation.

Reflecting on the first Creation Story found in the first chapter of the Biblical Book of Genesis, we see relationship as the foundation of creation:

"In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind (spirit) from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light."

Let there be relationship, let there be creation: and then followed earth and water and plants and animals, and dry land and people and time and seasons.

Creation = relationship = creation!

God created human beings, male and female (at the same time), blessed them and said, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over all.”

“God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.”

This is truly a powerful story of creation and relationship. The only change I would make, from our vantage point of 2500 years later, is to replace the words “dominion” and “subdue” with “care for” and be “good stewards of.” At the time this part of Genesis was written, survival depended on subduing the earth and having dominion over the animals. Today, survival depends on being good stewards of God’s creation and caring for the earth, air and water that are essential to the continuation of creation as we know it. For this to happen, I believe God calls us to be the Stewards, the Caretakers, of creation. In essence, God calls us to be Co-Creators in the on-going creation of all that was, is and is to come.

As a part of this ongoing creation, I spent several days last week planting roses and azaleas, maple trees and oak trees. I spend time each day watering them and when I do this I also spend time with my dogs: water, trees, plants and animals; creation, relationship.

In the late 1990’s, Dominican Priest Matthew Fox wrote his classic book, Creation Spirituality, in which he blends Christian mysticism with the struggle for social justice and environmentalism, thus bringing us back to the awareness of the themes from Genesis 1. For his efforts, he was silenced, as prophets often are, by the Vatican. Fox’s example reminds us that when we have truth to share, we are called by God to speak that truth, no matter what the consequences. Today, as God’s Children and citizens of the world, we are called to proclaim the importance of “this fragile Earth, our island home.” Without our help God won’t do it, without God’s help we cannot do it.

Of the many gifts God has given us, Creation is the first gift and our relationship to Creation, including our relationship with each other, is our gift to God. John Muir, “the most celebrated celebrator of nature in American,” believed that creation was full of awe and wonder and that we should approach the world with that sense of awe and reverence that inspires us to protect, defend and enjoy this gift and this relationship.

As Muir walked our country he experienced the beauty of creation and was inspired to protect it and encourage others to do the same. On a three day camping trip with Theodore Roosevelt, Muir convinced him of the importance of a National conservation program and thus inspired the creation of the National Park System which we enjoy today. Muir also receives major credit for saving the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest and for discovering Glacier Bay, Alaska.

Matthew Fox and John Muir are proof that one person, one church, one nation can make a difference in the care and preservation of creation and the continuing existence of life on Earth.

Creation = Relationship = Creation = Life