God's good creation

I hope you are having a blessed week. Earth Day was on Tuesday, and with weather like this it is not hard to appreciate God’s good creation! We had vestry that evening, and I invited the group to share for them how they saw God in creation. One person said, “It’s just so clear—God is everywhere!” One talked about how intricate and carefully-arranged the world is—no human could possibly explain the beauty of what is. For another, it was about action—how we can take care of the planet. For me, I see it in the sense of wonder in my son Isaiah’s face when he sees animals (and also balloons, and also flowers)—it’s a chance to see the wonder of what is, again for the first time. “God in creation” also reminds me to see creation as all of what is—not just nature, but also each of us. We are part of creation, not distinct from it. As the frequently quoted phrase from Chief Seattle goes, “We do not weave the web of life, we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.”

I think as a society, we are beginning to understand this more and more. With the visible impact of global warming, we can see in our lifetimes how our behavior is negatively impacting the earth. We can do little things to change this—use ceramic coffee cups, not Styrofoam (and recycle it when you do use it); bring your own bags with you shopping, eat locally. Drive less, obviously, and buy less, too—the most environmentally sustainable product you can find is the one you already own. Our culture has undergone a pretty big shift in our understanding of how we impact the earth, but with consumer spending still understood as THE solution to economic trouble, it’s clear that we have a long way to go. Just 25 years ago though, there were many who thought that the environment didn’t actually matter because God would save us in the end. Fortunately, I don’t think too many people would say that today (at least I hope not…).

Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind^* in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth,^* and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ ²⁷So God created humankind^* in his image, in the image of God he created them;^* male and female he created them. ²⁸God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ Genesis 1:26-28

In Psalm 72, a hymn to King Solomon, that same word for dominion is used as in this passage from Genesis. A ruler has dominion—it implies the responsibility to care for, not the license to control and subjugate. Rulers are still part of whatever realm they rule—there’s no separation there. Creation was made good—and so were we!—this original blessing is stronger than anything we could do to separate ourselves from God.

How do you see God in Creation? In nature, or in our care for it? In science, all those tiny atoms working together to make a medicine to cure disease? In human ingenuity to understand the world around us? In sunsets and oceans and flowers? Take a moment now to thank God for all the good gifts we are given in this good creation.