Why should creation care be a priority for Christians?

            The Creation Care team asked me to write on why all Christians should take seriously the work of being good stewards of the environment. On one level it is a quick and easy answer. In the act of creation God sets as as the caretakers of all of creation. We are given “dominion” over all of creation( Genesis 1:28). We hear the word dominion and we think to dominate. However in its truest sense dominion is to be in a rich relationship with a thing. Dominion is to have a responsibility to a thing. In short, to have dominion is to be a caretaker of the thing and the relationship. So the first reason is that we are given dominion, relational responsibility, over all of creation.

 

            Another reason that is worthy of our attention is God’s clear love of the creation. If we are to love God with all our heart and mind and soul, then,  we are by virtue of that love called to be in love with God’s creation and work. God. Goddess the creation and at the end of each day calls it good. So it is that to love God is to share in the admiration for all the aGod has created.

 

            Finally, I think it is critical to remember that scripture and Jesus  exists in an environment. The parting of the Red Sea is impressive because there is a sea. Imagine it dried up and gone. Not nearly as impressive. Could the wise men have followed a star if there was so much smog and haze. The feeding of the 5000 can not happen if the fish are all dead. Where would Jesus recess to to pray and be refreshed if all the gardens were cut down?  The story of scripture is a story of a God that lives in relationship with all the creation and calls us to share in that mission.

 

Father Sean Maloney

 

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