Our Part In Creation Care

During August our church will be engaged in a friendly Eco-Challenge competition. Ever since our Eco-Care Team first suggested the idea, I've been looking forward to it.

Whenever creation care is mentioned, good questions usually follow. Why does this matter? What does caring for the environment have to do with following Jesus?

Well, I think the answer begins right at the start of Scripture.

Before there was sin, God entrusted humanity with the care of His creation. Stewardship of the Earth was one of our very first callings and that vocation has never been withdrawn.

In the New Testament, John's Gospel is written firmly planting us back in this created order. John reminds us that "through Him all things were made" (John 1:3). Then, in perhaps the best-known verse in the Bible, we read that "God so loved the world..." (John 3:16). We are quick to think of this as the ‘human world’ but the Greek word John uses is kosmos– a rich word that speaks of much more than just humanity, there were other words that would have been used for just the human world and society. John’s use of the word kosmos reminds us God's redeeming love reaches far beyond individual lives. His purpose is nothing less than the restoration of all He has made.

Creation care, then, is not simply about being environmentally conscious or as I have been told, of worshipping the creation instead of the Creator. Far from it! It is one small but practical way of joining in God's restoring work. As we surrender ourselves to the Good News, we become part of the good news, caring for the world God continues to love.

So, yes, we'll enjoy a little friendly competition during August. But behind the challenge lies a much bigger invitation: to faithfully care for the gift God first placed into human hands and asked us to tend.

Colleen