Creation Care / Environmentalism

In my last note I made the statement “This IS Eden” and I kind of used that as my lead into upcoming notes related to the use of local plants for healing and health maintenance. Those notes are on the way but I feel like it’s important to consider creation care first.

In the first 3 chapters of the Book of Genesis we are told that God created the heavens and the earth and all that was in them. The story continues with the creation of Adam and the Bible says that God breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul. So Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden and were to tend and to keep it.

It is hard for me to read the opening chapters of Genesis and not be compelled to Creation Care. Now “creation care” is of course Christianese for the better known term today which is environmentalism.

One of my conservative friends said to me “well it is all going to burn anyways so what do you care?” He said I was missing the point of the entirety of God’s Word and was moving into New Age “mumbo jumbo”.

The fact is however that within the pages of the Bible and certainly within Christian Tradition there is a strong foundation to which I can build my case.

- God gives Adam and Eve the responsibility to care for the Garden of Eden.
- Many theologians from John Calvin to Matthew Fox have made environmentalism a part of the Christian message.
- The Book of Romans calls us to reclaim nature from its current spoiled position (Romans 8:19-22). - Saint Francis of Assisi believed that every creature was created for the purpose of worshiping God. - The Celtic Christian Tradition is committed to environmentalism.

 As a Christian you can choose to believe the message of those doom and gloom preachers or you can stand with me as an advocate for creation care. How do we expect the earth to help us if we are unwilling to return the favor?

I would like to close out this note with one more Scripture:

Psa 148:7 Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:
Psa 148:8 Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
Psa 148:9 Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:
Psa 148:10 Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:
Psa 148:11 Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:
Psa 148:12 Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:
Psa 148:13 Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.

Sister Abigail Hester