Written by Candace Maxymowich of Winnipeg, MB
Today the environment – God’s creation, our one and only home – needs all the friends and all the help it can get. People of faith have rich traditions that should place us among creation’s most passionate defenders.
In Genesis, the first humans were given the responsibility to care for God’s creation, but it hasn’t always been a strong theme among Christian thinking. Despite strong statements from many of today’s religious leaders, the message still doesn’t seem to have sufficiently gotten through to us.
Creation provides us with the physical fabric of our lives. The natural environment gives us the stuff we use every day. It gives us food for our tables, material for our clothes, and materials to build our houses and churches.
It’s also a place where people have experienced a great closeness with God through its beauty and wonder.
Creation is a gift from God, yet it can so easily and so often be taken for granted.
Modern technology has helped alleviate suffering and create new methods of solidarity among people. At the same time, it has made it easier for us to become alienated from our environment and given us new and efficient ways to plunder the world’s natural resources.
We are called to protect people and the planet and live our faith in relationship with all of God’s creation.
We can begin, in the context of our families or in our places of worship, to care in deeper ways for the good things God has given us. This attitude of stewardship, forged in daily life, will in turn allow us to participate in the greater efforts to care for creation.
As we expand our work together as good stewards, it must be marked by care and respect for the dignity of every human being.
I invite you to integrate experiences of creation into your day so that you never lose your wonder in beholding God’s unmatched artistry. Whether that’s taking a walk in a park, visiting a place of striking natural beauty, or celebrating a meal in which you enjoy the fruits of creation, we can come together with loved ones to pray and give thanks to our Creator for the abundance of blessings given to us this day.
