Taking Care of God’s Earth? by Colbey Penton Sparkman
I have a confession: although I'd been a follower of Christ since age nine, I'd earned a Master of Divinity and that I had served as a Christian minister vocationally for over a decade, it took a three year old to clarify my thinking on our responsibilities as Christians when it comes to caring for the environment–God’s creation.
My journey began the day our oldest daughter, Emori, finished a bag of snacks and threw the bag on the ground. I quickly admonished her not to do that. She replied, as all children her age do, “Why?” On a different day my initial answer might have been either “Because I said so,” or more likely “Because it’s against the law and littering could cost me money,” but this day I decided it was time for a bigger lesson. Instead I said, “Because we are supposed to take care of God’s earth, and throwing trash on his floor is definitely not taking care of God’s earth.”
I had no idea the kind of impact my statement would make. Emori became obsessed with litter. I had never noticed how much litter is out there—until Emori began pointing it out EVERYWHERE we went! “Somebody’s not taking care of God’s earth” I would hear as we drove down the road. Then one day in a shopping center parking lot she said something different: “It makes me so mad when people don’t take care of God’s earth.” She had moved from acknowledgement to having a feeling in response to what she saw. Then came the day she realized she could pick up that litter by herself. Now we can’t make it into the grocery store, the pharmacy or the YMCA without all three of my children picking up trash on the way.
Emori’s thinking on the subject went through several stages and so did mine: It began with recognizing the earth is God’s, to developing a regard for the earth, to realizing we have a responsibility to care for God's earth.
Recognizing the Earth is God’s
Its easy to say in our head that we believe the earth is God’s, but our heart doesn’t often connect to this concept. You can believe something in your head and not change your behavior, but when it’s an issue of the heart, your behavior changes and you feel compelled to demonstrate that belief.
When one looks at what Scripture says on the subject, one doesn't have to go far. Start with Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
In Hebrew, the sentence consists of seven words mirroring the seven days of creation, starting with Elohim (God) bara (creates). God is the only subject. The words for heaven and earth give a clearer picture of the totality of what God created.
What does it tell us? That it is God who has made all of this—created it, dreamed it, formed it, breathed life into it. It’s such a familiar concept that it begins to be just something we acknowledge with our head and not our heart.
Think for a moment about your own creations. Have you ever created something really special for someone you love? I made a marriage vow frame for my husband, for our first wedding anniversary. If he would have stuck it in a drawer, I would likely have been hurt (or more likely mad:), but this frame is one he hangs in his office. He cares because I made it for him. I made it not to give me something to do, or to give him something to keep up with—I made it for him out of love.
The God of Genesis’ first chapter creates out of his love—not because he was bored and wanted something to do. Not because he was a needy being who was lonely and needed something. He creates out of his love and benevolence—his goodness. Over and over in Genesis 1, God says he created something and “it was good.”
And the writer of Psalms 24:1 reminds us yet again: The Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.
Developing a Regard for God’s Creation
It seems like a simple enough concept, but somewhere along the way the Church (particularly we as Western Christians) got lost on a “heart” understanding of creation. I honestly have never, in my 20+ years as a church-goer, gathered with a group of believers and heard anyone share a message about anything relating to taking care of the earth. Why is that? It’s not like the Bible doesn’t talk about it—or that the concept is hidden in one verse in Ezekiel.
Where’s the disconnect? Why is the issue of caring for the earth as God’s creation still written off by some in the church as “liberal environmentalism”? ?When did "earth" and "environment" become bad words to evangelicals. Some believe that most of the evangelical church resistance to issues of the environment can be traced back to two articles written in 1967. Writing separately on ecological issues, Lynn White Jr. and Richard L. Means both lay the blame for our modern ecological crisis on the Christian attitude of dominance over nature. Means went a step further and said that the solution to the problem was a moral and religious solution. He advocated the 1970s hippie movement’s emphasis on Zen Buddhism and new age thinking as the answer to the problem, not Christianity.
These writers’ religious views hold a panthiestic view of nature, meaning that things in nature actually contain the spirit of God. These beliefs, as well as an animism belief that everything in nature has a soul or personality, caught fire in the 70s. What was the evangelical church’s response? Instead of emphasizing our biblical understanding of our relationship to the earth and creation, we rejected any talk of the environment as some type of liberal, enviromentalist, panthiestic, anti-God rhetoric. We may occasionally hear someone preach about the appreciation of trees, oceans and mountains in that they reflect God’s beauty or creative nature. However, the message is that the tree doesn't have any value in its own right except to be used up and consumed for the benefit of mankind.
Many in the evangelical church sat for about 30 years in this mode of thinking: possessing an intellectual recognition that the earth is God’s and God made it, but cutting off that recognition from the heart’s understanding. And even worse than sitting silently, some preached that the Bible teaches that we are to use the earth for our own wants regardless the consequences for others and the environment--our Creator's creation!
How does one—like my daughter Emori—come to the point where the connection is made from the head to the heart, and we begin to have feelings that affect our behavior in regards to the earth. Maybe when we begin to understand that for the follower of Jesus, all of creation has value—not because we believe it is God, but because God made it and said, “this is good.” Barbara Brown Taylor puts it this way, “We are to love as God loves WHAT God loves.”
Francis Schaeffer, in his response to Wright and Means from his book Pollution & the Death of Man, puts it this way:
“We have the right to rid our houses of ants; but what we have no right to do is to forget to honor the ant as God made it, out in the place where God made the ant to be. When we meet the ant on the sidewalk, we step over him … Christians, of all people, should not be the destroyers. We should treat nature with an overwhelming respect."
This belief is not pantheism, but rather a way of honoring the Creator.
When it moves to the heart, my respect and care for creation becomes an act of worship to the Creator of all things. ??We are moved worship and wonder. Our care for creation is in reverence and awe of the Creator. The hand of the creator touching us with his gentle breeze, quenching our thirst besides still waters, giving us rest in green pastures. We are part and not the whole. We are dependent and interdependent.
God knows this. Studies have shown that when we are exposed to nature, our blood pressure lowers, our stress hormones retreat and our endorphins surge. ?No wonder the Hebrew people prayed with their eyes open and hands lifted up much of the time. When I am in nature, I feel as if I am breathing deep the love of God ... and I am.
Caring for Creation
In Genesis 1:1 we recognize God created earth and all that is in it. Throughout Chapter 1, we begin to regard all of what God has created out of his goodness has value. Then in Gen. 1: 26-31, for the first time, we see God speak to humanity. The first words spoken are commands to be fruitful and multiply, to rule over and subdue (v. 28). The first divine words spoken to human beings are about their relationship not to God, but to the earth. They express a sharing of the exercise of power, or dominion. God is the origin of creation, but he invites us to be a part of the creative process.
When you look at the Hebrew verbs, the words that were often interpreted “have dominion” (the NIV says “rule over”) must be understood in terms of care-giving, even nurturing, never exploiting.
The Message expresses it this way:
God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature/So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, ?the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, ?and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” (v. 26-27). God created human beings; he created them godlike, ?Reflecting God's nature. ?He created them male and female. God says to them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.” (v. 28)
God gives us responsibility!
The word subdue seems to indicate that we would lord over something, but it more likely (because of the culture in which the words are written) is a focus on the earth, particularly the cultivation of the earth, which then would have been difficult work. This idea is reiterated in chapter 2:15 when God places humanity in the garden to “work and take care of” it. The Hebrew word “work” is a worship word, referring to our priestly?service to God; the Hebrew phrase for “take care” means to guard and protect. We are to be the Earth's tenders and protectors, so subduing in this sense involves the development of the creation.
Although God places humanity in paradise, here “paradise” is not a stagnant state of perfection. God actually gave us part in the creative process of working and growing, furthering and enriching creation!
Jesus even taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come on EARTH as it is in heaven.”
“Taking care of God’s earth” is an easy idea to acknowledge, but for followers of Christ to really put it into practice daily requires picking up our cross, sacrificing, working hard and being disciplined to love what God loves and show that love in our actions whether we are three or thirty-three:). For me, this "ought to" in my life, has become a great joy and "want to".
Colbey Penton Sparkman has served on Baptist Campus Ministry staff at Florida State University and the University of Lousiana Monroe. She served for seven years at First Baptist Church Hattiesburg, MS as Minister to Collegiates. Presently, Colbey serves as the Communications Contract Worker for National Collegiate Ministry while making revsions on "Teambuilding for Digital Natives" she has co-authored to be released January 2010.
Internet reference on Francis Schaefer's "Polution and the Death of Man": http://barefootmeg.multiply.com/reviews/item/25
5 Ways to Grow In Creation Care:
1. Begin to breath deep the Love of God (literally). You can do this in many creative ways: by taking a walk during your lunch break, hiking your local nature trails, bringing plants and flowers into the office, etc. Pray and reflect on what the Bible teaches about caring for creation. Take a look at www.creationcare.org. Not only will you find out about current environmental problems, but you'll find related Scripture. Pray for wisdom and guidance on what to do on problems facing your community and the world. For many evangelicals creation care has become like a spiritual discipline.
2. Talk about it with students! Do a small group Bible study or a sermon series on creation care. Begin to talk about the issue with students. Murray State's BCM took a wall in their luncheon room and painted a mural on it (background is green) with the phrase "The way we view Creation is how we view the Creator". Now that's a conversation piece.
3. Have a student who is passionate about creation care? Create a leadership team position for them. Give the student or students responsibility to help you as a church or campus organization be more aware of creation care, represent the group at campus meetings or organizaions concerning the environment, collect and dispose of the recycling, etc. You may be pleasantly surprised at their insights and suggestions. Some campus ministry groups have stopped using styrofoam products at their weekly luncheons at students' requests. The cost is a little more for the ministry, but they have found the credibility the ministry gains from students who are not Christian is worth the price.
4. Creation Friendly Give-Aways Consider giving away reusable shopping bags with your ministry logo on it. Purchase tee shirts from places like www.nosweatshop.com.
5. Progress in Reducing, Reusing & Recycling. Because many are "young" in this area of faith, it's ok to begin by making small changes. If recycling everything you can seems a little intimidating, just begin purchasing as much as you can in bulk to produce less waste or start reusing things instead of tossing them into the trash and buying new. Reusable shopping bags carry more groceries anyway! Next time you need to buy light bulbs switch to compact florescent light bulbs. Condense your trips to stores or walk, carpool or take public transportation when you can. Minimize your own impact on the God's earth by trying the strategies here: http://www.wecansolveit.org/content/pages/20/.
