5 Reasons Why You Should Celebrate Creation Day

The Bible, as we have seen, is full of beautiful things to say about God’s creation, and is clear that humanity is called to love and nurture it as part of our earthly responsibilities.

The focus of Creation Day is to take the time to find ways to praise God and his created order. This includes animals, plants, the solar system, humanity and the environment – all the parts of the created universe. The earth is an incredible and complex place and is really quite magnificent. It contains millions of vibrant and complex ecosystems which support the ideal conditions for many forms of life. It is a wholly remarkable, intricate created work of art that is certainly worthy of our attention.

There are many ways to praise God’s creation but the most popular ones include taking the time to reflect on God’s creation, and taking actions to help his creation. As Christians, we are called by God to speak out, act and advocate for things which affect God’s creation. One of the ways that we can act is by celebrating Creation Day as a national holiday.

I think if you really think about it, you will see that reasons to celebrate Creation Day are a no brainer. But…just in case you need further convincing, here is a list of five reasons why you should celebrate Creation Day;

REASON 1 – Because Creation Deserves It

For many churches, biblical holidays and themes are the perfect cause for a special celebration.

It is quite common for churches to dedicate services to these specific themes. Annually, most churches commemorate Christ’s Crucifixion in a Good Friday service; celebrate His resurrection in an Easter Sunday service or celebrate Jesus’ incarnation at Christmas. Some churches even dedicate monthly services to certain themes such as ‘Communion Sunday’ or ‘Baptism Sunday’.

Despite all of these fantastic reasons to celebrate, we fail to dedicate a service to the doctrine of creation, and set aside a ‘Creation Day’ to worship the creative work of our God. Creation is one of the main themes in the bible and yet we don’t seem give it the same special treatment that these events receive.

The bottom line? If a special service is good enough for Ash Wednesday and Christmas Eve Candlelight then it’s good enough for creation.

REASON 2 – Because The Ten Commandments Honors Creation

Creation is mentioned several times in the Decalogue.

In Exodus 20, we are told;

“…the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns…

…for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.”

The fact that the Ten Commandments mentions creation, and places such an emphasis on the Sabbath indicates a need for us to honor it also by dedicating one of these the Sabbath days to reflect on, and act upon, God’s creation.

REASON 3 – Because It Forces Us to Set Aside Time To Act

Creation Day not only offers an opportunity to reflect on God’s creation. With some planning and passion you can also take advantage of the special day to do something which serves creation.

Some ideas might include:

Holding a Creation Day themed service at your church
Handing out flyers addressing a specific issue
Changing the light bulbs in your home to eco-bulbs
Starting a compost heap in your backyard
Hosting a coffee afternoon and serve organic food and fair trade coffee using re-usable plates, cups and napkins
Inviting a guest speaker to your church to talk about relevant issues
Planning or take part in a community service project such as a local clean up
Cleaning up the church grounds and establish some eco-friendly aids such as setting up barrels to catch rain water
Going on a hike at a local trail
Holding a Creation Day festival at your church and ask local environment groups to set up informative booths or local produce growers to sell their products
Holding a church service outdoors

REASON 4 – Because It’s The Least We Can Do!

It goes without saying, but celebrating Creation Day is really the very least that we can do. I think we can all agree that without God’s gift of creation, we would not be here. I can’t think of a better to reason to celebrate Creation Day than because of our sheer existence!

As well as being able to participate in creation, God also gave us the ability to truly engage in it. God could have simply put us here with the need to eat to sustain ourselves but without giving us the opportunity to really savor our food. But he didn’t! He bestowed on us the gift of taste which allows us to enjoy eating. We have eyes which see colour and nature, the ability to smell food and flowers, the ability to hear the sounds of animals, and touch so we can feel the world around us. Creation is the gift that keeps on giving.

Creation gives us cause to celebrate each and every day and at the very least, and it deserves one special day where we pay tribute to this amazing privilege we have been given.

REASON 5 – Because Through Creation God Will Redeem The World

In Christ’s life, death and resurrection, humanity and the entire cosmos was brought back into right relationship with God.

In Genesis we saw that God looked at his creation and declared it to be good. Created with inherent goodness, humanity’s fall into sin meant that creation’s order was disrupted. Since the fall people have continued to misuse the earth, participating in a process that has caused deterioration in many areas of the world, and of life.

God’s overarching redemptive plan for the world is to restore his creation to its original goodness. We must dedicate ourselves to participating in the redemption that God has planned for his creation. Pledging ourselves to a thorough and committed participation in Creation Day is a great step towards caring for God’s redemptive purposes.

So what are you waiting for? Start celebrating creation!

Celebrate the trees, the animals, the birds, the fish, the flowers, the mountains and the people. Praise God by enhancing your appreciation for his creative work and celebrate Creation Day.

You might start by signing the petition to establish Creation Day as a national holiday. To sign, go here.

Last week we looked at the theme of creation throughout scripture, from the creation of the earth in Genesis to the establishment of God’s new, eschatological creation which is yet to come.

If you missed the article, you can read it here

The Bible: From Creation to New Creation

Though the Bible is filled with many different books and authors, it tells a cohesive story about the history of the world, functioning within God’s holistic and redemptive purpose – from creation, to new creation. God’s creative activity unfolds throughout scripture, providing a meta narrative that reveals our God and his plan for the entire created order.

The Bible begins and ends with creation, and ultimately uses creation as a way of reflecting on the nature of God, of humanity and of His plan for the cosmos. Scripture affirms that God has been intimately bonded to creation from before the creation of the world, in the now, and through to the ‘not yet’.

Original Creation

One of the most well-known stories in the Bible is the seven day creation of the world seen in Genesis 1. This chapter reveals the creative process and creative nature of God, and sets the foundation for creation as a theme throughout the Old and New Testaments.

Through God’s creative activity, we learn that our God is a God who is actively present within his creation, and who continues to care for and sustain this creation throughout history.

Genesis 2 outlines the creation of the first man and woman, and once again reveals a God who is deeply connected to the earth, so much so that he breathes his own breath into Adam as part of his creative process.

When we come to Genesis 3 we see that all is not well within creation. Though God is seen to be walking with Adam and Eve in the garden, they have forgotten God’s creative generosity and have taken it for granted. In eating from the tree, Adam and Eve set off a chain of events which not only affects their own existence, but unravels the very fabric of the created order. This unravelling will continue to deteriorate until God takes action in Genesis 6.

The Flood

By Genesis 6, the created order has declined into a state of irreparable disrepair, and God feels compelled to take matters into his own hands. Scripture describes God’s grief and regret at having created, and his plans to flood all of creation and remake it through Noah.

In carrying out His plans, God is returning the earth to its pre-creation state of watery chaos that preceded his six day creation process – he is carrying out a systematic reversal of his own creation. This ‘de-creation’ is done by destroying everything in the order that it was created;

The windows of heaven are opened, and the fountains of the deep are released. This parallels Genesis 1 where God separated the water from the land
Noah’s ark is seen as floating on the face of the waters, an echo to God’s spirit which hovers over the face of the waters
Land animals, birds and sea creatures are destroyed
Humans are destroyed
God manifests a wind to blow over the waters, alluding to the breath of life God gives in Genesis 2

Finally, the flood episode ends with a reinstatement of the original creation – God gives Noah and his family directions akin to what he gave Adam in the garden, and even instructs him to “be fruitful and multiply”, an exact replica of the command given to Adam and Eve.

After establishing a convenant with Noah, God offers him a sign in the form of a piece of creation – a rainbow.

The Torah and Deuteronomistic History

God’s desire to renew his created order is bound up with the renewal and recreation of Israel as a nation. The writer of the Torah describes this and acknowledges God as the creator of the earth;

^“Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.”

These first books of the Bible also point to the responsibility that we have as humans to become diligent stewards of creation. Leviticus states that creation is the property of God, and is not to be defiled. Moses, the likely author of Leviticus, even commands that creation itself, including the land, will observe the Sabbath.

In Numbers, the Israelites are told;

“You shall not pollute the land in which you live…. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the Israelites.”

…and this mandate is repeated in Deuteronomy.

The Old Testament closes with the Prophets, who urge Israel to come back to their creator and their God. The Prophets also urged God’s people to care for creation, and respect the earth in a way that adequately pays homage to the creator of all things (Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Hosea).

The Gospels

John opens with a retelling of Genesis 1.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.”

This mirrors the words of Genesis, and gives us insight into Jesus’ role in the cosmic order – he himself was a fundamental part of the original creation from the beginning.

Later in John, Jesus is described as having breathed on the disciples, in order for them to receive the Holy Spirit. This has echoes to Genesis 2 where God breathes into Adam.

The Gospels portray Jesus as asserting authority over all of creation – defying natural laws by walking on water, stilling a chaotic storm, multiplying a small amount of fish in order to feed a multitude, raising the dead and defying death himself.

Jesus

John’s passage reflects on Jesus as being integral to the creation of the world. As the New Testament goes on, it become more and more clear that Jesus was not only involved in creation, but is central to it. In this way, we must regard all of creation as thoroughly Christocentric in nature. Paul tells us in Colossians that “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created…”

In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes that:

“…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation…”

The same God who created all things in six days has now established a new creation through Christ. All those who embrace Jesus are now living out of this new creation.

Through Jesus, God reconciles himself to his created order once more, bridging the gaps that were made broken through sin. Christ’s life, death and resurrection do not only affect the human condition, but affect the fundamental order of the entire cosmos.

Groaning Creation

We know from Romans 8 that the entire created order longs for redemption – and that the brokenness established at Eden reverberates throughout the entire natural world.

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God… in hopethat the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”

We can see this groaning as early as Genesis 4 when Abel is slain and God tells Cain that:

“The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.”

The entire created order all looks forward to the restoration of the world through God’s redemptive plan. This includes the stars, the spiders and everything in between!

New Creation

As early as Isaiah, we are told that God will

“…create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.”

Revelations confirms this, when John has a vision;

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”

Paul also validates this when he writes in Peter that:

“…according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

The promise of a new creation is a promise which will be fulfilled throughout the entire cosmos.

Tracing the history of the world from creation to new creation helps us to see that creation was never merely a background theme in scriptures – creation is in itself the story of salvation. The entire created order was made, fell from glory, groans in anticipation, became a new creation in Christ and looks forward to the complete and final restoration of the entire cosmos. There is no biblical narrative without creation, and without an understanding of this fundamental theme, we cannot fully grasp the biblical story.

To honor the redemptive purposes of God from creation to new creation, please sign our petition, to establish Creation Day as an officially recognised holiday!

To sign, click here

We Came in Like a Wrecking Ball

We Came in Like a Wrecking Ball

The Problem

Christians need to face up to a problem that we have not always taken adequate responsibility for.

We, as humans, and as Christians, have failed to take proper care of the earth, and at times have even been directly involved in its destruction. Christianity has not only participated in this destruction, but has failed to take any action to correct it. Economist and Creationist Wendell Berry argues that, not only are Christians being counted in those who add to the destruction of creation, but have often been amongst the worst of its perpetrators;

“Christian organizations, to this day, remain largely indifferent to the rape and plunder of the world and of its traditional cultures. …most Christian organizations are as happily indifferent as most industrial organizations to the ecological, cultural, and religious implications of industrial economics. The certified Christian seems just as likely as anyone else to join the military-industrial conspiracy to murder Creation.”

A Sinking Ship

Fundamentalist eschatological theories have indirectly cultivated a culture in which Christians have lost all sense of responsibility for the created order. Movies, blogs and books including best-selling novel series “Left Behind” have come to foster a philosophy that perceives the earth to be a temporary dwelling which will succumb to ruin before Christ’s second coming. The line of thinking is this;

If the earth, in the future (possibly near future) is going to become a desolate wasteland which will only be redeemed upon Christ’s return, then why should we, as Christians, make any efforts to care for it now? This philosophy leads to a focus on evangelization and the ‘saving of souls’, over care for the environment. DL Moody himself felt this way, and said; “I look upon this world as a sinking ship…”

According to this view, the earth is a kind of Titanic, beyond redemption and doomed to founder. Moody’s statement implies that the only recoverable component of the wreckage is people. While we must keep mission in focus at all times, saving souls created by God, we must not do so at the expense of the rest of God’s creation. The Bible describes the future earth as gloriously redeemed and rebuilt, but this does not give us permission to use and abuse it in the present age. The blessed hope that we look to of a future re-creation does not provide license for humanity to abandon the care for this creation. The opposite is the case – we must utilise the inherent goodness of the material world in order to please God and care for his creation in our own time and place.

It is with this philosophy, that Luther famously remarked;

“If I knew Jesus would return tomorrow, I would plant a tree today.”

A Witness to all Nations

The relationship between Christianity and creation is becoming increasingly urgent. Humans are perceived to be the most intelligent life form that roams the earth, and yet we are responsible for almost all of the damage that the planet has suffered. As Christians, we are even further enlightened through the Light of Christ, and yet we are passive when it comes to issues concerning the created order.

Over the last few decades, there have been many movements which have taken up the environmental flag and advocated for responsible earth care in order to preserve God’s creation. Christians, however, have often distanced themselves from these movements, or just failed to act with conviction when it comes to environmental issues. This stands in opposition from scripture, which sees creation as deeply bonded and relational with God, as well as revealing God’s glory and omnipotence. Christians should be leading these campaigns which address environmental concern.

We are no longer in a position to sit back and pray for a miracle. Stories of pollution, climate change and animal extinction are endemic in our media, yet we are no more compelled to make changes than we were four or five decades ago. As Christians we must respond with conviction, to represent and take responsibility for the environment that we recognise as God’s. The entire cosmos matters deeply to God, and thus it should matter deeply to us. If we abuse the environment, neglect it, or fail to advocate or it, then we are allowing the earth that our God cares about, to perish.

Biblically speaking, to not take action is a failure on our part, to understand our role in the created order, and in the Gospel.

Why should we care?

The Bible gives many reasons why we should be concerned for our world:

God himself is pleased with his creation
God is in relationship with his creation
God expects humans to exercise responsible stewardship over nature
God commanded us to care for the environment
The entire created order will be renewed and re-created

The significance of the earth in our estimation ultimately depends on our understanding of the story in which we are taking part. We must spread the Gospel to the four corners of the earth – as we have been commissioned – but to preach the Good News whilst failing to model it by caring for God’s creation, is a failure to understand our place within God’s redemptive plan.

The biblical story outlines a framework in which we are all participants. After five days of creating planet earth, the sixth day is used to create human life. The first man is then formed from the dust of the earth, and filled with God’s breath. Humans were created to be in relationship with the earth in the same way that God is – we are bound to the earth and rely on it to care for us, as we in turn should care for it.

So What Can We Do Today?

To become a part of the solution TODAY, the first thing you should do is subscribe, and sign the petition to officially inaugurate Creation Day. Help establish Creation Day as a national holiday in which all of humanity will recognise the need for responsible, caring stewardship over God’s creative handiwork.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/creation-day

Cain and Abel: A Creation Manifesto

The story of Cain and Abel is commonly known as the story of two brothers, one of whom murders the other in a fit of jealous rage. However, the story of Cain and Abel is so grounded in the creative narrative that this story also powerfully reflects God’s love for his creation, and demonstrates how deeply bonded He is, to the earth.

Creation is Offered

Genesis 4:2 describes Cain as a crop farmer and his younger brother Abel as a shepherd. Each man was responsible for a portion of God’s creation which they each cared for.

4:3 states that “Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD”. Notice that Cain is the first to make his offering before God. This tells us that there is nothing inferior or unsuitable about his offering – in the eyes of the Lord; Cain’s grain holds just as much value as Abel’s animal sacrifice. Both animals and plants are equal as God’s creation and make a suitable sacrifice.

It is also significant that both brothers use a portion of creation to make their sacrifice. Cain is a farmer who brings a portion of his edible crops. Scripture does not indicate if this is his best produce or whether, perhaps he was bringing seconds or even inedible goods. Abel is a shepherd who is said to bring the ‘firstlings’–likely fattest of his flock – as a sacrificial contribution (Gen 4:4). Both brothers choose to bring the fruit of their work within creation as an offering, directly utilising God’s creation in their working life and in their devotional life.

Creation is Fallen

Cain’s ominous actions are bound up with the created order.

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. (v.8)

The act itself was committed outside, a point that is explicitly referenced within the story – twice. This is important – killing Abel is not just an offence against humanity, but an offence against the cosmos on a fundamental level.

When Cain commits the unspeakable, God asks where Abel is.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper? (v.9)

Cain denies the crime outright, as if he could conceal his actions, and his sin from God. God doesn’t need an admission from Cain. He feels the full weight of Cain’s massacre upon God’s creation.

What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. (v.10)

The earth cries out to God on Abel’s behalf. This cry is a demand for vengeance from the earth which has in some way absorbed the solemnity of Abel’s death. The details about this are scarce – perhaps Cain had buried Abel’s body in the ground hoping that his crime might go undetected, or perhaps in that fatal moment, Abel’s blood spilled on the ground. In any case, the earth took the burden of Abel’s death and cried out to God for justice. A similar story takes place in Luke where, if the people’s praises were silenced, the stones would cry out in praise (19:40). In Luke, the ground, the stones, and all of the created order recognise God as their creator and saviour, and yearn for redemption from its fallen-ness, through Him.

Creation is Angered

Genesis goes onto state;

So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand (v.11)

We now know that Abel’s blood was not lying on the ground, openly spilt. The surface of the earth opened its mouth to receive it. Again, this may indicate that Cain buried Abel, in an attempt to cover up his transgression. We see this in Numbers, where we are told that;

…blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell… (35:33-34)

God dwells in the land in Numbers, and in Genesis with Cain and Abel, and he finds blood to be a pollution upon his creation. The result of this pollution is that the earth will no longer co-operate with Cain. Cain has abused God’s created order and it now rejects him. Abel’s blood has damaged God’s relationship with creation, and separated him from it.

When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth. (v.12)

In cursing the ground by murdering Abel, Cain has in turn been cursed by the ground. He is fated to live in the absence of his usual agricultural activity, wandering restlessly within a created order that no longer recognises him. This indicates a kind of ‘poetic justice’, where we recognise that the punishment has been established to fit the crime. Cain was an agronomic man who would have enjoyed in his work, so in keeping with the nature of his crime, God punishes him using the earth. Cain is ruined – the ground will no longer be fruitful for him, and he will no longer be able to produce a living from the work, and the life, that he has known up until this point.

The story of Cain and Abel sheds some light on God’s relationship with creation, and how he feels about us neglecting or directly harming any part of his created order. Become a part of the solution TODAY, by subscribing, and signing the petition to establish Creation Day as a national holiday.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/creation-day

Nature or Creation?

Language matters.

A small difference in a turn of phrase or even the changing of a single letter can speak volumes if the context is right. Early in Christian history for example, debates over the doctrine of the Trinity boiled down to two words, two words spelled almost identically but for one letter. As it turns out, that seemingly small distinction would come to mark the boundary between orthodoxy and heresy.

Another distinction, which may seem small at first, is particularly relevant for our present day, the difference between “nature” and “creation.”

Though often used interchangeably, these two words in fact carry with them very different ways of imagining the world in which we live, and the shift from creation to nature has serious implications.

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, people saw the world around them as enchanted. The Christian tradition had long spoken of the world as something created and ordered by God, and filled with spiritual forces both good and evil. The land below and the sky above were, in a very real sense, understood as a gift from God, and we as His image bearers were uniquely connected to and responsible for the creation.

Yet over time, for reasons too numerous and complex to expand on here, the imagination of the Western world gradually became disenchanted.

No longer was this world around us “creation,” even if we still used the word. Instead, it was “nature.” The difference being that unlike creation, nature is just material, it has neither a meaning nor a telos, a goal.

This has serious ecological implications, because nature is something for human consumption – hence “natural resources.” The whole debate shifts. We might argue that we should use those resources more responsibly, or more aggressively, or that their use will have this health effect or that impact on the economy, but it all boils down to material that is given meaning by the ways it should or shouldn’t be used by people.

But if world is a creation, if God ordered it and placed humanity in it as his image bearers, then there is more to the story. In that case we have a calling to steward this place on behalf of the Creator whose image we bear.

Case in point, a recent survey showed that 57 percent of Americans believe “that humans are called by God to live responsibly with plants, animals and earthly resources.” These are people who are being shaped by a different story than the pervasive materialism of our day. A story in which the world is more than nature, it is creation. And that story has shaped their imaginations in such a way that it influences their day-to-day choices.

So yes, it is just the difference between two words, words that admittedly many of us use interchangeably without even noticing. But, once we start to pay attention, we soon find that its more than two words, it is two fundamentally different ways of viewing the world, it is the difference between enchantment and disenchantment.

And that enchanted creation, that place God set us over to care for and tend? It is worth fighting for.