i like the crust.

I was asked the other day to answer some questions about caring for God’s creation.  I thought for a couple minutes about them before I answered, mostly because my answers were on camera, and one of my biggest fears is appearing foolish in front of other people, right?  But when I answered them, I felt like I wasn’t completely honest about how I really feel.  So I thought I might answer them again.

When I think about God’s creation, what brings me joy?

Since I don’t hear from God directly, His creation has been the primary way he’s spoken to me over the course of my life.  I am fascinated by order (even though I know I’m often not truly orderly) and there’s nothing that appears more deliberate to me than the universe.  It’s so complex.  There’s no way any of it could be accidental or coincidence, and if God is consistent, than I can only assume that all the other things HE does are neither accidental or coincidence.  Also, complex can be loosely extrapolated to BIG.  GOD IS BIG.  That fact has given me so much comfort over the years.  If He can create a world that turns on an axis, pointed at the perfect angle, while simultaneously rotating around the sun….so I know when to sleep and when to eat and when to harvest my crops (don’t be fooled, I don’t have any crops), then He can surely take care of me.   All of my concerns are certainly fixable and not a difficulty for HIM.  So…because I know He is able and I know He is deliberate, I take heart even though I don’t hear Him and don’t understand sometimes.  That brings me joy.

What hope do I have for the church in terms of loving God’s creation?

My real hope is that the church can use caring for the environment as a way to reach out to people that don’t love Jesus.  The issue of the planet is one that’s important to people who don’t know God, and I can very much understand why.  If a person doesn’t believe in a higher power, than this world is all he or she has.  Certainly being protective of that is understandable.  It seems to me that being careless with the place we live could come off as a pinch self centered and borderline careless.  If we show people that we love this place and understand it’s importance, but manage to convey to them that there are things more important still…then we have succeeded.  It’s a chance to show people the heart of Jesus.  A Jesus who wouldn’t create something and then abandon it.  A Jesus who entrusted us with something good and beautiful, that demonstrates who He is and how He functions.   It seems to me that taking care of somethin, being responsible even, demonstrates respect for the one who gave that responsibility.  People will see how much we love Him and wonder why.