Who receives God’s first blessing?

When you read Genesis 1:20-22 you’ll find it isn’t mankind or Adam. It is all of the living creatures of the sea and all of the birds.

How remarkable. How beautiful.

And that’s easy to miss. We tend to focus, in a self-centered way, on God’s blessing to humanity later in the chapter. It’s similarly easy to miss that in Genesis the rainbow is intended as a sign of God’s covenant with humanity and Creation.

Christians have tended to miss a fundamental point. God’s earth matters to God.

But miss it we do. Even when Creation is right there in the front of us in the Bible and all around us.

I had a good conversation recently with a middle-aged Christian. She shared something startling. Until she spent the last summer at the Au Sable Institute, she had not heard of the concept of Creation care.

How can that be?

How could a Christian spend years going to church and in fellowship with other Christians and not be aware of something so fundamental?

If Chrisitans aren’t hearing about it, is it any wonder that Christians are largely not engaged in actively stewarding God’s earth? Worse yet, is it any wonder that Christians accept Creation-harming activities that show neither love for God nor for neighbor?

In the last month or so, a number of new people have signed up to receive this blog by email. I am, of course, deighted. This, along with that conversation I mentioned, is prompting me to feel I need to address some fundamental topics in coming posts.

I will share the reasons why the concept of Creation care is either ignored or just plain hard for Christians.

Another post will explore a positive theme – how striving to be a good shepherd of God’s earth enriches a Christian’s walk in faith.

I will share, too, the story of a person who was called to lead a specific and challenging effort that is culturally changing how Christians interact with Creation. I believe you’ll appreciate how he’s blessed people and Creation even when he didn’t feel equipped to do so. You’ll see he’s been blessed in the process.

Some of what I share will, I hope, be inspiring. Some will likely be challenging. I feel the need to do both.

Please let me know how I can be of service to your own calling in this direction. Let’s learn together what it takes to live a whole Christian faith.