Caring for Creation

Introduction (5m)

Our climate is in crisis

Video: BBC News - Climate Change | 2:00

CC accelerating, creatures, plants dying at alarming rate. Carbon emissions > temperature rise > increasing/intensifyng extreme weather events.

What is our response?

Our Creator’s mission is our mission

Colossians 1:20 NLT

and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

God created our world and he loves it

Because he loves it he wants to reconcile it (make right his relationship with it) to himself.

That’s why he sent his Son, Jesus Christ into the world

Not just to reconcile human beings with himself, but to save the planet too.

And God’s mission is our mission

Explanation (5m)

All of life is all about Christ

Colossians 1:15–16 NLT

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.

Christ is the visible expression of the invisible God

Creative purpose that shaped creation. / Remains supreme over it. / Unifying person who underlies whole cosmos and continues to hold it together. God is reconciling (making right his relationship) to all things, not just humans, in JC.

Creation needs a Saviour just as much as humans do

The two dimensions of the cross

Vertical - reconciliation with God. / Horizontal - reconciliation with each other.

The third dimension of the cross

Shane Claiborne: one early Christian - cross planted firmly in earth - reconciliation with creation.

We spend an awful lot of time deciding how we can save the planet

Only JC can do that.

Our role is to take up our cross and follow him

Firmly plant it in the earth and do what we can to reconcile ourselves with creation too.

Application (5m)

Are we as connected to creation as Jesus is?

He’s the centre of it all

Everything begins and ends with him. / Creation totally connected to him and vice versa.

If that’s true, then we should live completely for him

Anything else irrational - against natural order. / Calls for total commitment, including towards creation. / If Jesus totally connected to climate, then we should be too.

How are we following his example?

Reconciling and restoring broken climate? As we take up our cross, how are we planting it firmly in earth and helping to reconcile ourselves to earth?

Our mission is to care for all creation

The whole creation is waiting in eager longing ... for God’s children to be revealed: in other words, for the unveiling of those redeemed humans through whose stewardship creation will at last be brought back into that wise order for which it was made. (Bishop Tom Wright, author).

Our climate is in crisis

Trend - warming 3-5ºC by end of century. / 6 years ago countries pledged to keep to 1.5ºC but not enough to do this.

Requires ‘rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society’. (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC))

If we want to be part of God’s mission, then we need to think about changes we need to make

See God’s creation as he sees it - full of his beauty and majesty.

We can practice the 7 Rs

Video: The 7 Rs | 1:00

Reduce - buy/travel/do less / Reuse - avoid single use/disposables / Recycle - last resort - still uses energy / Repair - don’t bin / Rent, borrow, share - ownership overrated / Refuse - to believe adverts! / Rejoice - in all God’s given for free.

Next Steps

Harvest Commitment Cards

Questions for Reflection/Small Group Discussion

When have you experienced the presence of God in nature? What was it about the setting that revealed God? What was it you discovered about him in these moments?

To what extent does the care of creation fit into your understanding of mission? Has this always been the case? If not, what changed?

How could you as a Christian, or a small group or we as a corps take care of creation more seriously as part of our missional activities?

Prayer Subjects

Pray that each of us would hear the cry of the world for the damage we have done and be moved to protect it for future generations to enjoy.

Pray for those facing droughts, floods and storms. That God may give them strength and hope for the future as they adapt to climate change.

Pray for the worldwide Church. The we might be a beacon of hope throughout the world, reminding everyone of our responsibility to care for and to protect God’s precious gift of creation.