Creation Care

To my dear TFMC family,
On Monday, April 22nd, people across the globe observe ‘Earth Day.’ Originally conceived in the 1970’s and 80’s, Earth Day has been in my awareness since I first learned about it in Grade 6 or 7, if memory serves me well. As a child I remember on April 22nd being excused from class so we could go and collect trash at and around the school yard. At the time, I felt that we were making a difference. As I grew older, I realized that while collecting trash was one thing, there was so much more that could be done.
For me at least, environmental concerns were always in my awareness. I remember as a child taking for granted the recycling programs, I was impressed when our compost program rolled out in Niagara.
My appreciation for these only grew after I moved away. When I learned that in the different cities I lived in, curbside compost didn’t exist. I learned how far ahead the Niagara Region was with waste management. And yet, it still didn’t feel like I was doing enough.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned about the complexity of creation care. When I married Christine, we had, and continue to have, a number of conversations about the difference between Creation Care and Environmental Sustainability. I’ve learned the three ‘R’s, are not arbitrary in their order. The first step towards sustainability, and even creation care, is to reduce our consumption, something that, generally, many North Americans have a tough time with. Only after reducing our consumption, and reusing what we have, do we recycle.And yet, it still doesn’t feel like enough.
This is the tricky part of any of our conversations around Creation Care, there is always more that one could do. And it can feel exhausting when everything one does doesn’t seem like enough. What’s often missed in this conversation is that this is something that’s not just up to us.
In conversations around creation care there are perspectives on either end of the spectrum, and so many that fall in between. One perspective is often, climate change is not a concern, God’s going to replace creation eventually. The perspective on the other end is often, we had better fix this because no one, human or otherwise, is going to do it for us. I find myself somewhere in between those, recognizing that we, humankind, have a lot we can do, and at the same time, it’s not entirely up to us. God has a part to play too.
Creation Care, is about caring for God’s creation, alongside God. The element of faith is trusting that God is at work healing creation, this was part of Jesus’ mission on earth. Caring for creation is something that we do with God. For me that means I do what I can with the resources that I have available to me, and, at the same time, I’m trusting that God is working through and with others, inspiring those who have different resources than I to do what they can. The key word in all of this is with. Collectively we’re going to have to work to fix this, and it’s key for us to remember that it’s us, here on earth working alongside the divine; alongside the creator; alongside God.
As Earth Day comes around, perhaps, in addition to being intentional this day to care for creation, we also remember and engage with God and God’s work in caring for God’s creation.
Yours,
Craig Janzen Neufeld, Pastor