Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world God’s
invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen,
being understood from what has been made, so that mortals are without excuse.”
As a
child of about 10, my brother had knee surgery.
With a full hospital, they didn’t have enough room in pediatrics and so
he found himself sharing a room with three other men in the adult section of
the hospital. As we walked in to visit
him, I noticed that at the foot of each man’s bed, just over the doctor’s chart,
there was a drawing. Each drawing was
different, showing the man in each bed in a variety of odd situations. In one, the man was coming out of a
toothpaste tube. Another was rolling
down the lane of a bowling alley. My
parents and I did not have to ask where those pictures had come from. We knew the artist well and recognized his
style in an instant. Rob just sat in his
bed with a wry grin on his face.
The
natural world is meant to do that for us.
It is God’s work of art, and the precision, style, and beauty names its
author with the flight of every bird and the crashing of every wave on the shore. More than that, Creation contains the message
of the Gospel. It is the first
revelation of God to humanity. The truth
of death and resurrection is written into every winter and spring. The need to love our neighbor is evident in
the interdependence of all things in the complex ecosystems of the earth; and
the need to love ourselves is coded into our survival instincts. Even those with no real interest in religion
can’t help but think of God when standing before the Alps or
Paul
recognized this. Even those who didn’t
have the benefit of learning about God through religious training have no excuse
for not knowing, because they are surrounded by evidence of God’s handiwork. The natural world is not just pretty. It is not just a collection of useful
resources. It is the revelation of the
nature and intention of God. For us to
take it for granted, pollute it, or use it to the point of extinction is like
tearing pages from the last Bible on earth and burning them to ashes. Creation is God’s way of providing a witness,
a means of knowing God, to those who might have no other way. It is a conversion place for many, and the
only solace for many who have been harmed by human witness in one way or
another.
Paul
tells us later that all of Creation is groaning for its redemption. It longs to once again be the clear and
unpolluted witness to the love and power and glory of God that it once was. Caring for the earth is a form of evangelism,
and those of us who claim to be the people of God should be hard at work to
restore its message.
Creator God, give us the
passion to reclaim our role as stewards of your world. Amen.
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