3/21 Thursday in the Fifth Week of Lent

Isaiah 43:20-21

The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

An offering from Rob Leacock.

It seems that the older I get the more concerned I am with issues relating to the environment.  Perhaps it is having children and my concern for the world in which they grow up.  Perhaps it is living in an environmentally-aware community like Austin.  Perhaps it is the rise in environmental reporting in our media.  More than likely it is a combination of all of these things.

For me, though, it is a theological matter.  When I claim that God created the heavens and the earth, it is implicit (at least to me) that God formed his creation with divine intentions.  God creates life from nothing.  Humans God forms from the dust.  God makes water to bubble up in a desert.  And God intends it for good.

More and more I see my own identity as it relates to the whole of creation.  Am I fitting into God’s divine ordering of creation?  And often I wonder how my actions run counter to God’s purpose for his creation.  As an aside, the commandment that is probably disregarded the most is keeping the Sabbath, which is far less about “going to church” than it is about honoring God’s creation.  Ultimately, I remember that God’s divine intention for the world is what gives the creation its goodness.  God created the world for God’s joy and delight and ours.

Prayer for Joy in God's Creation

O heavenly Father, who has filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.