Creation speaks to us if we are open to listen. Psalm 148 has a creation choir, made up of rocks and weather and animals and last of all humans. We are simply another voice in the choir of creation.
At the start of Paul’s letter to the Romans he writes that God’s will can be read in creation for all people just as it was written in the law for the Jews. This is why Thomas Aquinas called creation the second book of God. And I think part of what the threads of creation exhibition is doing is capturing that voice of creation.
in Romans 8 Paul uses a powerful image to talk about the future of humanity and creation. He likens the suffering of the world and of humanity to the labour pains before childbirth. He links this for us to suffering with Christ, in the hope of also experiencing the glory of Christ’s resurrection. Then in classic fashion for Paul, he changes the metaphor for one of adoption as children of God. This process of new birth or adoption is linked to the gift of the Holy Spirit. This language of being children of God by adoption is used here, as is often the case in Paul, to speak of us as sharing the inheritance of Jesus as God’s son.
Creation is described as waiting eagerly for the revealing of the children of God. And somehow the revealing of the children of God is linked to the rebirth of creation, and to the whole of creation experiencing the liberty and freedom from decay and suffering that belongs to the children of God.
That humanity and creation are suffering can be seen in so many events that fill our news channels. Whether it is war, sickness, or climate change. And so many of these are caused by the way humans live. Elsewhere, Paul speaks of how we as humans find ourselves doing things we wish we did not do. He often refers to this as being under the power of sin and death. A power that we cannot break free of through our own strength. And it is not only humanity that suffers the consequences of this, but the whole of creation and all we share life with on this planet.
Responding to the climate crisis can sometimes appear to be an issue of technology or lifestyle changes like creating renewable energy, recycling or changing our light bulbs. But, whilst these are helpful, they miss the fundamental point that it is actually the need for a deep change in human nature that is the real issue. The problem is that, as Paul describes it, we are in the grip of sin and death. Without being set free from this power humanity and creation have no hope.
I remember once discussing our environmental crisis with someone who argued for what I might describe as the Elon Musk solution of eventually being able to colonise other planets when this one became uninhabitable. However, without a radical change in human nature even if that was one day a viable option, we’d only make the same kind of mess of any other planet we inhabited. I also have a strong suspicion that it would only be the rich and powerful who would be on those rocket ships.
Paul however, speaks of a hope for the future for both humanity and our planet. This hope is witnessed to by the spirit of God within us. This hope can be ours and creation’s because in Jesus God overcomes the power of sin and death. This is the freedom of the children of God that Paul speaks of.
Elsewhere Paul describes a new creation that begins with the resurrection of Jesus. This new creation is spoken of in the original Greek as the same creation made new not a replacement creation. It is often said in environmental circles that there is no planet B. This is also true in God’s plan. When we pray the Lord’s prayer we repeat the phrase your Kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. As Tom right points out Christianity can sometimes appear to be talking about how people can go to heaven when they die. To be talking about how we are saved from the world, when in reality what the Bible speaks of is how we can be saved for the world.
Christians have sometimes failed to understand God’s plan for creation because our faith has been too centred on what happens to people and therefore missed the whole story of salvation which goes from creation to new creation. Equally, Christians have sometimes also failed to realise that the solution to our environmental crisis is at the heart of our mission and evangelism because these are about calling people to be set free from sin and death through Jesus. We need to be reborn as children of God so that we can live as the Spirit enables us. Our hope and the hope for our planet require this change in humanity that only Christ can bring. This change is not only in how we live but also a change in our relationship with both God and creation.
Saint Francis famously wrote in the canticle of the creatures that all of creation were our brothers and sisters. In this passage in Romans Paul speaks of the whole of creation also in labour pains awaiting the revealing of the children of God so it too can experience the liberty that the children of God experience. The human race, especially over recent centuries, has tended to view itself as above creation as if creation was a resource to be used. It is this that has often led to creation being abused. Paul and St Francis imagine a relationship with creation in which we share the reality of being God’s children and so creation does become our brothers and sisters. How might this change how we treat creation? But, whilst this rightly reminds us that we are part of creation and not separate from it, we also uniquely bear God’s image and because of that have a unique responsibility for how we care for creation. This is why the salvation of creation is linked to our transformation. The hope for a solution to the environmental crisis lies in humanity recovering its true identity as children of God. This is how Jesus prayer can be answered and God’s Kingdom come on earth as in heaven.
by Revd Steve Hollinghurst, Mission Enabler Environment, Hereford Diocese, Church of England
