Spring Day 1 September 2021
It is spring, and all around us new life is coming forth. The birds are nesting, the plants are budding, the sun has a new warmth. My prayer is that we will take the time and effort to appreciate the newness in the season and focus your thoughts on God as the Creator and the mastermind that put all of nature into motion. When we look at how things are designed and how they work in nature we learn a great deal about God. There is a timelessness in the circle of life, there is a consistency to the struggle for survival, there is a consistence to the need for balance and that hardship and oversupply are both mechanisms that cause change and bring about a reordering of things.
In this generation we are very blessed to have the volume of documentaries on Nature and the world around us, however we must watch these with a discerning eye.
There are a number of philosophies about nature and creation, and here (oversimplified for brevities sake) I wish to highlight three that we must be aware of.
Every Religion and philosophy needs a creation story to explain how the earth came to exist and why it came to exist. No one was there at the beginning and so they use the evidence that is available and interpret it to fit their worldview. Language is used or created to support this way of thinking. Often language is used by different philosophies to mean different things.
We must not be confused by these different ways of thinking; but we must be wise in the way that we interact with the philosophies of this world.
Atheists who believe that there is no God need to work off the starting point that there is no intelligent design, no separate entity that created anything. They believe that life just happened and in an uncontrolled and inexplicable manner everything came to be of its own power and without purpose. Then things evolved as they needed to survive.
Agnostics believe that although there is a God he does not engage with worldly things and so they can believe that God created everything but is not involved with it. God does not cause anything to happen in a particular way and that nature adapts and evolves as circumstances demands. They can also believe that creation, or the “universe” is god.
The Biblical world view is that that not only did God create everything, but that he manages the earth controlling the weather, guiding the people of the earth by bringing or withholding rain, using nature to chastise or to bless. The biblical view is also much broader than a simplistic reading of creation and we will be exploring how we need to develop our understanding of God and His creation.
All three as philosophies have major challenges and we need to allow the Holy Spirit to deepen our understanding of creation and of our responsibility to be “Earth Keepers,” stewards of what God has placed in our care – all the earth and everything in it.
While you need to examine what you believe and why and how you use that belief to understand existence, I would like to sow “seeds” for you to think about and pray that you allow those seeds to grow as you make sense of your world. So, in this season of Creation allow yourself to be challenged by the world around you and think about what God is doing and how God is doing it. Be drawn closer to Christ as you breathe God in, as you receive his mercy in the produce of the earth and as you enjoy the fruit that God has given you. Interrogate what you have been taught and what you have experienced and be transformed by the renewal of your minds so that you may discern What God’s perfect will is (Romans 12:2)
In this series of Meditations I pray that God will move your hearts and deepen your theology of the God who created all things.
Let us pray.
God, Creator of our common home,
your boundless love includes everyone.
Open our hearts and minds to your generous will
that we may proclaim Christ’s love and justice
through words and actions.
May we serve the needs of our neighbours
within the Community of all Creation
and may justice flow down like rivers. Amen
