Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
So God created humankind in God’s image, in the image of God, God created them; male and female God created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so.
God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.
And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
- Genesis 1:26-31
In the beginning, God created the heavens and sculpted the earth so that there would be high places to catch the rain and snow, glaciers and aquifers to store the abundance, and rivers, streams and rivulets to carry the goodness to all the living things that God created. And God saw that it was good.
As we approach Earth Day on April 22, we approach another opportunity to examine how we have lived into the call to care for the goodness of God’s creation.
There is cause to pause and lament that the damage of climate change has become such a destructive force to our planet. That we have flattened the high places, made grids upon the land and redirected the flowing waters. The perfected basins that God created to catch the rain and snow no longer define the people, animals and plants. We have created things in the chaos, but we can’t call it good.
There is cause to pause and remember that this is why the call to care for the goodness of God’s creation is such an important one for the church. The active agents in climate change impact us and our neighbors, animal life, and our ecosystem.
So long as fossil fuel companies are hurting our neighbors, this is a church issue. So long as all of our futures are at stake because of the consumption of a few, this is a church issue. So long as people of color and poor communities are impacted first and worst by climate change, this is a church issue.
There is cause to pause and give thanks that when we are working for climate justice and the goodness of creation, we’re putting our faith into action.
DID YOU KNOW…that one way we can engage in social change is by protecting and nurturing our environment?
We can do that through simple actions like recycling, by using reusable containers in our homes, by walking to church instead of driving. We can do that through actions like supporting our very own community garden that feeds our local system as well as people. We can also do that by protecting some of the smallest victims of climate change: honey bees.
In her February Pastor’s Peace, Rev. Bair spoke about how truly vital bees are to our very food chain and survival. Thus, to commemorate Earth Day weekend on April 24, we will unite as a concerned and curious congregation at Rutgers to learn about the effects of climate change on our local pollination patterns from New Jersey beekeepers. We will experience first-hand how amazing these “super-organisms” are and find out what we can do to help. It promises to “bee” an enlightening experience for FPC members of all ages, so we truly hope you’ll join Rev. Bair and the Social Justice Committee.
As we finalize details of this trip, mark your calendar to visit the bees at Rutgers on April 24 at 1:00 pm. Stay tuned!