Creation Care
Our care for the earth as Christians is as fundamental as our care for our physical bodies. These are the vessels and dwelling places that God has given us to inhabit, and just as we are only given one body in which to live we are also only given one earth. So often in our fast-paced lives, we easily forget our dependency on God’s creation—the earth. We forget the miracle of the air that we breathe, the water that quenches our thirst, and the land from which we harvest our food. Through the earth, God answers our prayers for daily bread. This creation is truly a miracle from God.
“With deep appreciation of God’s creation we believe we are to strive to exhibit the stewardship qualities that help preserve His work. Recognizing we have been given a stake in sustaining the integrity of our surroundings, we accept the individual and collective responsibilities of doing so.” (Genesis 2:15, Psalms 8:3-9; 19:1-4; 148)
Nazarene Manual 903.10
As Christians, we are called to remember the earth that we so often neglect—the land, the rain, and the sun that miraculously work together to make our food, water, and shelter a daily reality. When we neglect the earth and its need for rest and restoration, we also neglect our sisters and brothers in Christ who live in poverty. The world’s most impoverished citizens often feel the greatest impact of our environmental destruction. Living on the earth as members of the Body of Christ, we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves.
It is our hope that these educational pages will help you to reflect with us on our Christian responsibility toward the environment. God has intimately tied us to one another and to the earth. There is an distinct resemblance between how we are called to live with one another and how we are called to live on the earth as members of the Body of Christ. We are called to holiness in heart and mind, word and action. Thanks be to God!
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