Creation Care
Did you ever notice how often components of creation are directly and indirectly mentioned in a typical worship service? Nearly every Sunday morning worship service includes at least one hymn, at least one prayer and at least one lesson that incorporates nature/creation components. Even the sacraments themselves include the natural elements of water, bread (wheat) and wine (grapes).
Nature/creation are indeed very Biblical. Nature/creation are used to give praise. They clarify faith matters such as stewardship, forgiveness, and the three persons of God. No wonder: the people of those times lived much closer to nature than now. Their spirituality was distinctively clarified through nature. As we’ve become more technological and profit-centered, we’ve become less aware of the fullness of nature/creation to focus matters of faith, spirituality, justice and life itself.
One of these matters is that of worship. {1} To be clear, we do not worship nature/creation. To use a scholarly term, we practice panentheism, the theological position that God is immanent within the Universe and transcends it. It is distinguished from pantheism, which holds that God is synonymous with the material universe. In panentheism, God is viewed as the creator (animating force behind the universe), and the source of universal morality, justice and mercy. We use nature/creation in worship to recognize, celebrate and encounter God in all and of all. “There is one body and one Spirit, … one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” {NRSV, Ephesians 4: 4-6}
Other than the October Sunday honoring St. Francis, Creation Care is not specifically identified in the liturgical calendar as it was when I was a youth ... but it is indeed historically supported in Rogate Sunday and the festival Rogation Days, traditionally the fifth or sixth Sunday after Easter and immediately before Ascension Sunday. The ELCA document “What Are ‘Rogation Days?’” states:
"Stewardship of creation is an ongoing ministry in the church. The creation, which God declared good, is entrusted to the care of humankind. Exercising that care is one dimension of daily Christian discipleship. Rogation Days are a way for the church to honor God for the gift of creation and to pray for the land, the gift of labor, and the needs of all people. ... The word, Rogation, has its roots in the Latin word “rogare” which means to ask or petition. ... In some places, the celebrations of Rogation Days were quite elaborate and included processions from the church to and around fields while asking for God’s blessing. Churches that have maintained the practice of celebrating Rogation Days in our time now no longer mark these days specifically before Ascension. Instead, Rogation Days are celebrated at times and places that meet local needs. With an increased awareness of the need for the stewardship of creation both within the church and within contemporary culture, the themes of thanksgiving for the land and petitions for a fruitful earth may be adapted around broader cultural celebrations of Earth Day or at other times. ... These days (now) underscore the dependence of all people, urban and rural, on the fruitfulness of the earth and human labor. The themes of Rogation Days may be highlighted in a special worship service or in prayers of intercession in the Sunday assembly during the spring. Practice Evangelical Lutheran Worship has a set of propers to commemorate the "Stewardship of Creation (see Evangelical Lutheran Worship)." {2}
Without doubt, the Goods News is for all people, including the marginalized. It is also for all creation. "For creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God, ... in hope that creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." {NRSV, Romans 8: 19, 21} The more creation is compromised, the marginalized are more adversely affected and all humanity is more jeopardized. Creation Care is about… Vision Urgency Hope Justice and The Call to Justice Commitment of the Church and Its People Action (Claiming the Promise) These themes - and then some - are substantiated in the many works of Christian theologians, such as those in the Lutheran tradition (i.e., Martin Luther, Larry Rasmussen, Joseph Sitler, Jim Martin-Schramm). Likewise, the 12-page ELCA Social Statement, “Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice” (1993), also expands on the above themes, concluding with:
“Given the power of sin and evil in this world, as well as the complexity of environmental problems, we know we can find no ‘quick fix'—whether technological, economic, or spiritual. A sustainable environment requires a sustained effort from everyone. The prospect of doing too little too late leads many people to despair. But as people of faith, captives of hope, and vehicles of God’s promise, we face the crisis. We claim the promise of ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ (Revelation 21:1), and join in the offertory prayer (Lutheran Book of Worship, page 109): ‘Blessed are you, O Lord our God, maker of all things. Through your goodness you have blessed us with these gifts. With them we offer ourselves to your service and dedicate our lives to the care and redemption of all that you have made, for the sake of him who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.’ ” {3}
Although the lectionary doesn't easily lend itself to preaching on Creation Care, there is substantial room for doing so when speaking about vision, justice, our call to justice, commitment, stewardship, and action (claiming God’s promise). There are many suggestions for preaching, prayers, confession, lectionaries, hymns, settings and their respective appropriateness from Lutherans Restoring Creation, other worship resources and our hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Worship.
Although worship and spirituality are related, they are not identical. At the risk of being too simplistic: spirituality informs faith >> faith shapes theology >> theology builds organized religion >> organized religion institutionalizes worship.
Spirituality tends to be more individual than corporate, and as such, more meditative, mystical, and internalized. Another “way to define and describe spirituality is that it grows out of the depth of our awareness of God’s presence, both within our own being and within all that surrounds us.” {4}
It can be said that internalized nature/creation experiences are essential to spirituality. Here’s what a few Christian writers/theologians have said:
“The Spirit of life dwells in every living creature and calls us to enter into relationship with him.” {5}
“... if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously. The poverty and austerity of Saint Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism, but something much more radical: a refusal to turn reality into an object simply to be used and controlled. … A sense of deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings. … The universe as a whole, in all its manifold relationships, shows forth the inexhaustible riches of God.” {6}
“What makes creation spirituality different? … (It) does involve, for some, a new way of seeing and a new way of learning to be receptive to God’s immanence, or presence. … St. Augustine called creation God’s other ‘great book.’ … Thomas Acquinas put it this way: ‘Sacred teachings are bound in two volumes, that of Creation and that of Holy Scripture.’” {4}
Future Tidings Articles about Creation Care “What Can HTELC Do?” “What Can I and My Household Do?” Content Summaries of Creation Care Books in our HTELC Library
{1} “Lutheran worship is a foundation of faith for everything we do through God’s word, water, bread and prayer. In worship we gather together, nurtured in faith and sent out into the world. Worship is fundamentally about what God is doing and our response to God’s action. Worship is an encounter with God, who saves us through … Jesus Christ.” https://www.elca.org/Our-Work/Congregations-and-Synods/Worship (ELCA)
{2} https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/What_are_Rogation_Days.pdf (ELCA)
{3} https://www.elca.org/Faith/Faith-and-Society/Social-Statements/Caring-for-Creation (ELCA)
{4} http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Awakening_To_Gods_Call_To_Earthkeeping.pdf (ELCA)
{5} National Conference of the Bishops of Brazil (Roman Catholic), A Igreja e a Questão Ecológica, 1992, pages 53-54
{6} Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home, Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana (2015)