When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honour.
— Psalm 8:3-5
Recently, I came across an image in my newsfeed that caught my attention. It was a map created by astronomers at the University of Hawaii. The research behind the map not only confirmed that our galaxy is indeed part of a much, much larger supercluster which they named Laniakea (Hawaiian for “immeasurable heaven”), but they were better able to understand how nearby galaxies interact with one another. On the image of this supercluster that appeared to be thousands of tiny dots, there was an arrow pointing to one tiny dot in the corner. The text below the arrow said, “You are here.” That dot represented our Milky Way which includes 200 to 400 billion stars. Doesn’t that put a little perspective on our place in creation.
The psalmists wrote about creation often (Psalm 8, 104 and others). Of course, those poets would have no idea of the magnitude of our universe and yet there seems to be a grasp of the awesomeness of what God has created. Thousands of years before smog, acid rain, holes in the ozone and climate change, a person sat under the stars in the ancient near east, looked into the heavens with awe. Or they would walk through a forest glade and see and hear and smell the beauty of nature around them and know that God was near. Without understandings of biology or astronomy, they tried to capture in words a song of praise of creation and its Creator.
Their poetry moves the reader beyond a ‘me first’ concept in the grand scheme of things and brings to focus the wonder and glory of God’s handiwork. It reminds us, as a part of it, mere mortals, to be in wonder, express our gratitude, and to be good stewards in the care of our little corner of everything.
Thus, our calling and our commitment is one of praise and thanksgiving which should lead us to being loving caregivers of creation. For people of faith, creation care is not motivated by political positions or even scientific algorithms, but out of our theological understanding of God’s place as creator and our place as creature. To serve God means to serve God’s creation. Creation care is to be a part of who we are and is our utmost responsibility. As co-habitants of this planet, we are to care about the air we breathe, the water we drink, the natural resources we have, the fellow creatures we share this planet with as well as the generations to come who will inherit what we have left for them.
The psalmists give us a beautiful reminder of the created order that God loves so much. And if creation is the holy handiwork of God, and all aspects including humankind are so intricately related to one another and to our Creator, then don’t we have the responsibility to care for this creation as well? It shouldn’t even be a thought to treat carelessly that which God loves so abundantly. Our ancient forebearers have sent us a reminder that our stewardship is in order and that our praise should be paramount.
— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Todd Hackman is senior pastor at St. John’s United Church of Christ in Monroe.
