By Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon
This year our congregation is reading through the Bible together, looking for overarching themes that recur throughout the scriptures. On the first Sunday of our scriptural journey, I preached the creation story from Genesis 2–3. As I reread the story, a central theme struck me: When God created the world, all of creation was in right relationship. Human beings were in right relationship with God, with one another, with ourselves and with the Garden, the land, the animals.
But when Adam and Eve bit into that forbidden fruit, God’s intent for creation was violated. Their desire to be like God, to trust themselves more than God, to put themselves in the place of God, distorted those relationships. And when their eyes were opened to what they had done, they hid themselves from God.
Throughout the Scriptures, we see a God who steadfastly calls us out of hiding and seeks to restore those relationships. We see God calling a chosen people to inhabit a new land, putting before them a way of life in the Torah, a way that includes giving sabbath rest even to the land. We see a God who has compassion for the animals of Nineveh in the book of Jonah. We witness the wonder of creation as God speaks to Job. We see Jesus in relationship with the wind and waters, which calm at his command. Over and over again, we hear him turn to the trees, fields, gardens, and mountains to teach us about the kingdom of God.
For most of my ministry, I have focused my preaching on God’s desire to restore us to right relationship with Godself, with others, and with ourselves. I’ve focused on people. But what if loving God, others, and ourselves is intricately connected with loving all that God has created? Can we say we love God if we treat God’s creation as a commodity, placed here only for our consumption? Can we say we love God if we are not moved by compassion for the animals that suffer as the ice caps melt? Can we say we love others if we ignore the suffering of our neighbors affected by the floods, hurricanes, and mudslides brought on by human habits? Can we say we love ourselves if we do not accept the responsibility God gives us to be stewards of all that God has created?
In more recent years, I have come to believe that abiding in right relationship with God means living in right relationship not only with others and with ourselves, but also with creation. We are called to be faithful stewards of this good Earth that God has given us. As a result, I have made an effort in my preaching, in our liturgy, and in other creative ways to include creation care as part of living in right relationship with God.
Because of our sin and brokenness, we humans have often chosen to use the natural world for our own gain. We have treated it as a commodity to be consumed, and we have caused incredible damage. God’s intent from the very beginning of the story has been to call us out of our brokenness into a life of wholeness. I believe God is restoring us every day. Through the grace offered to us in Jesus Christ and the power given to us by the Holy Spirit, we can participate in the restorative work that God is doing in the world. Here and now. Now and not later.
Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon is senior pastor of West End United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. She and her husband are recyclers and composters and spend as much time in God’s good creation as possible. She loves hiking, especially at local parks like Radnor Lake and Percy Warner park. She and her family share life with a sweet dog named Gabby and were for a time caregivers to a snake. She is growing in her love of birding and looks forward to learning more about gardening, now that they are empty-nesters.