Sustainable Living?

Last week I was working on mulching our flower beds around the house. This is the first year that I've been responsible for edging, mulching and maintaining my own flower beds. It's a treat, once it's done. But as I talked about earlier, work is not a bad thing. I was reflecting again on the Creation story that begins in a garden. Today you hear a lot about Sustainable Living. It's a big deal because the way much of the world is living cannot continue. During the industrial revolution the church developed a theology of Dominion over creation rather than stewardship of creation. We've stripped the land, developed unhealthy, unnatural practices and over-all degraded God's good creation. So sustainable living is a step in the right direction.

But in the Creation Story God says "be fruitful" (Gen. 1:28) and the writer states God placed the man in the garden to "work it and take care of it" (Gen. 2:15). It seems that God intended life to multiply for growth and expansion. And for it to be done in harmony with the rest of creation. Today we're just hoping that we can hand something down to the next generation through sustainable living.

A few years ago a the Grove we started a recycling ministry. We recycle paper in the office and used bulletins as well as plastic, metal and glass containers in the kitchen and old magazines. I remember when we started that the group said if anyone should care about Creation and being green, it's Christians. We should be the ones leading the way in being stewards of God's creation. It doesn't mean that we can't use resources that God has provided for us, but that we should use those resources in a responsible way. The way we live should be fruitful and multiply for the next generation. What if all Christians would take a look at our resources and practices and seek for the best way to honor God in those ways. Perhaps we would change from just being sustainable to being fruitful and multiplying.