“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world,
and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.” Psalm 24:1-2.

Meditate on these verses and then think of this week’s headlines—polluted ecosystems, toxins in our food, unusual floods and droughts, species extinctions, deforestation. How would God view these? What do you feel? Anger? Disbelief? Indifference? Guilt? Powerlessness? Hopelessness? Are you too busy to react? Satisfied with your stewardship? Determined to act?

Believers, equipped with the Holy Spirit, can bring joy, hope, and love to the environmental issues of our day. Christians can not only enjoy God’s creation, but also speak out as witnesses to what is contributing to our earth’s crisis. In addition, the daily decisions about what we avoid, use, and creatively re-use offer opportunities for caring, humility, and service to others. Consider water: God made it once, it’s been recycled since creation, and we all share it. Thinking about that will increase our appreciation of God and deter us from putting toxins down our drains or on our yards.

A spiritual discipline is something that, if we pursue it consistently, draws us closer to God. Caring for the world that God created—enjoying His Creation and living in a way that is sustainable for the planet on a day-to-day basis—can be a spiritual discipline. This is not about legalism, blame, or pride, but rather responding to God’s call for stewardship, caring for “the least of these” (Matt 25:40, 45), and seeking justice (Lev 19:18; Matt 22:39). Ecosystem destruction and climate change hurt the poor disproportionately. Meanwhile, Americans on average use more than their share of resources and contribute more than their share of pollution. What should we do?

Begin by praying. As you seek to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, He will empower you to take the next step. One possibility is measuring your resource usage at www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/. This will give you both a baseline and ideas for improvement.

Check out the accompanying examples from Bethany members. Consider reading Serve God, Save the Planet by Dr. Matthew Sleeth, directors of A Rocha USA, Christians in Conservation (www.arocha.org). Watch for upcoming book discussions, events to help our planet and enjoy nature. Anyone who wants to be part of the Creation Stewardship group is most welcome to join us. As a church we want to get ideas about next steps in developing new habits and caring for this planet.

A few examples of creation stewardship
from Bethany families

Celebration
Sara McMahon- explores local natural wonderlands and builds relationships by organizing hikes.
(Watch for invitations in the bulletin to join her family and others on these adventures.)

Food
Doug Ireton and Kimberlee Conway Ireton focus on food choices. They began by avoiding factory farmed food due to the water and air
pollution produced, usually in poor areas. Their environmental concern naturally led them to local sustainable agriculture. While often more expensive than non-local, non-organic options they keep costs down by buying almost no processed food and buying in bulk.
For more detail about the environmental, social justice, and theological issues in food choices see Kimberlee’s
article “Local Food: Global Good” in www.thethoughtful
christian.com. To learn more about food justice, Kimberlee recommends books such as Barbara Kingslover’s Animal, Vegetable, and Miracle, Wendell Berry’s agrarian essays, and Michael Pollen’s The Omnivore’s Dilemna.

Transportation
The Beaumonts can tell you about their experiences with non car centric living.

Vocation
Mark Plunkett works on creation care at the Seattle Aquarium. Bernardo Reyes and Joe Wagner tend our church and grounds with loving care (e.g., composting, using non toxic products and preowned plants and shrubs).