CT-NAE-EEN Conference on Creation-care June 28-30, 2004

Opening Devotional: Cheryl Johns
Professor, Church of God Theological Seminary

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. (Job 12:7)

We are gathered at Sandy Cove to address an issue of critical importance, namely our responsibility as Christians in care of creation. Each of us is a caretaker of some niche of God's created order. We may care for a plot of land, tend to animals, care for children or give elder care. There is no one here who is not a steward over the created order. In the weeks preceding this conference we have had opportunity to reflect upon our stewardship over creation as we have meditated upon the Scriptures provided us or read articles from Creation Care. These readings have provided opportunity to take a hard look at the quality of our stewardship.

Reading the Scriptures and the conference materials gave me cause to reflect upon the day I failed as a steward over creation, in particular in the area of animal husbandry. I call this event "the slaughter of the innocents." A few years ago my husband, Jackie, and I raised poultry on our small farm. Besides chickens, we kept a few guinea hens. Raising guineas is a long-standing southern tradition. Guineas make good watch animals because if someone comes on your property they will let out piercing screams. Another benefit of raising guineas is their ability to control bugs, especially ticks. However, their maternal instincts are lacking. Guineas have a tendency to lay their eggs where predators can easily destroy them. After losing several nests to opossums and raccoons, we decided to incubate a few eggs. Not knowing the gestation period of guineas (and failing to find out), we guessed at how long it would be until the eggs would hatch. Day after day, week after week, we carefully tended the eggs, turning them each day.

After a while, what seemed like a long while, it appeared that the eggs were not going to hatch. Fearing the eggs were going bad I suggested to Jackie that we dispose of them. He agreed that the eggs seemed past their due date. So he took the eggs and threw them over the fence into the back pasture. Almost immediately we realized our mistake. As the eggs hit the ground and shattered they revealed tiny, live and seriously injured baby guineas. We rushed out to gather up the injured babies and hurriedly put them back into the incubator. But their trauma was too much. The guineas were too pre-mature and too injured to survive. One by one they died…until only one baby guinea remained.

This baby guinea was a stubborn one. It seemed to will itself to live. All afternoon I kept a death watch over the pre-mature guinea. Every few minutes I would lift the top off the incubator, expecting to see a dead guinea. Upon first glance it appeared that the guinea was dead, but when I would softly call to it, the baby guinea would lift its head and attempt to make a chirping sound. It seemed to respond to my touch, so I would stroke its tiny head and speak softly to it. As the afternoon wore on we bonded, that guinea and I. I became its companion in a valiant struggle between life and death. Eventually, however, death won over. When the guinea died I cried tears of the penitent, knowing I had caused this premature death. That afternoon I became totally pro-life. The guinea taught me painful lessons about the fragility of life, the will to live that is present in every living creature, and the breath of God that fills all of life.

We often fail to see our connection to all of life and because of this failure we fall short in our stewardship over creation. Evangelicals, as heirs of the Enlightenment, emphasize individual autonomy. While there is much to celebrate about this emphasis, it has weakened our view of the economy of salvation. When sin is only personal and redemption is only for individual souls, we miss the fact that our redemption is part of Christ's restoration of the whole created order. Indeed, as Paul reminds us in the epistle of Romans, all creation is under the curse of sin. Creation waits in eager expectation for its liberation from the bondage to decay. The whole creation, notes Paul, "has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time" (Romans 8:22).

There are times when we hear this groaning of creation. It is especially poignant at the deathbed of a loved one. Is there anything equal to the pain of watching the person you love struggle to breathe? At these times we stand helpless before the bondage to decay. Yet, we know that our groaning is in expectation of resurrection and the liberation from the power of death. Even in death there is hope. The groaning is not the final word.

Within my tradition there is the experience of praying in the Spirit to the depths that we utter sighs too deep for words. In this form of prayer we groan in the Spirit and with the Spirit. We are invited into companionship with the same Spirit who brooded over chaos at creation is even now brooding over the brokenness of a cursed creation. Our groaning in the Spirit and with the Spirit is a form of cosmic prayer that calls for the restoration of all things. It is painfully delightful to pray in this manner.

While we wait in eager expectation of this day of restoration, we do not do so passively. We actively pray in the Spirit and we give care to creation, knowing that one day we will give an account for our stewardship. We wait with hope that all things will be made right and that harmony will once again be established in creation.

We were not present at the dawn of creation when the morning stars sang together. The majestic beauty of that music must have been glorious. We will, however, be present at the singing of redeemed creation. It is a song whose music is even now stirring within us:

"Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is on them singing, 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!'" (Rev. 5.13)