A verse from the Letter of James which was one of our readings this morning: ‘In fulfilment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.’ This verse will guide us as we enter into the ‘Season of Creation’ – creationtide. The key phrase in the verse is: ‘ … so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.’ We are part of creation, one of God’s creatures.

Creationtide, which stretches across the month of September and culminates in the Harvest Festival is not a formal season of the Church’s Year. It’s not like Lent or Advent or Easter. However, it is promoted across the churches, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Free Churches, as a time when the Church may turn its attention to creation.

As we are increasingly aware, the planet faces a climate emergency. The very name of the activist group, ‘Extinction Rebellion’ sharpens our attention. Our choices of energy, our habits of travel and consumption, are affecting our planet adversely.

But why should we as Christians take notice of this? Do we have anything special to think or say about it? I was looking at the prayer station (in St John’s Church) which focuses on our responsibilities to the world around us. There are many wonderful things on the board. But what has it got to do with the God whom we worship, I was wondering. And there it was, on one of the cards pinned to the board, ‘.. the wonderful world that God gifted to us.’

This is both a simple and profound statement. The world is not ours. We do not own it. It is a gift. In fact it is a gift from the maker of all things, the Creator. So the challenging eco- question is, How are we receiving this gift? Are we as a species, saying and living out a profound ‘thank you’ for this gift? After all, we teach our children to say ‘thank you’, don’t we? Perhaps the grown ups have forgotten.

Christian faith is clear. God has made everything. Not just this planet but the whole vast universe. This is why we use the word ‘creation’ in our worship. It is a loaded theological word. All that is has come into being at the word of the transcendent reality, whom we call God. And it is a good gift to us from a good giver. ‘And God saw everything God had made and behold it was very good’. So in answer to the question, why should Christians care about the world, the first answer is because it is a good gift, given to us.

A second answer: because the human race has a particular role to play in it. That’s hinted at in our verse from the Letter of James, ‘… so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.’ We are first fruits. In the opening chapter of Genesis, the great creation chapter, human beings, male and female, are made in the image of God. We are part of creation, we are creatures. But uniquely we are in the image of God. With this comes a particular vocation, with a particular role to play. It is the role of being royal stewards of the earth. Genesis 1 says that we are to have ‘dominion’ over all things.

This phrase has been controversial and critics of Christianity have said that it has actively contributed to the irresponsible treatment of creation. Dominion is to trample underfoot it is claimed. There is truth in this criticism. But this phrase, ‘you shall have dominion over the all things’ is based on a royal metaphor. The king in ancient Israel had responsibility for all things to thrive. The people and the environment was held in trust. ‘Steward’ is a good word to refer to this.

So the challenging eco-question is, ‘How do we rate the human race in its current stewardship of planet earth, in its stewardship of this good gift that has been given to us from the divine source? I think we’re beginning to see that the answer is something like ‘2 out of 10’.

So there’s our second answer to why the Christian Church should be ecologically aware: Humans are divinely appointed stewards of the earth. We have a responsibility for which we must answer. And a third reason, and the final one in this sermon. We are to be ‘doers of the word’. Action is part of Christian living. This phrase comes from our reading from the Letter of James: ‘But those who look into the perfect law … and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.’

The human race’s vocation, because it is in the image of God, is to think the thoughts of God and do the deeds of God. Jesus Christ shows us what a human life that does this looks like. Jesus is the ‘Word of God’, the reason, the thinking of God, made flesh. In John’s Gospel Jesus repeatedly says that he speaks only what he hears from the Father and does only what he sees the Father doing. The Father creates, brings into being, gives life and light, and so Jesus embodies this in his human life and ministry.

As Christians we are privileged to understand this. And we have been given, through baptism and confirmation, the gift of God the Holy Spirit, which enables us to be hearers of God’s word and doers of God’s deeds. We believe in a creative, life-giving God who has overcome death. Our actions as a Church, and as a human race are to mirror the divine creativity and life-givingness. Not to do so is to deny our faith and to fail in the human task. So the challenging eco-question is: Are we doing the deeds of the life-giving God in our day-to-day choices and actions?

At every Eucharist we bring bread and wine to the altar. They are symbol of creation to be placed on the creator’s altar. We bring ourselves to the altar too, symbols of the whole of humanity, because we are ‘a kind of first fruits of God’s creatures.’ This is radical stuff. Radical eco-stuff. But then being a Christian is radical.

Service: Canon Bill Croft. 1st September 2024. (St John The Baptist Church Peterborough UK)

Readings: Deuteronomy 4.1-2, 6-9; James 1.17-end; Mark 7.1-8, 14-15, 21-23