Creation Care Follows the Steps of Jesus

Jesus Christ taught that creation, including the natural world and all who live in it, is an expression of the sovereignty, goodness, and grace of God, says Calvin DeWitt, chair of the Creation Care Task Force for the Christian Reformed Church.

“Christ’s view of the material world is very positive. (He) affrms the world and everything in it. Creation matters. Matter matters,” said DeWitt, an environmental scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

DeWitt was recently in Grand Rapids, Mich., to attend a meeting of the Creation Care Task Force. Formed by Synod 2010, the task force is to compile a Reformed perspective on humanity’s role as a stewards of God’s creation. In order to do this, members will review, research and discuss biblical passages relating to creation.

The report should identify “our position of creation stewardship, including climate change, applicable to this millennium for congregations, society and our global gospel partners,” synod said.

DeWitt said the group plans to submit its report to Synod 2012.

“We hope this report will open ways that are currently available to reflect God’s care for us through our care for one another and God’s world,” said DeWitt.

Besides teaching Environmental Science at the University of Wisconsin, DeWitt also teaches a graduate course in wetlands research each fall at his home on the Waubesa Wetlands.

Through his conservation efforts, he has helped to protect 300 acres of forest in metropolitan Detroit, Mich., created a 1,000-acre Waubesa Wetlands Reserve in Wisconsin, and developed a nationally recognized land stewardship initiative in the community of Dunn, Wisc..

Important to emphasize is that one crucial way to care for creation is to follow the teachings and life of Christ, said DeWitt.

Unfortunately, said DeWitt, Christ’s view and life run counter to that of mainstream culture. Many people today do not believe that they have been given the mandate to carefully and lovingly preserve and conserve God’s natural world and its resources.

“What we are confronting today is a society that says ‘seek yourself first (and use the earth’s resources for your own gain) and the Kingdom will be added later to you’,” said DeWitt, author of the book Earthwise, published by Faith Alive Christian Resources.

Christians live in a society, he said, that has become insensitive to sinfulness and justifies the depreciation “of  our creation and our society in the name of progress.”

Since Christ was such a pivotal figure on the topic of creation care, DeWitt said it is important to learn from and to follow his example.

One way to follow Jesus, he said, is “to offer inspiration and praise and to care for all of the great gifts God has provided us in his providence.”

Especially as Reformed Christians, he said, “we are to provide a witness to the world that the concept of God’s creation is not outmoded... It is right at the heart of Reformed theology to be witnesses to God and the world in which he gave us and in which we find ourselves.”

Interesting to note, said DeWitt, is that much of Christ’s ministry took place in natural places in Judea, Israel and elsewhere. Christ frequently used nature to help  illustrate his messages. “He did much of his teaching on field trips,” said DeWitt.

Christ spoke of the birds in the sky, calmed a stormy sea, was transfigured on the top of a mountain, and often renewed himself through prayer in the wilderness.

He taught in gardens, along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and walked through a field of grain on the Sabbath to show that every day is holy in God’s world. He also used a fig tree to illustrate a message about unfaithfulness. He even compared himself to a vine and said his followers were the branches.

“Christ adds hope to what we do. God informs us how the world works and how it ought to be,” said DeWitt.