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PRAYER FOR THE EARTHOver the last few years, caring for the environment (or as some call it, Creation Care) has become a bigger and bigger story in the news and in the lives of Christians around the world. News stories tell how leading scientists and evangelicals are coming together to fight this fight. Blogs are covering the greening of Christianity. And books are providing guidance to Christians about how to live a more earth-friendly life. The point of this new focus for Christians can be summed up by the "Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility": As we embrace our responsibility to care for God’s earth, we reaffirm the important truth that we worship only the Creator and not the creation. God gave the care of his earth and its species to our first parents. That responsibility has passed into our hands. We affirm that God-given dominion is a sacred responsibility to steward the earth and not a license to abuse the creation of which we are a part. We are not the owners of creation, but its stewards, summoned by God to “watch over and care for it” (Gen. 2:15). This implies the principle of sustainability: our uses of the Earth must be designed to conserve and renew the Earth rather than to deplete or destroy it. This responsibility – the “responsibility has passed into our hands” to “to conserve and renew the Earth rather than to deplete or destroy it” – seems overwhelming at first. As a Christian woman living in one of the most prosperous and most wasteful countries in the world, this call to civic responsibility and all of the other news stories have made me question my own actions. Although I’ve always been conservative with our non-renewable resources, I’m so thankful that Christians – and the media – are pushing this issue. They’re making me look more closely at myself, my buying patterns, the way I eat, the clothes I wear. So with this renewed focus, I’ve had a lot of time and opportunities to re-think my role as a steward of this earth: How it affects me, how it affects the world, and how it affects my Christian journey. Some days I hate the whole thing as I consider using cloth diapers for any children I have in the future, and some days I revel in it, as I prepare my organic garden for spring. And so I’ve had to come to terms with why I do what I do, why I want to serve the earth, and why I feel that, like the Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility says, we, as Christians, are all called to the task of conserving and renewing our resources. And mainly I’ve come to one big conclusion: We do it for the Lord. Even though I often think I should recycle because it’s the right thing to do or because it makes me feel good or because I hate landfills, this whole thing – this earth, this global environmental catastrophe, and our role in it – can and should be a part of our own journey in Christ. It can be a part of knowing God more. It can – and should -- be an act of worship. For me, it shouldn’t be about whether or not I only buy fairly traded goods, it should be about who I am, who God wants me to be in this world, and how I can better serve Him. I’m still dealing with most of the aspects of this journey, especially because I know that I often fail God miserably. I buy clothes and food I shouldn’t. I eat out too often. I drive a car and heat my house with non-renewable sources... We as a society have done the same. We have let chemicals and toxins seep into our earth, our streams and our bodies. We have allowed mercury contamination in our rivers and streams, creating highly toxic fish, putting our children at risk of brain damage. We have created a world where throwing things onto God's beautiful earth seems better than reusing what we have. Everyday, we each, on average, trash 4.3 pounds of waste, which is often buried in landfills. And we leave those landfills there, dotting the countryside for our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Sometimes this picture really scares me, but, I firmly believe that, as a Christian, it shouldn’t. As I read through all of the news articles and hear the stories of imminent environmental catastrophe on the radio and television and as I feel guilty for my sins against His creation, I sometimes forget that we have a God who is bigger than all of this. I sometimes forget the amazing grace that covers us. And so, as I go along this journey of trying to be a steward to this earth, but knowing that I am so imperfect in this process, I have decided that I need to pray more about these issues and worry less. My first prayer is that I will better understand grace. It's such an amazing and beautiful concept, but so hard to fully understand. So, I pray that I will continue to learn more about and be amazed by this grace. And further, I pray that I will have peace and joy in the knowledge that I know a personal Savior whose love and grace is greater than any of the problems that we can find on this earth. And, in that same vein, I also pray that I will continue to feel and know that this grace is not contingent upon my actions. But, secondly, I have decided to pray that this amazing grace will prompt action. Not action for action’s sake or action for the sake of the world, but action for the sake of Christ. "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17). I pray that as I am more and more aware of the grace of Christ, this understanding will compel me farther and farther into the act of saving the planet – of being a true steward of this earth. And through that, I pray that God will know and enjoy my desire to serve Him. I pray that He will see each act of recycling, each time I wash a Ziploc bag, each organic vegetable that I eat as an act of worship. Our responsibility to this earth may seem overwhelming, yes, but so is the love and grace of our God and the beauty of this earth. The stars in the night sky; the perfection of a white daisy with intricately carved petals; the majesty of a mountain range, the peaks reaching toward heaven. This is all a creation of our God. A wonderful gift -- for us. May we glorify Him in all that we do as a part of this amazing and glorious holy, holy land.  | 
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