52 PREACHING
Preaching on creation care – where to turn in the Bible
by Dave Bookless
Somebody once challenged me on whether I could preach on Creation Care from any Bible passage . After all , if scripture ’ s big story starts with creation and ends with new creation , aren ’ t these the foundations on which the entire human story of blessing , sin , redemption and hope is anchored ?
Personally , I relish the challenge of
visiting churches which are either following a biblical book series or the Lectionary , and preaching on Creation Care from whatever I ’ m given . There is even a website ( sustainable-preaching . org ) providing outline sermons for all three years of the Revised Common Lectionary . It ’ s a great resource , with sermons from around the world , inevitably mixed in quality but with some real gems .
However , there are particular passages I have found most useful in engaging congregations . These notes are by no means exhaustive , but hopefully they may help with preaching on God ’ s Creation .
FOCUS ON JESUS
I ’ d be rich if I got paid every time I heard ‘ Creation is just an Old Testament emphasis . The New Testament is all about people !’ Often , I ’ ll take a title like ‘ How big is your Jesus ?’ and use passages like Colossians 1:15-20 ( or Ephesians 1:19-23 , Hebrews 1:1-4 , Philippians 2:5-11 ) to challenge the individualistic emphasis on ‘ My Jesus , my Saviour ’. These passages , Colossians most concisely , emphasise that Christ is the source , the sustainer and the saviour of creation . Illustrate them with examples of inspiring and beautiful parts of nature , and remind people it was created ‘ by and for ’ Jesus . For a Gospel reading , John 1:1-14 unveils Jesus as eternal creator , and uses the term ‘ flesh ’ rather than ‘ man ’, to describe the incarnation . ‘ Flesh ’ ( sarx ) is the word for animal-kind and even ‘ meat ’, showing Jesus chose to become not just human , but part of creation – a creature . Matthew 6:25- 34 illustrates Jesus ’ familiarity with and use of nature in teaching about God ’ s Kingdom , with the famous command to study the birds and the flowers . Jesus thus continues the Old Testament emphasis on wisdom found in nature .
FALL IN LOVE WITH CREATION
It ’ s important to engage heart as well as head , and the Bible is full of beautiful nature poetry . Psalm 104 and Job 38-41 both put humans in our place as just one of the extraordinary diversity of creatures God has made