Day 26 of Lent: We Respond to the Cries of Creation

Creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.  Romans 8:19

Salvation is not just about humankind and its relationship to God but encompasses the whole planet.  Sin is not just turning from God and our human neighbors but also the destruction of animal species, the water and soil, and now the fragile atmosphere that supports and protects life.  Today Christian ethics, salvation, and spirituality must embrace the planet as well as our human neighbors.

Paul's vision of the planet in Romans 8 speaks of God moving within our hearts and souls and whispering to all of creation.  The universe is the divine birthing room for all creation and all creation lives in hope of finding its role in a community that embraces God and all creatures.

Wholeness and brokenness characterize the nonhuman as well as the human world.  Created for relationship, creation cries out in pain.  It is clear that humankind is responsible for much of the pain and destruction in the world.  Creation cries out for wholeness, but do humans listen?

God is present in all things, in humans and nonhumans alike.  The creation groans for peace and harmony to reign.  Humans cannot seem to visualize the prophecy of Isaiah in which the lamb and the lion will reside together and all of creation will be in peace.

Can you see yourself in this?
I experience God in the voices of the earth.
I listen for the cries of creation.
I listen for God in the pain and beauty of the nonhuman world.

Prayer:
Holy God, whose Spirit breathes through all life and enlivens the cells of our bodies and the birds of the air, open us to your life in all things.  Help us to experience the deep cries of creation.  Help us feel the pain of vanishing species, dying forests, melting icecaps, of threatened generations of unborn creatures.  Help us to be your partners in healing the earth, in restoring life where we have been agents of destruction.  Let us speak words of hope to generations beyond us who will dwell with all creatures on the good earth.  Amen.