Today’s post, by WOC associate J. R. Hudberg appears on the Ambling page.  J. R. reflects on the joy of fishing and delighting in the wonderful varieties of creatures that share God’s world with us.  You can can go directly to the post by clicking on this link: Ambling.

Last January I wrote a post about the third major “Lausanne Conference,” which occurred in the fall of 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa.  In that conference world evangelical leaders added more contemporary issues to what they believe falls under the Christian responsibility of spreading the good news of the Gospel.  Under its Cape Town Commitment is its “Confession of Faith” and “Call to Action.”  Its seventh confession relates directly to the aim and mission of this Wonder of Creation website and its organizational host, RBC Ministries.  I thought it would be good to repeat this as we contemplate ways we can become more loving, active, and effective as followers of Christ in 2012:

Confession 7:  We Love God’s World

Waters coverning the sea NASA

We share God’s passion for his world, loving all that God has made, rejoicing in God’s providence and justice throughout his creation, proclaiming the good news to all creation and all nations, and longing for the day when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

We love the world of God’s creation. This love is not mere sentimental affection for nature (which the Bible nowhere commands), still less is it pantheistic worship of nature (which the Bible expressly forbids). Rather it is the logical outworking of our love for God by caring for what belongs to him. ‘The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.’ The earth is the property of the God we claim to love and obey. We care for the earth, most simply, because it belongs to the one whom we call Lord.

Working on an A Rocha project

The earth is created, sustained and redeemed by Christ. We cannot claim to love God while abusing what belongs to Christ by right of creation, redemption and inheritance. We care for the earth and responsibly use its abundant resources, not according to the rationale of the secular world, but for the Lord’s sake. If Jesus is Lord of all the earth, we cannot separate our relationship to Christ from how we act in relation to the earth. For to proclaim the gospel that says ‘Jesus is Lord’ is to proclaim the gospel that includes the earth, since Christ’s Lordship is over all creation. Creation care is a thus a gospel issue within the Lordship of Christ.

Global trash on Hawaiian coast

Such love for God’s creation demands that we repent of our part in the destruction, waste and pollution of the earth’s resources and our collusion in the toxic idolatry of consumerism. Instead, we commit ourselves to urgent and prophetic ecological responsibility. We support Christians whose particular missional calling is to environmental advocacy and action, as well as those committed to godly fulfillment of the mandate to provide for human welfare and needs by exercising responsible dominion and stewardship. The Bible declares God’s redemptive purpose for creation itself. Integral mission means discerning, proclaiming, and living out the biblical truth that the gospel is God’s good news, through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for individual persons, and for society, and for creation. All three are broken and suffering because of sin; all three are included in the redeeming love and mission of God; all three must be part of the comprehensive mission of God’s people.

KEY SCRIPTURE:
The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. All your works praise you, LORD; your faithful people extol you. They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all people may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom (Psalm 145:9-12).

See the report by my friend Ed Brown, author of the book Our Father’s World and CEO of Care of Creation. Ed was in Cape Town for the conference.  A large number of Christian organizations have used the Lausanne Covenant as their statement of faith.  It was one of the 20th century’s most significant statements about the beliefs of the worldwide Body of Christ.  It is worth reading every year.  You might also want to drop in on some of the sites that appear in the right sidebar of this page.  Consider if you might want to become involved in one of those organizations in 2012.

I was thinking this past week of Christmas as a child in the late 40s and early 50s. In particular I recalled having received a new sled and the day after Christmas having left it behind a car in our neighbor’s driveway. Dragging the crushed sled home in tears, I feared the wrath of my father—a fear enhanced by my mother’s “Just wait until your father gets home!”  I immediately “hid” myself under the covers of my sister’s bed.  Soon I heard Dad come in, heard some conversation in the kitchen, and heard heavy male footsteps on the stairs, down the hall into my bedroom, and then into my supposed sanctuary.  But my wise and godly father gave me mercy instead of wrath.  How relieved I was to be able to cry at his chest, and not receive a spanking.

Family and friends remember Dad for almost all good reasons, but one physical feature they all recall was his big hands. Once when we were eating in a restaurant, a waitress stopped and commented, “Goodness, are those your hands? For a second there I thought you had your feet on the table!” And with that rude remark, she hustled off to the kitchen, leaving Dad in embarrassed silence.

It seems like everyone noticed his large hands. Years after his death, a friend would sometimes say, “My, your dad sure had big hands. Whenever he shook my hand, it almost got lost in his big mitt!” The remarks of friends and relatives, however, were not unkind; they arose naturally out of their memories of a man with a heart as big as his hands.

Henry was born into a family of eight children on a small farm in West Michigan in 1902. And it was the farm that was to shape his life—and his hands. Milking cows, wielding the ax, steering the cultivator, and reining horses helped to develop his stocky frame and broaden the girth of his growing hands. Formal schooling ended for him after eighth grade. The demands of the farm in the years of World War I meant that school could not continue: Americans needed to feed England and France. Dad did not marry until age 28, and I, the youngest of four, did not enter the family until he was forty. But soon those big hands were to have a profound impact on my life. With memory’s eye, I can still see Elsie Egermeier’s Bible Story Book cradled in those hands as he read to us after each evening meal. Even now when I read of Noah, Moses, David, or Jonah, I am transported back to those warm and secure times right after World War II.

We kids used to chuckle when Dad’s big, callused fingers struggled with the wispy, thin pages of his Scofield Study Bible. His Bibles wore out rather quickly, but not merely because of his hands: they were tattered by constant use. Along with his giant hands, he had a giant faith. The Bible was his guide in his worship, in his love for Mom, in his concern for others, in his generosity, and in his philosophy of child-rearing and discipline. Dad did not use a belt or a brush or any other implement when it was necessary to apply a little corporal punishment. He used those big hands—hard enough to smart, but never injure.

Many child psychologists, with some justification, claim that parents should not use their hands to spank—for fear that a child might become terrified of their hands. Instead, they claim, some neutral object like a wooden spoon should stand as the symbol of punishment. Then the child will mostly fear the object and not the parent. Perhaps this is true in some instances, but since my father was just as quick to use those hands to pick me up, place me on his lap, and embrace me with arms of love and forgiveness, I never cringed in their presence.

Those wonderful big hands, however, did teach me some valuable lessons about God: He is a God of love and mercy, but He is also my heavenly Father who must chasten me when I disobey, push me when I need help getting started, point the way when I need direction, lift me when I must get over the rough spots, stop me when I go astray, and clasp me in love’s embrace when sorrow comes. That’s what I can expect from the hands of God. No follower of Christ needs to fear the big hands of a just but merciful heavenly Father.

My regret is that only one of our three sons knew Dad long enough to remember Bappa’s big hands. To him those hands were the fascinating extensions of a loving heart reflected through twinkling eyes and a broad smile.

When he died at age 73, it was only fitting that Mom should lean over Dad’s casket, touch those hands, and echo the words of Catherine Marshall, “Good night, sweetheart, I’ll see you in the morning.”

I don’t know what Henry Ohlman’s heavenly body will look like, but I hope God will allow him to keep those wonderful, big hands!

KEY SCRIPTURE:
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).

Currently lost in my files is a print of a painting that depicts Jesus in the arms of Mary with a small bird perched on His finger. That and this etching in which it seems that Jesus is instructing Mary on the merits of a rose were apparent artistic attempts to link Jesus the infant Savior to Jesus the loving Creator. The intent of this artwork is a good reminder for us as we consider the Christ of Christmas, God in human flesh.

Think of the earthly, material trappings that surrounded the birth of Jesus: the humble stable; the domestic animals; the shepherds sent by the angels from the fields where youthful David used to tend sheep and where Ruth, the Moabite ancestress of Jesus, caught the attention of Boaz; the glowing pointer in the heavens; and the rough linen swaddling cloth beaten from the flax stalks from the nearby hillsides. All of these give significance to the physical nature of Jesus and His birth that I feel we spiritualize far more than we should.

The creation Jesus entered is the creation He made, is the creation in which we live, is the creation John Muir​ loved, is the creation that groans under the heavy hand of sinful humanity, is the creation to which He will return, is the creation that He will redeem and reconcile to His Father, is the creation that in ways beyond imagination redeemed mankind will remain stewards of and continue to get sustenance from, and is the creation that will be blessed with the peace promised by the reign of Messiah whom we celebrate so joyously in the prophecies of Isaiah and in the music of George Frederick Handel.

Not surprisingly, it’s also the music of Handel that graces the poetry of hymn-writer Isaac Watts​ in one of Christianity’s Christmas favorites: “Joy to the World.”  In the carol we hear the prophecies of Isaiah and John of the Revelation repeated: “No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found” (Revelation 22:1-3).  Keep in mind that while we sing this carol to celebrate Jesus’ first advent, it is written about His second advent—after which the creation will once again become the “peaceable kingdom” pictured by Isaiah (chapters 11 & 65). [Wolf and lambs photo source]

May these wonderful Scripture passages grace our Christmas and rekindle not only hope for our own redemption, but also fill us with joy in recognizing that Jesus will not abandon His creation. It too has hope.  Someday, in fact, “all creatures here below” will praise their Creator and Savior along with us all!

Revelation 5:9-13 They sang a new song: “You [Jesus] are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”

John 1: 1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

Hebrews 1:1-3 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.  The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

Colossians 1:15-20   He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Romans 8:19-23   The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

So the “Good News” promises grace not only to redeemed people, but to the redeemed creation as well—the wonders of which will never cease to amaze us.

Susan Drake Emmerich is one of those persons who, if you allow her in your life, will change who you are—for the better. Susan spent ten years in the federal government. As a former U.S. delegate to the U.N. and U.S. negotiator for the Department of State, she was a negotiator at the 1992 Earth Summit, Biological Diversity Convention, Global Climate Convention and the Chair of the Secretariat for the International Coral Reef Initiative. She also worked for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the World Bank, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Interior as a Presidential Management Fellow.

I met Susan some twenty years ago when she was with the U.S. Department of State and I was trying to keep the fledgling Christian Nature Federation afloat. As founder and president of CNF, I had become a strong advocate for Christian involvement in caring for creation, moved by many factors, which included my reading of Francis Schaeffer’s important little book Pollution and the Death of Man: The Christian View of Ecology. Susan had been influenced by Schaeffer as well. Over the years since then, our lives have intertwined in ways that affirm the wonder of God’s providence.

A major part of Susan’s story since our first meeting has been told in a PBS-style documentary that is both heart-warming and discomfiting, spiritually challenging and encouraging. It begins when she was a graduate student in Environment and Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was looking for a dissertation topic dealing with the interconnection of environmental stewardship, faith and conflict resolution. After Larry Schweiger [now president of the National Wildlife Federation] of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) told her about the conflict between watermen and environmentalists in the faith-based communities of Smith and Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay, she knew she had her topic.

Susan’s hypothesis was that faith-based problems require faith-based solutions. She wanted to test whether a faith-based community could transform their own actions toward the environment, the economy, and their neighbors and bring them into better accord with their professed belief system. The mayor and pastors of both churches on Tangier understood the gravity of Tangier’s fishery and overall economic situation and wanted to do something to resolve the building animosity toward CBF. They granted Susan’s request to conduct research on the causes of the conflict and the social forces that could inspire change.

Swain Memorial United Methodist Church

The results of the four-month initiative were amazing. Out of a love for God and the need to be accountable for their actions on the water, more than fifty Tangier watermen and men committed to biblical stewardship by making a covenant with God called The Watermen’s Stewardship Covenant. Moreover, a handful of women took the Women’s Stewardship Pledge that addressed consumption patterns. The covenants were a public commitment to God’s principles of stewardship, adherence to civil laws and contentment as set forth in the Bible.

Faithful Christians can make a lasting difference in their communities by visibly working as stewards of God’s good earth!

KEY SCRIPTURE:
[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Col. 1:15-20).

RBC’s Day of Discovery TV ministry has produced a shortened version of Susan’s story which can be viewed online here.  But be sure you watch the trailer to the documentary to get a dramatic introduction to this encouraging account.  Consider obtaining this DVD and its accompanying materials for your church or Bible study group.