Co-Creators with God
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…and God saw that it was good."
God loves to create and sees all created things as good. The Hebrew word used in this passage is “tov.” Tov means not only good, but something that is beautiful and has within it the possibility to create more of itself. Anything that produces life and contains the potential to create more life.
As a gardener, I love the work of putting a seed or a new tomato plant in the ground, and tenderly covering it with soil, knowing that it can bring so much joy in just a few months. I impatiently wait to see what will emerge, checking every few days for signs of growth. We are all called to work as God’s hands and feet, tending and creating a better world.
The work of creation is a messy business. In planting things, or in any creative act, we find that our hands get dirty, that things don't always turn out exactly how we expected them to, or that we have to be adapt to what is emerging. It requires us to be flexible and collaborative. A woodworker works with the grain of the wood, a musician plays the instrument they have, an inventor uses the resources available to them. A chef uses ingredients on hand to feed the hungry person. Each of us has something we can do that can bring beauty and joy to the world. Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
God gives us the freedom to be partners in caring for and creating in the world. Desmond Tutu once said, “God creates woman and man in God’s own image and… they are expected to act as God’s stewards operating on behalf of God with God in tandem as co-creators, as collaborators.”
We were created so that we might create more life. Just like plants that have seeds within them, we are called to bring forth the seeds of life within us- seeds of encouraging, teaching, healing, designing, building and creating.
This Lent, we have a variety of ways to explore our invitation to join God in being co-creators and the ways we might serve as stewards of God's creation.
Our all parish Lenten Series on Sunday evenings will explore through prayer, creativity and conversation all the ways God makes beautiful things from dust and the simplest elements. We will be making pottery and candles, and baking bread, and putting our hands in the dirt. I hope you might join us as we create together and reflect on how God is working in the messiness of our life to create us anew. Sign up here.
We will also be exploring our call to care for Creation and respond to the challenges of climate change in our 9 a.m. Sunday morning Reflection Group. Each of us can do our be part of creating a better world for future generations - how might we love and act as people of faith? The Life of Prayer Group will be praying the Stations of the Cross through images found in the Winter Landscape and looking for signs of new life emerging on Mondays at 11:15 a.m.
This Lenten season is a time to reflect on how God created us from dust and is continuing to bring forth new life and possibilities. I pray that this Lenten season is a time in which you cultivate practices and find time to partner with God in renewing the Creation with the gifts we have been given.
