CREATION – DOMINION OR STEWARDSHIP?
Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 8; Romans 8:19
Rev. Paul Wrightman 2/26/23
TODAY WE LOOK AT WHAT THE BIBLE HAS TO SAY
ABOUT HUMANKIND’S RELATIONSHIP WITH CREATION.
OUR KEY TEXT, ONCE AGAIN, IS GENESIS 1:26,
WHERE MOST TRANSLATIONS TELL US
THAT GOD GAVE HUMANKIND DOMINION
OVER ALL THE REST OF CREATION.
THE GIFT OF DOMINION IS ECHOED IN PSALM 8,
WHERE THE AUTHOR IS IN AWE OF GOD
GIVING HUMAN BEINGS SO MUCH RESPONSIBILITY
OVER GOD’S OWN CREATIVE WORK.
FINALLY, ROMANS 8:19 PORTRAYS CREATION
AS LONGING TO FIND ITS LIBERATION
THROUGH THE REVELATION OF THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND AND CELEBRATE
THEIR ROLE AS STEWARDS, NOT DOMINATORS,
OF CREATION.
BUT BEFORE WE LOOK AT SCRIPTURE,
I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU WHAT IS PERHAPS
THE BEST-KNOWN STATEMENT OF HUMANKIND’S
RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH CREATION.
FITTINGLY, IT IS FROM NATIVE AMERICAN CHIEF SEATTLE,
WHO WRITES TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1854:
“TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WHAT WE HAVE TAUGHT OUR CHILDREN;
THAT THE EARTH IS OUR MOTHER.
THIS WE KNOW;
THE EARTH DOES NOT BELONG TO HUMANITY;
HUMANITY BELONGS TO THE EARTH.
THIS WE KNOW.
ALL THINGS ARE CONNECTED LIKE THE BLOOD
THAT UNITES ONE FAMILY.
WHATEVER BEFALLS THE EARTH BEFALLS
THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE EARTH.
MEN AND WOMEN DID NOT WEAVE THE WEB OF LIFE:
THEY ARE MERELY A STRAND IN IT.
WHATEVER THEY DO TO THE WEB,
THEY DO TO THEMSELVES.”
# # #
MANY CHURCHES AFFIRM CERTAIN CREEDS
OF THE HISTORIC CHRISTIAN TRADITION;
FEW CHURCHES HAVE STATED CORE VALUES.
I FIND IT FASCINATING THAT THE FOUNDING
FATHERS AND MOTHERS OF OUR CHURCH
CHOSE TO DE-EMPHASIZE CREEDS,
AND IN THEIR PLACE TO HIGHLIGHT CERTAIN CORE VALUES
WHICH THEY CONSIDERED TO BE
CRUCIAL TO THE LIFE OF THIS CHURCH.
CREEDS ARE ABOUT WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE;
CORE VALUES SEEK TO GUIDE US IN HOW TO LIVE.
SO WHEN WE STATE AS ONE OF OUR CORE VALUES
THAT “WE ARE STEWARDS SUSTAINING ALL OF GOD’S CREATION,”
THIS IS NOT MERELY A STATEMENT OF BELIEF,
BUT A COMMITMENT AS TO HOW WE WANT TO LIVE.
OUR FIRST SCRIPTURE READING THIS MORNING,
THE ONE FROM GENESIS,
IS A TEXT THE MISUSE OF WHICH
HAS LED TO IMMEASURABLE DAMAGE
BEING DONE TO THE EARTH.
THE PROBLEM LIES
IN THE USE OF THE WORD “DOMINION” IN VERSE 26.
“DOMINION,” OF COURSE, MEANS “KINGLY RULE,”
AND “KINGLY RULE,” FOR MOST OF HUMAN HISTORY,
HAS MEANT ABSOLUTE, ARBITRARY, AND AUTOCRATIC RULE.
THE MISTAKE WE MADE WAS TO UNDERSTAND
GOD’S GIVING HUMAN BEINGS “DOMINION” OVER CREATION
AS MEANING GOD GIVING US PERMISSION
TO DO WHATEVER WE WANTED TO AND WITH CREATION,
JUST AS MOST KINGS DID WHATEVER THEY WANTED
TO AND WITH THEIR KINGDOMS.
THE GIANT MISTAKE WE MADE WAS TO LOOK AT DOMINION
FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF HUMAN KINGSHIP
AND HUMAN KINGDOMS,
RATHER THAN FROM THE VANTAGE POINT
OF GOD’S KINGSHIP AND GOD’S KINGDOM.
IN GENESIS, GOD GIVES HUMAN BEINGS
THE PRIVILEGE OF STANDING IN FOR GOD, SO TO SPEAK,
OF ACTING ON GOD’S BEHALF
FOR THE BENEFIT AND BLESSING OF CREATION.
WHEN GOD GIVES HUMANITY THE GIFT
OF “DOMINION” OVER CREATION,
GOD EXPECTS US TO ACT AS GOD’S STEWARDS
IN RELATIONHSIP TO CREATION,
IN OTHER WORDS, TO ACT WITH RESTRAINT AND RESPONSIBILITY,
NOT POSSESSIVENESS AND GREED.
# # #
SEVERAL HUGE HISTORICAL MOVEMENTS
CONVERGED TO CREATE THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
THAT WE FIND OURSELVES IN TODAY.
FIRST, THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION, BY EMPHASIZING
THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE INDIVIDUAL WITH GOD,
DE-EMPHASIZED THE RELATIONSHIP OF GOD WITH NATURE.
NATURE WAS NO LONGER SEEN AS NUMINOUS, OR SACRED,
A POWERFUL REFLECTION OF GOD’S PRESENCE,
BUT AS NEUTRAL “STUFF” THAT HUMAN BEINGS COULD USE
IN WHATEVER WAY THEY WANTED.
SECOND, WHEN THE “ENLIGHTENMENT,”
WITH ITS EMPHASIS ON REASON AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD,
BURST UPON THE SCENE A CENTURY LATER,
THE STAGE WAS SET FOR THE AMAZING ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY
WHICH, IN TURN, USHERED IN THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION,
THE THIRD HUGE HISTORICAL MOVEMENT.
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION WAS AND IS CHARACTERIZED
BY ITS WHOLESALE EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES,
AND THE ARRIVAL OF POLLUTION ON A SCALE
NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN HUMAN HISTORY.
THE EXPLOITATION AND POLLUTION OF OUR PLANET
HAS NOW INCREASED TO THE POINT WHERE
WE ARE BRINGING ABOUT IRREPARABLE DAMAGE
TO LIFE ON EARTH.
AS THEOLOGIAN PAUL WADELL PUTS IT:
“THE EARTH CANNOT AFFORD THE KIND OF HUMAN BEINGS
WE HAVE BECOME.
IT CANNOT AFFORD MEN AND WOMEN WHO THINK OF THEMSELVES
PRIMARILY AS CONSUMERS.
IT CANNOT AFFORD PEOPLE WHO SEE THE NATURAL WORLD
AS SOMETHING TO EXPLOIT INSTEAD OF REVERENCE.
IT CANNOT AFFORD ALL THE WASTE AND RUBBISH
THAT FLOWS IN THE WAKE OF A LIFESTYLE
WHERE PEOPLE MEASURE THEIR WELL-BEING
BY WHAT THEY OWN INSTEAD OF WHO THEY ARE.
IT CANNOT AFFORD A WAY OF LIFE
THAT TAKES THE NATURAL WORLD FOR GRANTED
AND PRESUMES THAT WE CAN DO TO NATURE
WHATEVER WE WANT WITHOUT COST.”
(End Quote)
# # #
NUMEROUS AUTHORS HAVE COMMENTED ON HOW
THE WAY WE CONCEIVE OF OUR PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE
DRAMATICALLY IMPACTS THE WAY WE LIVE OUR EVERYDAY LIVES.
THUS, PRIMITIVE HUMAN BEINGS, WHO SAW THEMSELVES
IN AN ORGANIC RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE AS A WHOLE,
TENDED TO RESPECT, EVEN REVERENCE,
THE CREATION OF WHICH THEY WERE A PART.
WITH THE ADVENT OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT,
AND ESPECIALLY SIR ISAAC NEWTON’S
MATHEMATICAL AND MECHANISTIC WAY
OF UNDERSTANDING THE UNIVERSE –
A WAY, MOREOVER, WHICH SEEMED TO WORK,
LEADING AS IT DID TO ALL SORTS OF BREAKTHROUGHS
IN TECHNOLOGY –
WE BEGAN TO SEE OUR WORLD AND OUR UNIVERSE
AS VAST MACHINES,
MACHINES WHICH COULD BE MANAGED AND MANIPULATED
IN WHATEVER WAYS GOVERNMENTS AND FACTORY OWNERS
AND INTERNATIONAL CORPORATIONS SAW FIT.
INDEED, “SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST”
BECAME THE CATCHPHRASE OF CORPORATIONS
WHO SHREDDED BOTH THE COMPETITION AND THE PLANET.
# # #
A PARADIGM SHIFT --
A RADICALLY DIFFERENT WAY OF LOOKING AT THINGS –
IS GIVEN TO US BY THE FIELD OF QUANTUM PHYSICS
AND APPLIES TO BOTH THEOLOGY
AND TO OUR WAY OF SEEING NATURE.
TO GIVE JUST TWO EXAMPLES FOR THEOLOGY:
FIRST, THE PARADOX OF WHAT THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION
CALLS THE INCARNATION – THE ASSERTION
THAT JESUS IS FULLY HUMAN AND FULLY GOD AT THE SAME TIME –
BEGINS TO MAKE SENSE – AT LEAST PARADOXICAL SENSE! –
IN LIGHT OF THE ASSERTION OF QUANTUM PHYSICS
THAT LIGHT IS SIMULTANEOUSLY
PARTICLE AND WAVE, WAVE AND PARTICLE.
SECOND, THE SEEMINGLY NONSENSICAL ASSERTION
MADE IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
THAT THE RESURRECTED JESUS
SIMPLY WALKED THROUGH A LOCKED DOOR
BEGINS TO MAKE SENSE – AT LEAST PARADOXICAL SENSE! –
IN LIGHT OF THE ASSERTION OF QUANTUM PHYSICS
THAT A BODY MOVING FAST ENOUGH AND WITH ENOUGH ENERGY
CAN SIMPLY PASS THROUGH WHAT APPEARS TO BE SOLID MATTER.
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST THIS MORNING
IS THAT JUST AS QUANTUM PHYSICS ENABLES US TO EMBRACE
A NEW WAY OF SEEING AND AFFIRMING
JESUS’ INCARNATION AND RESURRECTION,
SO TOO CAN QUANTUM PHYSICS ENABLE US TO TRANSCEND
THE MECHANISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF NATURE
OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND MODERNITY,
AND TO EMBRACE, IF YOU WILL, A DEEPER AND HIGHER
AFFIRMATION OF NATURE AS ORGANIC, INTERCONNECTED,
AND INTERDEPENDENT.
AS CHIEF SEATTLE SAID -- IN HIS NATURE MYSTICISM
LEAPING TO THE SAME CONCLUSION AS QUANTUM PHYSICS –
“ALL THINGS ARE CONNECTED.”
A RELATIVE NEW FIELD IN BOTH PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE –
FITTINGLY CALLED THE “PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE” –
HAS DEMONSTRATED THAT OUR COSMOLOGY –
HOW WE SEE OURSELVES IN RELATION TO THE UNIVERSE –
GREATLY INFLUENCES THE WAY WE LIVE.
WITHIN A FEW YEARS OF THE ASCENDENCY
OF NEWTON’S MECHANISTIC APPROACH TO THE UNIVERSE ,
HUMAN BEINGS IN THE WESTERN WORLD WERE ADOPTING
A MECHANISTIC APPROACH TO NATURE AND TO THEMSELVES.
NATURE WAS A VAST MACHINE TO BE MINED AND MANIPULATED
AND MANUFACTURED AT WILL.
THIS MECHANISTIC APPROACH TO CREATION
HAS LITERALLY LED US TO A DEAD END.
PERHAPS THE BIGGEST QUESTION FACING HUMANKIND TODAY
IS THE QUESTION OF WHETHER OR NOT THE NEW COSMOLOGY
GIVEN TO US IN QUANTUM PHYSICS – A COSMOLOGY WHICH
ECHOES THE COSMOLOGY OF BOTH THE BIBLICAL BOOK OF GENESIS
AND THE WISDOM OF CHIEF SEATTLE – WILL TAKE HOLD.
THE COSMOLOGY OF QUANTUM PHYSICS TEACHES THAT
EVERYTHING IS INTERCONNECTED AND INTERDEPENDENT,
AND THAT WE CANNOT DAMAGE OR DESTROY THE PART
WITHOUT DAMAGING OR DESTROYING THE WHOLE.
THE REALLY BIG QUESTION IS IF THIS NEW WAY
OF LOOKING AT THE WORLD AND THE ROLE OF HUMAN BEINGS
IN THE WORLD WILL “CATCH ON” FAST ENOUGH
TO TRANSFORM OUR WAY OF LIVING.
THE REALLY BIG QUESTION IS IF WE WILL BE ABLE TO PUT
THE COMMON GOOD AND THE COMMON WEALTH
AHEAD OF OUR INDIVIDUAL GOOD AND INDIVIDUAL WEALTH.
THE REALLY BIG QUESTION IS IF WE WILL BE ABLE TO ENLARGE
OUR VISION OF JUSTICE TO INCLUDE NOT JUST HUMAN BEINGS,
BUT ALL THE REST OF NATURE AS WELL.
# # #
THERE IS A CONCEPT OUT THERE CALLED “THE TIPPING POINT,”
WHICH MAINTAINS THAT WHEN JUST ENOUGH PEOPLE
COME TO EMBRACE A NEW WAY OF THINKING AND BEING,
QUITE SUDDENLY A PARADIGM SHIFT
ON A PLANETARY LEVEL BECOME POSSIBLE.
IT’S SOMETHING LIKE WATER SUDDENLY BOILING
OR BECOMING STEAM WHEN ENOUGH HEAT IS APPLIED.
IN PHYSICS THIS IS CALLED A “GAUGE SHIFT.”
WHAT WE NEED NOW IS A “GAUGE SHIFT”
AWAY FROM A MECHANISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF CREATION
TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF CREATION WHICH IS ORGANIC,
INTERCONNECTED, AND INTERDEPENDENT.
AS PERSONS OF FAITH, WE CAN ASSUME THAT GOD’S SPIRIT
IS DOING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO HELP
TO BRING ABOUT THIS CHANGE.
AS PERSONS OF FAITH, WE CAN ALSO ASSUME
THAT GOD IS COUNTING ON US TO DO OUR PART,
TO BECOME PART OF THAT “TIPPING POINT”
THAT WILL EVENTUALLY TRIGGER THE CHANGE.
SO WHAT CAN WE AS PEOPLE OF FAITH
WHO AFFIRM AS ONE OF OUR CORE VALUES THAT
“WE ARE STEWARDS SUSTAINING ALL OF GOD’S CREATION”
ACTUALLY DO TO HELP BRING ABOUT
THE CHANGE IN THINKING AND IN BEING
THAT IS NEEDED TO SAVE OUR PLANET?
PERHAPS THE FIRST THING THAT NEEDS TO BE SAID
IS THAT OFTEN BEING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN DOING,
BECAUSE WHO WE ARE FLOWS INTO WHAT WE DO.
MANY OF US IN THIS CONGREGATION ARE AT THE STAGE IN LIFE
WHICH PSYCHIATRIST ERIC ERICKSON DESCRIBES AS “GENERATIVE.”
BY “GENERATIVE” ERICKSON MEANS BEING ABLE
TO INFLUENCE THE PEOPLE IN OUR LIVES FOR GOOD.
OTHER CULTURES WOULD SAY THAT WE HAVE
FINALLY REACHED THE AGE OF WISDOM,
AND THAT IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY AND OUR JOY
TO SHARE OUR WISDOM WITH OTHERS.
SO I WOULD SAY THAT BEYOND OUR WORRIES ABOUT THE FUTURE,
BEYOND OUR SOLEMN ATTEMPTS AT RECYCLING,
BEYOND OUR SOLEMN POLITICAL AGITATIONS
AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING –
BEYOND ALL THESE DOINGS,
WE NEED TO ALLOW AND ENCOURAGE OURSELVES
TO BECOME NEW BEINGS,
BEINGS CAUGHT UP IN THE WONDER OF GOD’S GOOD CREATION,
BEINGS SO CAUGHT UP IN THE RECONCILIATION
BROUGHT ABOUT BY CHRIST JESUS,
THAT THIS RECONCILIATION SPILLS OVER INTO OUR RELATIONSHIP
NOT ONLY WITH OTHER PERSONS,
BUT WITH NATURE AS WELL.
WE ARE, EACH OF US, CALLED TO BECOME SO CAUGHT UP
IN THE MOVEMENT OF GOD’S SPIRIT THAT,
PLAYING OFF OUR THIRD SCRIPTURE TEXT FOR TODAY,
“THE CREATION WAITS WITH EAGER LONGING FOR US
TO REVEAL OURSELVES AS TRUE CHILDREN OF GOD.”
EACH OF US IS CALLED TO BECOME A PART OF GOD’S RESPONSE
TO THE HEALING OF OUR WORLD
AND TO THE HEALING OF EACH OTHER.
I THINK IT ONLY APPROPRIATE TO COME FULL CIRCLE
AND TO END AS WE BEGAN, WITH THE WISDOM OF CHIEF SEATTLE:
“TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WHAT WE HAVE TAUGHT OUR CHILDREN;
THAT THE EARTH IS OUR MOTHER.
THIS WE KNOW;
THE EARTH DOES NOT BELONG TO HUMANITY;
HUMANITY BELONGS TO THE EARTH.
THIS WE KNOW.
ALL THINGS ARE CONNECTED LIKE THE BLOOD
THAT UNITES ONE FAMILY.
WHATEVER BEFALLS THE EARTH BEFALLS
THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE EARTH.
MEN AND WOMEN DID NOT WEAVE THE WEB OF LIFE:
THEY ARE MERELY A STRAND IN IT.
WHATEVER THEY DO TO THE WEB,
THEY DO TO THEMSELVES.”
AMEN.