" What counts is action!"
"Almighty Lord, You have created the universe in wisdom, You protect and reign over it with Your almighty hand: grant prosperity and well-being to the whole Creation, and protect it from being harmed by pollution, because You, the Ruler, have commanded that the works of Your hands shall be unshaken until the end of the world, because You spoke and it came into being, and all that is Yours experiences Your mercy, through defence against all evil and the salvation of humankind, which praises Your Name, above all glory."
(from the Vesper, Hymnograph: Gerasimos Mikrayannanitis, Monk of Athos)
On the occasion of the SECOND EUROPEAN ECUMENICAL ASSEMBLY IN GRAZ (1997), RESPONSIBILITY FOR CREATION found expression in several Recommendations
A new practice of ecological responsibility, now and with regard to coming generations
5. 1. We recommend that the churches consider and promote the
preservation of creation as part of church life at all levels.
One way would be to observe a common Creation Day, such as the
Ecumenical Patriarchate celebrates each year.
Rationale : The seriousness of the ecological dilemma for the future of the human race means that the churches' consciousness of it must be raised. Commitment to preservation of the creation is not a side issue among many others, but an essential dimension of all church work.
5.2 We recommend that the churches encourage the development of lifestyles guided by the principles of sustainability and social justice, and that they support all efforts towards an economy which meets the same criteria.
Rationale : Ecological responsibility must guide personal as well as political and economic actions. The criterion of sustainability gives continued weight to saving energy and to discovery and use of renewable forms of energy. Christians, supported by their congregations and their church, should strive for a lifestyle which sets an example of freeing oneself from the pressure to consume and of valuing a true quality of life.
5.3 We recommend that the churches join the Aqenda 21 Process and connect it to the ecumenical or conciliar process for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation.
Rationale : Agenda 21 offers an internationally agreed basis for action which has important aspects in common with the conciliar process for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation. It can be especially helpful in stimulating and organising cooperation with those holding social and political power at the local level.
5.4. We recommend that CEC and CCEE create a network of persons
with environmental responsibilities and recognise them as partners in church activities.
Rationale : If the preservation of creation is to be anchored within church life in a politically effective way, it needs to be substantiated by professional competence. The CEC member churches and the CCEE Bishops' Conferences should appoint their own officers for environmental issues, and create a network for them in the form of a suitable organisation with which they cooperate as a partner.
All of this requires implementation. Therefore the Day of
Creation on September 1st of each year should be celebrated as
A DAY OF RECOLLECTION and become a sign of commitment in
Christians' everyday lives.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR CREATION IS THE ANSWER TO THE CALL OF THE RE'ZVELATIONS OF THE BIBLE AND OF CREATION
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" We have to realise it is superstition to assume that God will act even when we don't." (Martin Luther King)
The invitation goes out to every Christian to think on this day in a particular way about being a creature of God and the meaning of Creation, and to lead the way - wherever he or she is - on vacation, in his/her job, at home, at school, in church or in a hospital:
MORNING MEDITATION
Consider MOBILITY: choose a new form of transport (public transport, bicycle, fitness training, a walk, car pooling) which doesn't increase ground ozone in summer.
BUYING I CONSUMING: think about the necessity, and the method of production, of each item, considering eco-social aspects (e.g. flowers are often grown under health-endangering working conditions) and how it was transported; visit an ecology-conscious shop...
Help to realize CONCRETE PROJECTS
Look for relevant INFORMATION (there is no lack of it). An attempt to explain the lack of translation into action:
"1) We have not read about all these facts. Then we are guilty of ignorance.
2) We have read them but did not understand them. Then we have tried, but are still ignorant.
3) We have read them - and suppressed them. Then we are actually mentally ill.
4) We have read them, understood them - and still continue to behave in the same way. The ancient Roman law called this "dolus eventualis" - an action with evil intent. For if one accepts an event as existentially negative for somebody else, and consciously accepts this, then one is doing dolus."(Prof. Heinrich Wohlmeyer on dealing with information)
REFLECTIONS on nature and un-nature (City life: a tree is dying in our midst, grass is breaking through the asphalt)
SAVING OF RESOURCES AND AVOIDANCE OF WASTE (To be considered:
What am I entitled to, where does my trash go?
ACTING COURAGEOUSLY against outrages and dangerous developments. People in the Third Reich were accused of lack of courage, but what is the situation now:
BIO-POLITICS, MAI, GROWTH ECONOMY, NUCLEAR THREAT, CLIMATE CHANGE? Lead the way: e.g. by giving your signature when it is necessary, by joining when it counts in supporting politically effective measures, by lending your voice to those who are weaker.
LITERATURE: visit a specialised bookshop, a library Seek DIALOGUE with others (and remain friendly!)
EDUCATION : What can we learn from others?
What can we learn from Jesus Christ?
John 8.7-11: a careful approachi John 2.13-25: Jesus stands up
firmly to those guilty of negligence.
JOIN new, religiously productive movements (spiritualcharismatic, community-based-political), and in prophetic protest
CONSTRAINTS and FEARS: What is the role of the environment in which I live ? Be prepared to Let go!
GUILT: Is Integrity of Creation a pastoral topic? What is a "trivial offence"? "The one who is careless is already a brother of the one who tears down" (from the Jewish tradition). For even if you only toss a battery over your shoulder, you are attacking the health and consequently the life of others.
THE SCENE OF THE CRIME: Life
STATEMENTS OF THE CHURCH: Where do you find their translation into action ? Seek discussion.
CREATION THEOLOGY and SPIRITUALITY OF CREATION - flows into a pastoral ecological commitment - in your own life, in the everyday life of the Church, in educational establishments? "Life is also an adventure, an expedition into reality."
WORSHIP at the end of the day: a rite of thoroughgoing penitence! Towards the end: focus on justified hope. "Who preaches hope, must have hope." "We present to you, 0 God, this day."
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SOME recommendations for church institutions, congregations, monasteries, educational institutions
OPEN HOUSE DAY (a certain room or rooms, a place of worship, a garden, a place outdoors,..)
MUSIC: compositions for Creation
LITERATURE: a book table on theological and ecological topics
CREATIVITY: Painting and handwork on the day's theme, poetry
VISIONS: the contributions each of us can make (solar panels, use of organic products etc.)
FIELD TRIPS to: Refuse Dumps, rivers and creeks, organic farms and companies. A look through a microscope!
MEDIA: inform them in time
CURRENT TOPICS: e.g. in December 1998: "Jubilees'~ for the 50th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights
INVITATIONS: Ecological Organisations, politicians, UNCED members
Celebrate the Creator and the Creation! - Theological reflections on the implementation of a day of Creation in the church year (Pastor Klaus Hoof, Weikersheim)
Today's environmental crisis is not a crisis of the creation but a crisis of humanity itself!
The Creation is not in danger - it is incredibly adaptable - the continuing survival of human beings is endangered. This human crisis is, in the end, a crisis of the way humankind sees itself and world, its forgetting of God. If this analysis is accurate, then not only is an energetic, action-orientated commitment to the conservation of Creation required - especially of the churches - but also something else: It is the responsibility of the churches - based on their own faith concerns - to respond to and contribute to the healing of this crisis.
An indispensable part of this contribution would be to celebrate and to visualise this "well-being" of cosmos and people as a part of our confession of God as creator and preserver. Salvation wants to be celebrated. It needs to be experienced afresh, affirmed and made our own. Its celebration requires a ritual or liturgy. Only in this way will it find its place in the life of every single person and community and have an effect on the way humanity sees itself and the world.
Trinitarian challenges for a new understanding of humankind -providing the basis for celebration.
A Biblical creation theology cannot be developed without the rediscovery of the Holy Trinity; consequently, the ecological guidelines of the Protestant Church of Wtirttemberg emphasize:
"Responsibility for the environment is a consequence of the confession of the Holy Trinity . .
But what does this mean? An essential aspect of the doctrine of the Trinity of the ancient churches says: Father, Son and Holy Spirit live with each other, for each other and in each other. They live with one another in the highest and most perfect communion and love. This Trinitarian model of God brings forth another image of humankind through the concept of the human person as being with God. We express our likeness to God when we live in lively and life-supporting relationships, in community with God and humanity, in community with the whole Creation. It is not enough to approach this aspect only through theological reflection. Relationships have to be formed and lived. Where in the sphere of the Churches is this understood as a task for liturgy?
The message of the New Testament is clear: God the Father creates through the Son in the Power of the Holy Ghost. With this background, Paul says: "From him and through him and to him are all things" (Rom 11.36). All things and beings have been created by God, have been formed by God and exist in God. God is visible, audible, tastable, "smellable", experienceable in the world. This is the actual secret of the incarnation of God. In the end, this secret of the healing presence of God in the Creation cannot be understood, it wants to be experienced, felt and celebrated. Only through the experience that God's life-creating spirit and will is within everything that is and lives, can a great respect for everything that is and lives be newly and deeply founded. To make this experience possible is a central spiritual and liturgical responsibility of Christendom.
Questions for the Liturgical Calendar
"I believe in God, the Father, the Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth" - where in the liturgical calendar is a place reserved for interaction and reflection on this experience of faith? Theologically it is clear: The confession of God as Creator is presupposed when we celebrate salvation in Christ, the coming and the action of the Holy Spirit. But it is quite apparent that the confession of God as Creator is at no time the subject of celebration and reflection in all of the church year.
Traditionally, the first article of the creed plays an essential role during thanksgiving celebrations. However, thanksgiving has a very special orientation. The main emphasis of the celebration is gratitude for the life-giving gifts of God. But the confession of God as Creator of Heaven and Earth means more than gratitude for fruits and food, for bread and clothes, for work and living.
The question remains: Where in the Church does the fundamental fact appear of our dependence on the Creator? Our relationship as human beings to heaven and earth, to light and water, the sun, moon and stars, to plants and animals; our relationship to our bodies and our identities as men and women, our being sheltered in or exposed to the cosmos; the recognition of God's wisdom in ordering Creation and the search for harmony with God's ways, the criteria for transcending limits and reshaping creation - where are these central topics dealt with, celebrated and visualised? Also the questions and topics that have to do with the understanding of the world in a wider sense call for sustained reflection, e.g. the question of the origin of life and the cosmos, whether history and life are moving towards a goal or in infinite circles.
It cannot be without consequences for the churches and for Christians whether or not they think about these questions regularly. If a church does not ground itself in these aspects of faith from time to time, will it not lose its feeling and its competence for these topics, its authority to give a credible testimony ?
Ecumenical reflections
The Orthodox churches have done increasingly intense theological work on the topics of Creation and protection of Creation in recent years. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople first declared the 1st of September as "Day of Creation" in 1989, and calls on the churches every year to celebrate this day appropriately. As in Orthodoxy the new church year begins the 1st September, this shows a high regard for Creation faith and the 1st Article of Faith in Orthodox churches.
The 2nd European Ecumenical Conference in Graz calls on the Conference of European Churches (KEK) and the Council of European Catholic Bishop's Conferences (CCEE) "to consider and promote the protection of Creation as part of ecclesiastical life (on all levels) .. An example: KEK and CCEE ask their member churches and Bishop's Conferences to implement a Creation Day as celebrated by the Ecumenical Patriarchate (Recommendations for Action 5.1).
In Germany, the Evangelical Methodist Church (EMK) has already been celebrating a "Day for God's Good Creation" since 1986. A working group within the EMK prepares materials for the celebration of this day in congregations.
In Switzerland the period from September 1st to the harvest feast is observed as "Creation Time" according to a proposal by the Ecumenical Working Group on Church and Environment (OEKU). Observing this "Creation Time" should help congregations to avoid considering Thanksgiving only as a folkloristic souvenir of the past.
Celebrate salvation! - We need a "Day of Creation" within the church year. Christendom can make an important contribution to the self-understanding of humankind which is necessary for survival. Through our faith in God, the Creator and Preserver of the cosmos and all of life, we know that humankind is part of all the works of creation. Through the church year, the churches should create a regular place where they can do justice to this and where the relevant Biblical traditions can be heard. It is a rewarding challenge for congregations and for theologians, male or female, to find elements of ritual and liturgical forms which help people celebrate and feel their inclusion in God's creation.
A celebration
1. where people experience communion with God and other people and with the whole creation,
2. where people celebrate God as Creator and themselves as creatures,
3. where they open their eyes, ears and all senses to God's Creation,
4. where they rediscover the secrets of life,
where salvation, founded in the creating and preserving action of God always takes shape, and people make it their own, always anew, that is what is missing in all the church year
Numerous church groups and circles organise services and action days on the topic of preservation of Creation. The implementation of a "Day of Creation" by church ordinance within the liturgical calendar would be a better foundation theologically for such activities, would channel them, would give them a new direction and put them on a wider basis. This would have effects in two directions: within the churches, where competence in and acceptance of these issues would grow, and outward to society where Christian convictions regarding preservation of creation would be increasingly heard and better defined. Both would be desirable for the clarity of Christian Creation testimony.
H. -H. Böhm, Isolde Schönstein, autumn 1998
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