Approaching Creation Care with Caution

     This week I wrap up a three-week Sunday school module on "The Christian Response." We are asking the question, "Jesus is risen, so now what?"
    My response to this question has always been pretty simple. We respond to God's grace in our lives by witnessing to others and sharing our personal testimonies with those whom God places in our lives. In other words, we respond to Easter by living a joyful, Christian life, and trying to convince others to know the new life that we know.
    I'm still down with all these things, by the way.
    However, there are other ways to respond, ways that are not mutually exclusive of each other. One is the Micah 6:8 response, "to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God." By caring for the widow, the orphan, the poor, the immigrant, and other vulnerable groups in society, we testify to the Good News.
    I'm pretty sure I don't do enough of this.
    Another option, one I have never placed too much stock in before, has to do with creation care.
    Books like "For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian vision for Creation Care," by Steven Bouma-Prediger, have helped me to at least consider "stewardship of creation" as a legitimate Christian response.
    Bouma-Prediger offers a God-centered vision, rather than many of the other approaches that fall under the umbrella of "environmentalism." In other words, it's more about God than it is Al Gore.
    If God has created all things, and allowed us to have dominion over all things, then we should "rule" over creation with a loving, wise, God-like rule. If all creation is groaning in labor pains, as Paul says it is in Romans 8, then perhaps God has a redemptive purpose for all creation.
    It is something to think about. It has inspired me to at least consider creation care as a valid response to the Gospel, and not simply a cultural trend.
    There is something to it, for sure. But I continue to approach with caution.