This is the day the Lord has made
Let us rejoice and be glad.
Psalm 118:24
We are stewards of God’s creation, the earth. We are given dominion over the land and the beasts to care for and use, maintaining it for future generations. The earth is not ours to keep, but to care for. It is where God placed his children out of love for us all. He provided the earth for our needs and asks us to keep it for all His children.
Wisely using the resources of the earth and keeping them renewable for future generations is our charge from God. He gave us this place to live, to raise our families and to greet each other in love and friendship as brothers and sisters. This is our awesome responsibility, one where we humans everywhere must work together to accomplish. If we fail to act to save our resources and restore our environment we fail the future of the human race. What good is it to profit today just to lose it all tomorrow?
Exploitation and waste of our resources in any one place on the earth harms the whole balance of nature and has long-range effects on the earth’s environment. If we are to be good stewards of the earth we must act in cooperation with our brothers and sisters to ensure the vitality and longevity of God’s creation. We are called to act both locally and globally to protect the earth’s resources and the living environment of all people. It is our task to ensure that we wisely use the resources available to us today and discover ways of maintaining those resources for future generations.
1In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth—2 and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters—
3Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light.4God saw that the light was good. God then separated the light from the darkness.5God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” Evening came, and morning followed—the first day.*
6Then God said: Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other.7God made the dome, and it separated the water below the dome from the water above the dome. And so it happened.8God called the dome “sky.” Evening came, and morning followed—the second day.
9Then God said: Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear. And so it happened: the water under the sky was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared.10God called the dry land “earth,” and the basin of water he called “sea.” God saw that it was good.11Then God said: Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. And so it happened:12the earth brought forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree that bears fruit with its seed in it. God saw that it was good.13Evening came, and morning followed—the third day.
14Then God said: Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the seasons, the days and the years,15and serve as lights in the dome of the sky, to illuminate the earth. And so it happened:16God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night, and the stars.17God set them in the dome of the sky, to illuminate the earth,18to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.19Evening came, and morning followed—the fourth day.
20i Then God said: Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky.21God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of crawling living creatures with which the water teems, and all kinds of winged birds. God saw that it was good,22and God blessed them, saying: Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas; and let the birds multiply on the earth.23Evening came, and morning followed—the fifth day.
24 Then God said: Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: tame animals, crawling things, and every kind of wild animal. And so it happened:25God made every kind of wild animal, every kind of tame animal, and every kind of thing that crawls on the ground. God saw that it was good.26l Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth.
Peace,
Deacon Don
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