As we immerse ourselves in the program developed by WDP Suriname for the 2018 celebration, we are reminded why the theme “All God’s Creation is Very Good” is so important and relevant to our daily lives.
The Earth, God’s beautiful creation, is our home. However, we have heard and experienced situations that show that our home is in desperate need of love and care. It is not only because of human made environmental disasters, irresponsible developments, uncontrollable wildfires, river contaminations, deforestation or the endangerment of species but also, for the lifestyle, xenophobia, environmental racism or gender based violence, that we join our Surinamese sisters and “confess that we have not done enough to advocate for God’s creation and be caretakers of our neighbours.” “Environmental Justice is as much about people as it is about issues like pollution and climate change,” affirmed Catherine Akale* at the WDP International Meeting. We need to be aware and take action! The story of creation (Genesis 1-2:4) is the main Bible text for this program. During the WDP International Meeting, theologian Silvia Silva* offered us resources to listen to the wisdom of the story. The text “dates back to the exile in Babylon. [In which] behind such beautiful poetry, there are the exiled people, people who have been deported, uprooted far away from their land, their people, their culture and their religion. In a context where the god of the Empire justifies slavery, it was important to recover and state that: “our God is the creator of everything,” and that same God transforms chaos of oppression in a beautiful household that human beings may inhabit. The wisdom that runs through the text is hope. Hope proclaimed, affirmed, and experienced amid pain, the denial of life, and chaos. The beginning of creation is not evil or sin; creation is good. All beings created by God are good. Let us think and feel for a brief moment the prophetic and transforming strength in this statement: “And God saw that it was good.” Like our brothers and sisters in exile in Babylon, we also affirm the goodness of creation amid evil, environmental destruction, and social injustice. We affirm its goodness as a word of hope; “goodness that we need to recover through our prophetic and transforming action.” We invite you to reflect on the environmental justice issues that affect your community. What can you do to keep God’s creation good? *Click here for the full text.
5 Comments
8/17/2018 09:49:33 am
We are living in God's creation. As people of God, we should always look to keep His creation good and healthy. It is evident that through the years, the Earth has taken a toll because of us. We have slowly turned this planet from a beautiful utopia into an environmental war zone. We are only using His creation temporarily. As humans, we need to do our part in combating this serious issue that has been going on for most of the present times.
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12/18/2018 09:18:25 am
Humans are sometimes selfish and violent, but I know for a fact that everybody in this world is born with kindness and goodness within their hearts. We are all God's creation and we must take care and love each other. This world that we live in is also God's creation. Everything that we see in this life of ours is all because God created them. We must not let God's creation turn into something evil. We must help each other and love one another to keep God's creation good.
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12/18/2018 07:47:52 pm
We are one of those God had created. Since we are given an ability to do more than other things he have created, it is just right that we take good care of His other creations. One thing that we must focus on right now is the animals, many people nowadays were exposed in social media and they are proud harassing the animals. When it comes to environment, if you cannot clean the things around you, the best way that you can have is by not throwing trashes anymore.
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6/9/2020 03:08:44 am
Interesting post. I Have Been wondering about this issue. so thanks for posting. Pretty cool post.It 's really very nice and Useful post
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