Paradox or Progress?

The Lutheran pastor Benjamin Stewart, author of A Watered Garden: Christian Worship and Earth’s Ecology, pointed out that the liturgical feast of “Creation in Christ,” which we celebrated last Sunday, holds together numerous paradoxes, namely that:

“God is both beyond creation and actively present in, with, and under all creation.
“God is both the powerful creator of the earth and the crucified creature of earth, Jesus.

“God’s act of creation is both at the beginning of time (creatio ex nihilo) and continually unfolding now in living creatures and the wider cosmos (creatio continua).
“Creation groans in the present, but is also full of praise that looks forward to the future consummation of all things.
“The earth is both very good, worthy of the deep appreciation of Sabbath rest, and deeply wounded, in need of action for profound healing.
“We humans are all simultaneously environmental saints and sinners, but not all people are equally responsible for environmental harm.”

Eight hundred years after the death of St. Francis of Assisi, one wonders if Westerners have made any progress at all in learning to honor the earth. But that is just the paradox of progress - the darker the times, the brighter the luminaries shine. The more progress we make, the more aware we are of how far we have to go.

with love, Pr. Chelsea