Brining together the story of Jesus and the creative energy of the universe brings together certain considerations.
- The first is what is sometimes called the principle of the integrity of creation. If we are profoundly related to all creation, forming one world with all living things, and with the whole material universe, if we are related as companions to other creatures, if we are called to love the world as the Creator loves the world, if this whole material world is to be take-up into the consummation and share in the resurrection, and if Jesus the Christ is at the heart of the whole evolving world, then we are committed to attend to the ecological whole when we act in any one area of the planet.
- The second of these principals concerns the dignity and value of the human person. This, of course, is not a new principal. It has long been the basis of Christian social ethics. But there are those who are concerned about ecology who tend to devalue human beings. Christian ethics sees the human person, and the human community, as profoundly inter-related with all other creatures, but in such a way that the human person is understood as the energy of the material universe come to consciousness. This kind of ethic commits us to respect for the integrity of creation and respect for the unique dignity and worth of every human person. It commits us to seeing economic oppression, sexism of all kinds, racism, ethnocentrism, and other forms of discrimination and maltreatment of humans as intrinsically inter-related with the violation of our planet.
- Finally this kind of Christian ethic is a challenge to be engaged with the universe. We must participate in the shaping of this world in which we live. We are meant to make a difference, to live with authentic purpose. What we can and must do is test all our actions against an intelligent assessment of their impact on the biosphere. We cannot retreat into some earlier ideal relationship with nature. We are answerable to the Creator for our care of the Earth. It is our responsibility to undo as much as we can of the damage already done, and to contribute creatively to saving the planet and enriching its future.
This is our common human task. It is our call to be participators in the Creator’s continuous creation. Our action and our love have significance for our future, a future which will grow out of the world we live in and on, with the transforming energy of the Creator.
Excerpts from: Jesus and the Cosmos, by Denis Edwards.
