“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it…” -Psalm 24:1
“…Jesus thus does, climactically and decisively, what scripture had in a sense been trying to do: bring God’s fresh Kingdom order to God’s people and thence to the world.”- NT Wright
“…creation is going to be delivered (Rom. 8:18-22), we are not going to be delivered from creation. This means we cannot separate creation and the kingdom of God…because the new world of which Scripture speaks is not a replacement world, but a renewal, restoration and glorification of this one…Thus it was, and remains, our calling to bring out and unfold all of creation’s potentialities in terms of God’s command to turn creation into a culture.” –Joe Boot
“…In the death of Jesus God dealt with the evil of the whole world, and in his resurrection the renewing power of a renewed creation broke into history. This restored creation will one day fill the whole earth and all of history will culminate in the kingdom of God. If this is true…the Gospel is not a private message. It is news about the goal of universal history, the cosmic completion of God’s purpose to restore his original creational intentions for the whole creation and all of human life.” –Michael Goheen
“The cosmos was considered by ancients and medievals alike to be ordered and harmonious, because it was created by a God of order and harmony… Dante’s universe did not simply exist; it meant, and it meant intensely. The universe was less a thing to be studied than a poem to be loved and enjoyed.” -Louis Markos
Below are a number of videos to help us all think more christianly about earth on this Earth Day. The first is a great clip from For the Life of the World put out by Evan Koons and the good folks at the Acton Institute (it includes a brilliant quote by Hans Urs von Balthasar!). The second video the Center for Cultural Leadership‘s P. Andrew Sandlin beautifully arguing that the cosmos is enchanted. The third is NT Wright singing Dylan’s When the Ship Comes in, which has everything to do with God’s intent for creation. The next clip is a speech by Chris Wright (of Langham Partnership) at the Global Day of Prayer for Creation Care. The fifth is Russell Moore talking winsomely, as usual, about environmental protection. The sixth video is Michael Wittmer discussing how the “creation regained” paradigm “changed everything” for him. In the seventh video, Pastor Chris Robins answers the question “why don’t many Christians care about the environment?” The following is Mike Williams arguing that the physical world isn’t going to hell in a handbasket, regardless of what your youth pastor told you. Similarly, the last video is of esteemed New Testament scholar Doug Moo discussing ecology in light of eschatology.
Happy Earth Day, friends!
