Methodist Message: April 2020

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Home ¢ Dr Benjamin Grandey worked as a climate scientist. He is currently taking a career break to volunteer, study theology, and parent three young children. He worships at Living Waters Methodist Church.

Christ-centred creation care Should the Church care for the earth? To explore this question, let us consider the overarching framework of salvation history—the story of God’s good creation, damaged by our rebellion, reconciled through Christ.

CREATION Relationship status: harmonious God has always existed as a community of love, with love shared between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As an expression of His love, God created the universe through the Son and for the Son (Col 1:15–17). God created a wonderful earth. The earth’s ecosystem contains many components, interacting harmoniously. God created humans to be His representatives who care for the earth as a sacred duty (Gen 2:15). We have been created to live in community, in harmonious relationship with God, with one another, and with the earth.

Discipleship application: embodied celebration Through the incarnation, the eternal Son embraced His creation by being born as a human. As humans, we too must embrace an embodied spirituality, celebrating the goodness of God’s creation through thanksgiving to Him. In other words, our lives should overflow with thanksgiving to God, thanking Him for His creation.

Practical creation care: thanksgiving for the climate system God has created a wonderful climate system. This climate system contains many important components, including greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. If the natural greenhouse effect did not exist, the world would be so cold that even Singapore would be buried under a layer of ice.

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METHODIST MESSAGE April 2020


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