God calls us to steward creation in partnership with him. However, the modern practices of human consumption actually destroy the very fabric that makes creation beautiful. We need practices that train us to serve as God’s creation stewards. In this sermon, Shawna Boren offers two Spiritual Practices for us to consider: gratitude and sabbath keeping. 
In this sermon, Shawna Boren addresses the need for spiritual disciplines for relating well to creation. She begins by reiterating the purpose of spiritual practices. The disciplines help us realign to the reality of God’s glorious, sovereign, and steadfast love for his people and his creation. Through intentionally submitting ourselves to these practices, we shape ourselves more and more into becoming better agape lovers of God, self, creation and each other.
Shawna then moves into an explanation as to why we need spiritual practices that shape us in the way that we love creation. She asks, “What does loving creation mean and why does loving creation matter?” The answers to these questions require us to begin at the beginning, with the creation story. God created and what he created was “good.” From the light to the dirt, from the bees to the trees, all is good. God has a deep love and affection for what he has made.
We have a call to care about creation because God cares about it. Furthermore, we, as God’s creatures, are a part of creation. If we do not care for it, then we are not caring for ourselves. In addition, caring for creation is our first mandate. In Genesis 2:15, God commanded humanity to be the stewards of what he created.
As we can see in our common experience in the world, something went wrong. Creation as we now find it is not identical to how God created it. Creation groans in its existence. It is out of alignment with the way God designed it (Romans 8:20-21). The creation is suffering. Which implies that it is warped, perverse, sickly and weak.
How did this happen? We can point to two primary factors. First, there are principalities and powers of the enemy that seek to destroy what God has created. The powers are always at work to steal, kill and destroy to such a degree that stealing, killing, destroying has become part of the fabric of fallen creation. The second factor is human activity. With Enlightenment thinking combined with the Industrial Revolution, humans figured out a way to place themselves at the center of the universe. Everything is for our benefit and our use, which has resulted in our taking on the mantle of consumers instead of stewards. We’ve enacted violence against the earth through overuse of our natural resources, which has resulted in the destruction of the world God set us in.
We need different practices that will remind us to see the world as God’s gift that we have been invited to STEWARD, to care for well. Shawna offers two for us to consider. First, the practice of gratitude. We will never take care of creation if we do not have the ability to be grateful for its beauty. When we don’t take time to really see creation, to breathe it in, we become numb to the beauty of it. Gratitude enables us to appreciate and celebrate the land God has made for us.
The second practice is sabbath, from the Hebrew word shabbat, which means “to cease” or “to rest.” Keeping a sabbath helps to heal a wounded and weary creation. God designed the world to have everything needed to function properly and thrive. Rest is part of the world’s rhythm for thriving. Sabbath offers creation a scheduled and intentional opportunity for rest, respite and restoration. It offers a way to care for creation not by doing more, but actually by doing less. This practice helps us to appreciate creation for what it is, not just for what it can do for us.
Gratitude and sabbath-keeping can wake us up to God as we care for the world he gave us. It can open our eyes to see his beauty and transform us to participate in his restoration of all things.
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