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Creation Justice Ministries strongly supports the EPA’s proposed methane rules and urges EPA to strengthen the rules to maximize the benefits for public health and the environment.
On September 1, the three most notable world Christian leaders released a joint statement on the care for God’s people and planet. The three leaders were Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion. In their first statement together ever, these three leaders chose to focus on the most pressing material and spiritual challenge of our time: the ecological crisis. They bookend their statement with a line from the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 30, verse 19: “choose life, so that you and your children may live.” In the face of a string of death-dealing decisions that have denied life and wellness to us and our children, we have the opportunity to choose life: for us and for our planet. Methane pollution is a death-dealing issue with profound impacts on the health of communities. The strongest possible standards to cut methane pollution are an obvious step to choosing life. Methane pollution has a negative impact on the 30 percent of people in the U.S. who live near oil and gas production, with a disproportionate impact on low-income and communities of color. As Christians, we follow Jesus’ lead, caring first for those who society has deemed to be disposable. Under the current rules, too many communities are disposable, suffering the public health impacts that come along with methane pollution. Cutting methane pollution is a moral opportunity -- the chance to choose life for these communities. I want to thank the EPA for using its legal authority to propose cuts in methane pollution under the Clean Air Act. Still, EPA's proposal does not go far enough to address pollution. In particular, EPA ought to ensure its new rules include the following:
These rules are necessary to protect our communities and our climate. The Biden administration has repeatedly committed itself to the plight of environmental and climate justice. Now is the time to live up to those commitments and supplement the EPA proposal to include tighter monitoring and enforcement of wells. Creation Justice Ministries asks the EPA to strengthen the proposed methane rules to maximize the benefits for God’s people and planet. In other words, we are coming alongside our global religious leaders, the writers of Deuteronomy to ask, and the diverse history of Christian traditions to ask: "will you choose life, so that you and your children may live?"
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The goal of protecting and preserving 30 percent of public lands and waters by the year 2030 (“30x30”) is an important goal that we cannot miss. The climate crisis is ever worsening and we do not have the luxury of waiting any longer to rightly care for God’s creation. As Christians, we see the world as creation -- a gift from God that blesses us with life and health. We also have the responsibility to care for creation -- protecting, restoring, and rightly sharing the abundant natural world. We see 30x30 and the America the Beautiful report as more than a governmental or environmental document. We see it as a moral vision that would increase our flourishing with each other, our lands, and our waters.
Public lands are the literal grounds of our American identity. Our national parks and forests, dazzling wildlife refuges, and thousands of scenic trails embody America both at home and abroad. While their creation is often rooted in the unjust removal of Native Americans who called them home for millennia, public lands today represent refuge from the routines of daily life and celebrate what collaborative management can achieve. Now, in the face of climate change, the role of public lands has again evolved — this time from simply a refuge to the more complicated role of both a bulwark against climate change and a potential victim to climate change in need of defense. Faith and spirituality have sustained, enhanced, and defined America’s public lands for centuries. Communities of faith must consider the central role of public lands stewardship in our abilities to love and care for our families, our neighbors, and God’s creation. Caring for public lands means caring for healthy communities, stable livelihoods and economies, resilient food systems, and bountiful landscapes that show God’s grace to each successive generation. Public lands also unite us with those of all political and religious walks, as clean water, breathable air, and fruitful soil are universal values that we all further by protecting them. Faith and spirituality have sustained, enhanced, and defined America’s public lands for centuries. As stated above, Native Americans are the original and rightful owners of this country, and they have been the best and longest stewards of all its natural features. Native American religions and cultures have understood and treasured for millennia the sacred interconnectedness between humans and the ecosystems that surround us. And Native American sacred sites have also been the target of political and corporate exploitation, as was most recently illustrated by the previous administration’s attempts to open up the Bears Ears Monument to mining. Working to protect Bears Ears for the benefit of all future generations, the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute Indian Tribe founded the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and succeeded in staving off threatened devastation to one of our nation’s most integral landscapes. Advocacy to protect Bears Ears was a success both in outcome and in process -- the interfaith effort brought Christian, Jewish, and Native American Tribes together to reject both the desecration of a national treasure and the racism of violating Native American rights and values. This support extended beyond Bears Ears to all national monuments under threat, including Cascade-Siskiyou, Gold Butte, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Katahdin Woods and Waters, Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, Pacific Remote Islands, Rio Grande Del Norte, and Rose Atoll National Monuments. The sacredness of nature is a core tenet of Judeo-Christian culture, as well - not just one adopted in the interest of allyship. As the Book of Psalms declares, “[T]the trees of the forest will sing for joy," and "[i]n God’s hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to God.” The famous Christian thinker and preacher Cotton Mather declared in 1721, “The Lord by Wisdom has founded the Earth[,]” and the Passionist priest, naturalist, and historian Thomas Berry taught over two centuries later that, “Reverence will be total or it will not be at all.” We either accept that this Earth is divine creation and live accordingly, or we reject the truth of God’s goodness and imprint on all that surrounds us. More recently, in just the past twenty years, almost all major Christian denominations have called for the restoration and protection of America’s lands to nourish ecosystems, economies, and communities. People of faith have been powerful protectors of our greatest public treasures, from the red rock wilderness and Grand Canyon to the Everglades and the Blue Ridge Mountains. We either accept that this Earth is divine creation and live accordingly, or we reject the truth of God’s goodness and imprint on all that surrounds us. Climate change demands swift and strategic action to restore and protect our most valuable ecosystems and ensure equitable access to places of refuge. Scientists are clear that the current climate crisis threatens not just humans, but all living beings. The diversity of God’s creation is under siege due to changes on all fronts, from temperatures to sea level, from extreme weather to wildfires. Public lands can both mitigate the effects of climate change and facilitate adaptation to the effects that cannot be avoided. A comprehensive climate plan for public lands is the only way to achieve the outcomes we need on the timescale by which we need them. The Build Back Better plan by the Biden-Harris Administration has several components that are critical to a successful and just path forward that protects both the future and the heritage of all Americans. Running through each of these core components are the values of public engagement, fair apportionment of costs and benefits, and compassionate economies that secure both health and profit for impacted communities. A comprehensive climate plan for public lands is the only way to achieve the outcomes we need on the timescale by which we need them. The Civilian Climate Corps would create jobs by employing Americans to restore public lands and waters, enhance community resilience, improve access to recreation, address the changing climate, and more. This simple concept underscores the opportunities that come with swift and comprehensive action on climate change — we can make sure that communities are themselves part of the solution, rather than waiting around for outside assistance.
A few simple tweaks to how we regulate fossil fuels would likewise yield massive benefits to the American public and public lands by making our economy more efficient and sustainable. Right now, the American taxpayer is footing the bill for cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells - over 60,000 of which have already been recorded across the country. These wells are major environmental hazards that contaminate groundwater and emit the powerful greenhouse gas methane, and funding for clean-up has fallen far short. Congress can fix this by employing Americans to close existing wells and requiring private companies to finance well clean-up moving forward - again benefitting communities and public lands by centering justice. Finally, Congress must guarantee the public a seat at the table when government decisions are made and public funds spent. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is the law that exists for just such a purpose, and it requires robust funding to actually work. Meaningful public participation means access to full information about a proposed project and its potential impacts and timely opportunities to comment on the options presented. Unless Congress fully funds NEPA, it is an empty promise that checks the box of public engagement without allowing us to actually steward our public lands. The coming weeks are crucial to the success of this ambitious and essential agenda. Congress will decide whether to turn the latter concepts into law, and if so, at what level to fund them. Far from being weedy decisions by bureaucrats that don’t affect the average American, Congress’s action on the multi-trillion dollar proposal before it will largely determine how much human suffering we can prevent this century. The Biden-Harris Administration has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to ensure that climate is a fundamental factor in all government decisions made concerning public lands, and that public lands are likewise a fundamental tool in the government’s approach to mitigating and adapting to climate change. At our best, we as people of faith stand with our spiritual human family from all religions, cultures, and traditions to steward what we all know is truly sacred. When we recognize our public lands as worthy of reverence and our responsibility for stewarding them as shared, we are answering God’s call. You can continue this sacred tradition by telling Congress that public lands are an invaluable gift that we must preserve on moral grounds, and whose survival is now inextricably linked to our own. By Farley Lord I imagine Jesus would be one of those nature hike leaders who arrives at the trailhead before everyone else to thoughtfully consider the tree canopy. He would wear brandless, mud-colored boots and clothes that were not at all trendy, least of all his pants tucked into his socks to deter creepy crawlies. He would hike only with a knobby stick and a small bag of trail mix (for surely even Jesus loves trail mix). He would know everything about everything and it would seem he was created by the woods themselves. Or wouldn’t I know that it was the other way around? I would most like to follow Jesus birdwatching. You know the old joke that there’s a reason fishing is called “fishing,” not “catching”? Similarly birdwatching (as in, watching for birds) is not the same as birdseeing. Birdwatching is an interspecies game of hide-and-seek where the hiding species is almost weightless, usually camouflaged, and can fly; the finding species is giant by comparison and wears clodhoppers and swishy hiking pants. What luck, then, that according to the letter to the Hebrews, “before Jesus no creature is hidden.” (4:13) No creature is hidden! All I would have to do is wrangle my binoculars in the direction he tells me, and I would check off every bird species on my list before lunch. "I imagine Jesus would be one of those nature hike leaders who arrives at the trailhead before everyone else to thoughtfully consider the tree canopy." My greed for birdwatching glory would wear off as I realized that how Jesus sees is just as important as what he sees. Jesus wouldn’t be like a supersensory zombie who sends the poor birds scattering, forming unlikely alliances, and providing the plot of the next hit tv series. No: he wouldn’t reveal creatures to capture, embarrass, startle, trick, or profit from them. What is hidden is more than their location; it is their truth, and Jesus can see the truth of every creature. Jesus sees them despite their fear, their fatigue, the density of the underbrush, or the rugged terrain. Jesus sees them through love, and he wouldn’t get any closer than he needs to love them. His goal is communion, not domination. At some point Jesus would see something in the distance and become quiet, his face soft and sad. Following his gaze, I would see no bird, just wind in the leaves. Perhaps the bird that’s caught his attention is hidden from mortal eyes because it is missing and shouldn’t be. Is it a Carolina parakeet, a passenger pigeon, or ivory-billed woodpecker? He doesn’t say, but sighs and keeps walking. Before Jesus, no creature is hidden, even those who have faced death and extinction from the tangible world. "Before Jesus, no creature is hidden, even those who have faced death and extinction from the tangible world." As I got in my car after the hike, I would realize one more thing. The way that Jesus sees birds, his creatures, is that he gently watches for them; reveals their truths so they are no longer hidden; puts their missing pieces back together; and approaches them as they are with love. This, I would think, must be the same way he sees me.
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Friday, October 8, 2021 Press Contact: Karyn Bigelow, karyn@creationjustice.org; Avery Davis Lamb, avery@creationjustice.org STATEMENT: The Biden Administration Restores Full Protections to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Today, the Biden Administration restored full protections to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, as well as restored the original boundaries for two Utah areas, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts is an incredible piece of God’s creation that was designated as a national monument in 2016 under the Obama Administration. It was the first fully protected marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean until the summer of 2020. The monument was stripped of some protections, leaving it open to commercial fishing and other activities that could be detrimental to the creatures that live within the bounds of the monument as well as the unique and irreplaceable sea floor. Today, we rejoice and give thanks to the Biden Administration for this decision. This monument is not only an important haven for biodiversity, but it also gets us one step closer to achieving our national goal of protecting 30% of our public lands and waters by the year 2030. We have had the pleasure of working with the Creation Justice community as well as several other organizations to bring awareness to this important part of God’s Creation. While we have several national monuments dedicated in the Pacific Ocean, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is the only national monument in the Atlantic Ocean. . Our Co-Executive Directors, Karyn Bigelow and Avery Davis Lamb, share the joint statement: "The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is a modern-day Noah’s Ark. This beautiful, majestic space is home to many creatures such as dolphins, whales, and an incredible sea floor. Every inch of this ecosystem was created in detail and it is our job to keep this place protected. Just as we've been afforded the opportunity to witness this majestic place at the hands of God, we want to ensure it is sustained for the generations after us to enjoy. Protecting the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts will help us to continue safeguarding our coastlines as well. These protections go hand in hand with efforts to cultivate climate resilience efforts all along the east coast. Today, we thank President Biden for restoring protections to this special place.” We give thanks to the Biden Administration and the Department of Interior for restoring protections and taking the health of God’s ocean seriously. ### Creation Justice Ministries represents the creation care policies of 38 Christian communions, including Baptists, mainline Protestants, Historically Black Churches, Peace Churches, and Orthodox communions. Learn more at www.creationjustice.org  By Nicole Taylor Morris Melanie L. Harris describes ecowomanism as, “the reflective and contemplative study of the eco wisdom that is theorized, constructed, and practiced by women of African descent. The discourse validates their lives, spiritual values, and activism as important epistemologies (i.e., sets of knowledge) in ecowomanism.”[1] Harris goes on to draw parallels between the ways that settler colonialism has and continues to harm and impact the Earth, just as it continues to harm and impact the lives of Black womxn, who often face the most severe forms of marginalization, globally, in her book Ecowomanism. The core of Womanism, which is often used as a theological framework, offers both a theoretical lens and practical applications for centering the voices and experiences of Black womxn and those most marginalized by oppressive systems.[2] It prioritizes actively listening to those voices and experiences toward repair and transformation, individually, communally, and systemically. Eco-womanism extends these principles beyond the experiences of marginalized human bodies and calls for a deep acknowledgment of the “voice” and experience of the Earth, of land and water, and living beings beyond humanity that have been subjected to the iterations of ecological violence due to white supremacy and capitalism. It also calls for a deep listening and attunement to the way that the Earth is an expert in its own healing and for a return to the decolonized, Afro-Indigenous ways of creating a symbiotic, not dominant, relationships amongst humans and the living beings and bodies that make up Earth. "Eco-womanism extends these principles beyond the experiences of marginalized human bodies and calls for a deep acknowledgment of the “voice” and experience of the Earth, of land and water, and living beings beyond humanity." Ecowomanism is rooted in justice and equity. It offers an insightful perspective and lens to Creation Justice by ultimately acknowledging that not only are the marginalized bodies of Black womxn and the Earth reflections and embodiments of God, but that there is a universal necessity to treat them as such in order to effectively move toward ecological restoration. This sentiment is reflected in Scripture from the Bible: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14, KJV). We are called to be stewards to the land as reflections of God, who are “called by [God’s] name”. Our relationship to land is intended to be directly symbiotic and is also reflected in the ways that we treat one another; humility by transforming the systems of power we’ve created ultimately leads to a restorative forgiveness and “healing the land”--our voices must be heard and uplifted by one another, by God, and this will impact our ability to restore the environment. Ecowomanism prompts us to reimagine the present by returning to ancestral practices and by challenging the influences of white supremacy on our thoughts and actions in relation to ecology and society. It prompts us to reconsider statements that pose climate change and environmental disasters as “threats” to humanity, to an understanding that climate change is a direct result and symptom of the long-term destructive nature of settler colonialism, exploitative systems of oppression, and the consistent marginalization and neglect of the Earth and non-white bodies as “other”. Creation justice encourages us to consider how human systems and societies have actively harmed and are complicit in perpetuating harm to the environment and for us to approach restoration through healing and accountability, rather than defense and continued domination. Ecowomanism is at the core of what Creation Justice must be; a call for reparations, healing, and transformation of both society and its impacts on the health and well-being of the planet by deeply listening, honoring, and returning to practices that uplift those whose lives and humanity are most often disregarded and the Earth itself, as God. "Ecowomanism is at the core of what Creation Justice must be; a call for reparations, healing, and transformation.." Though the need for intervention is urgent and requires deep re-imagining of how best to approach societal and planetary healing on a global scale, many communities and societies have maintained and reclaimed ancestral and Afro-indigenous practices toward a Creation Justice of healing with the land. One embodiment of Creation Justice through the lens of Ecowomanism is the urban farm cooperative space, the Common Good Project located in the Neponset Tribal Territory of what is popularly called Dorchester, Massachusetts. The Common Good Project was founded and is led by Black women and women of color who face the daily challenges and impacts of systemic marginalization, neglect, and isolation of living in an under-resourced community of a heavily-resourced metropolitan area. This project is rooted in the concept that liberation from these structures can be found by learning and intentionally returning to an Afro-Indigenous symbiotic relationship with the Earth and land as a space that provides oxygen, food, and the physiological benefits of ecological engagement in right relationship with the Earth, but also a space that must be nurtured, honored, and heard. Not only does this project and similar community-based offerings provide an avenue forward for improving the well-being and seeking justice at a community-level, but also they provide insight to the ways that we can begin to actualize Creation Justice for planetary well-being. Efforts like these continually reemphasize the equity of humanity and ecology and the ways that they are interwoven through a lens of Creation Justice and Ecowomanism; they are tangible pathways forward for both survival and healing. 1. Melanie L. Harris (2016) Ecowomanism: Black Women, Religion, and the Environment, The Black Scholar, 46:3, 27-39, DOI: 10.1080/00064246.2016.1188354 2. Alice Walker (2011). In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose. Open Road Integrated Media.
By Dr. Steven Bouma-Prediger Revelation 22:1-2 Rivers and trees. The Bible begins and ends with rivers and trees. Genesis 1-2 and Revelation 21-22. Rivers and trees bookend the Bible. Why is this striking fact not more well known among followers of Jesus? And what might this text teach us about creation justice? In this mind-bending vision of God’s good future (Revelation 21:1 to 22:7) John the Seer speaks about the river of the water of life, cascading from the throne of God and the Lamb, right smack-dab through the middle of a heaven-on-earth city. Rekindling the vision of Ezekiel 47, John reminds us that wherever this sacred river flows, every living creature flourishes. On each side of the river is the tree of life, with twelve kinds of fruit, one for each month, sustenance all year long. No more hunger or famine. No more worry about if or when you will get the next meal. "...wherever this sacred river flows, every living creature flourishes." The leaves of this magnificent tree are for the healing of the nations--the soothing, restorative reconciliation of all ethnic groups and peoples. And this healing includes all creation. Respect for rights and care for needs—human and nonhuman alike. In short, the leaves of this tree foster God’s good future of shalom: justice, love, the flourishing of all things. Can we even begin to imagine what this would be like? No more trees felled to make battering rams to lay violent siege to medieval cities. No more trees cut to make sailing masts for colonial slave ships. No more trees pulped to make paper propaganda to fuel the fires of ethnic cleansing and human hate. In sharp contrast, this tree brings healing and wholeness to all. Medicinal uses of biochemical compounds extracted from leaves or bark. Beautiful wood used to make melodious guitars and sturdy garden hoes. Generous forest canopies that provide us shade and offer homes to warblers and bromeliads and tree frogs. Sinuous streams and life-filled lakes that provide habitats for crabs and trout and loons. The leaves of this tree are for the healing of the nations and the good of all creation. An essential aspect of our faith is hope. And an integral feature of hope is imagining a good future. May this rarely read but powerful text infuse our imaginations with an earthy and earthly vision of all things as God intends them to be. Shalom. The reign of God. Creation justice.
By Sarah Augustine Each morning my son and I watch the sunrise. I was taught to do this by elders – to give thanks at the beginning of the day, to acknowledge the gift and miracle of life every morning. My ancestors practiced reverence in this way, and in turn I share this with my son. The spiritual tradition I have been taught explains that God’s nature is revealed in creation. To walk with God is to acknowledge God’s plan revealed in creation. Romans 1:19-20 explains, For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. God’s eternal power and divine nature are clearly perceived. I take this to mean that God’s nature is made clear in creation. With each sunrise, God reveals God’s faithfulness, blessing the earth with warmth and light, the ongoing process of creation. The life support systems we depend on – soil, air and water – work together in a precious balance that demonstrates interdependence. These life support systems express the boundaries of reality that we must live within. For human beings to live, we need clean air, water and soils. Indigenous Peoples, across our numerous spiritual traditions, acknowledge we are embedded in creation, interdependent with it, not separate from it. In the cosmology I understand, this is reality. "These life support systems express the boundaries of reality that we must live within." 'In the dominant culture, I have learned a different view of reality. In this alternate view, my self-interest justifies participation in disabling the systems of life. I am told that if I work hard, I deserve all that I earn. I can earn money and accumulate land and assets, which belong to me and which I can discharge as I see fit. My success is marked by the accumulation of wealth. I can pass down property, money, and investments to my descendants and they are entitled to these assets, which they are free to discharge as they see fit. Those fortunate enough to hold investments passively participate in the destruction of life-support systems, since investment portfolios are often dominated by extractive industries. Extraction of oil, natural gas, minerals and metals discharge carbon into the air, changing the climate. Extractive industry pollutes waters human beings are dependent upon to live. Toxic chemicals used in a variety of industries, including agribusiness and mining, destroy soils humans are dependent upon to grow food. All of this destruction to vital life support systems is done in the name of progress. In addition to the destruction to the life-support systems of earth, entitled self-interest further results in racial inequity named by the Black Lives Matter movement. The delusion we choose to live in was created to serve the lucky at the expense of the oppressed. The stubborn belief that we are entitled to financial security – that the destruction of vital life support systems is worth the cost – is killing the world. Individuals feel entitled to status bestowed by unjust systems passed down from one generation to the next, just as we feel entitled to wealth accumulation justified as financial security. Hard work, thrift, investing, whatever the cost, are considered to be wise. We are rewarded in the dominant culture for pursuing self-interest. Romans 1: 21-22 goes on to say, For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. Meanwhile, Indigenous Peoples around the globe striving to live in balance with systems of life – the boundaries of reality – are considered to be poor, ignorant and in need of rescue by international development. Indigenous water protectors, from the tar sands to the Amazon, are dismissed as radical or unrealistic. What the dominant culture imagines is reality – competition for scarce resources, financial security that destroys ecological systems humans depend on for survival – is destructive and delusional. We have to reimagine, remember reality. "We have to reimagine, remember reality." The belief that we (the privileged) have worked hard for all we have, that we deserve all we have – regardless of the inequity that advantages some over others, regardless of the cost to life support systems and generations yet unborn – is killing the world. The belief that our assumptions are grounded in truth rather than a brittle and unrealistic ideology, is killing the world. Are we, the privileged, ready to remake our values, our ideologies, our political and social systems, our understanding of God – so that they are consistent with the rules of the universe – the reality that we are dependent upon systems of life? Psalm 90:14 reads satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. I sincerely hope we are ready to be satisfied each morning, so that our descendants may sing for joy.
Translation and reflection by Dr. Ellen F. Davis Psalm 85 This is a psalm, an ancient poem-prayer, for a moment of profound threat, such as the one in which I write. At this moment, Hurricane Ida is landing in Louisiana, the second storm in a year to make modern history in that state with its brutality. Psalm 85 speaks to this immediate situation and likewise to the long-term global tragedy of which Ida is yet another piece of unwelcome evidence. Our land, God’s earth – “your land” (v. 2) refers to both – is in desperate need of God’s restorative work. We, God’s people, must hear and enact God’s word of shalom, which is not “peace” in any simple sense, but rather a comprehensive condition of wellbeing, one that binds together people, land, and God in a covenanted unity. Many psalms appeal to our visual imagination, but none offers a more vivid picture than this one. Covenant-loyalty, truth, righteousness, and shalom are here embodied attributes – divine and human, heavenly and earthly – all actively engaged in the work of restorative living. All must be fully enacted on earth, and enabled from heaven, if we are to turn firmly and forever away from the “stupidity” (v. 9) that has made us humans a deadly threat to God’s earth and all its inhabitants. John August Swanson offers one picture of restorative living, with people, animals, plants, earth, and sky bound together in the dynamic interaction that the psalmists call tsedeq, “righteousness” (vv. 12, 14). Tsedeq is an essentially relational term – not just playing by the rules, but living creatively in order to further the wellbeing, the shalom, of our fellow creatures, human and nonhuman. In contemporary English, “sustainability” might be the word that best captures the psalmist’s intent, to denote the kind of creaturely living that invites God to enter into our world and walk with us the difficult path ahead. Ellen F. Davis is Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School.  By Karyn Bigelow & Avery Davis Lamb “Creation justice” may be a new term for some, but it is a concept deeply grounded in Christian theology and practice. It captures both the depth of our interconnectedness with everything and the necessity to partner with God in the healing and restoration of all -- God’s Shalom. Using the term "creation" instead of "eco," “nature” or "environment" demonstrates that we are intimately part of the created order, and constantly working alongside our Creator to redeem and sustain it. When we say Creation, we mean all Creation -- justice for God’s people and God’s planet. Seeing the world as Creation is a radical act that counters modern notions of nature as either a resource to be exploited or as something entirely separate from humanity. What we read in Genesis is that Creation is a gift from God that humans are existentially linked with and tasked with serving. In Genesis 2:7, God creates the first human (Adam in Hebrew) from the soil (Adamah in Hebrew) and breath. Adam, that first prototypical human, is made from the soil! Even the name reflects intimacy with the dirt: Adam from the Adamah. We learn in these opening chapters of the Bible that Creation is not something “out there,” separate from our human life, but the very ground of our human life! We are in creation and creation is in us. Later on in that same chapter, God instructs Adam to “till and keep” the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15). In an agrarian society, this instruction means much more than to maximize yields. Ellen Davis offers a compelling translation of this verse, writing in Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture that God is instructing Adam to “work it and serve it, observe it and preserve it.” Creation is a gift which we are to lovingly and skillfully care for. The work of this care necessitates the fight for justice among God’s people and planet. Seeing the world as Creation is a radical act that counters modern notions of nature as either a resource to be exploited or as something entirely separate from humanity. The Genesis creation story is only the opening chapter -- the “creation” -- of creation justice. Using the term "justice" rather than "care" indicates our commitment to not only heal, tend, and restore God's creation, but to ensure the protection of God's planet and God's people from exploitation, as well as provision for the remediation of the damage that has been done. The call to creation justice is a call to protect, restore, and rightly share God’s Creation. We see these as the three “E’s” of creation justice: Ecology, Eschatology, and Economy. By protecting God’s creation, we revere God’s ecology -- the interactions between creatures that make up this beautiful world. We are facing a catastrophic decline in the wellbeing of creaturely life. This era of ecological devastation, which some refer to as the “Anthropocene,” is an insult to the Creator and the gift of Creation. When we protect God’s creatures and places, we protect that which God loves. That’s creation justice. By restoring God’s creation, we create Heaven on Earth. Eschatology is the field of theology concerned with where humanity and Creation is headed. In scriptures, we read that the trajectory of creation is not upward, moving away from Creation. Rather, we read about a Creator who is constantly coming into closer intimacy with creation, until, as it says in Revelation 21:3, “the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.” In the eschaton, all Creation is restored and comes to rest in God. Yet, eschatology also makes a claim on us in the present. Jesus calls us to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth (Matthew 6:10). By restoring creation -- God’s people and planet -- we are creating Heaven on Earth. That’s creation justice. By restoring God’s creation, we create Heaven on Earth. By rightly sharing creation, we participate in God’s economy. Economy is the way we order our collective household. The word comes from the Greek root “oikos” which means family or household. God’s economy is not the economy of the dollar. God’s economy is the collective flourishing of all things. This year, the theme of the global Season of Creation celebration is “A home for all? Renewing the Oikos of God.” God’s economy is one in which creation is shared equitably with all creation. That’s creation justice. This Season of Creation, we invite you to join us in the journey of creation justice. Over the next four weeks, we’ll hear four different theologians address the question, “What is Creation Justice?” You can find their reflections above. Karyn Bigelow and Avery Davis Lamb are Co-Executive Directors of Creation Justice Ministries.
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