Cleaning Up

Yesterday, my son Chip suggested I write about taking care of the environment as a Lenten practice.  He's in good company - the Church of England has made care of Creation a centerpiece of its Lenten messaging this year, specifically finding ways to cut back on the use of plastics in our lives.

Why the environment?  What does this have to do with being a Christian?  Well, for starters, God created the earth.  While we claim to worship him, we then go and trash the planet.  Seems hypocritical.  Second, there's the verse in Genesis about humanity being given dominion over the earth and all that is in it (Gen. 1.28).  As Christians, we profess that Jesus is Lord -- and by extension, we look to him for a model of leadership.  Dominion to him is service, not exploitation.  So, taking care of the environment is something we should do cheerfully.

I'm not suggesting we substitute earth worship for Christian practice.  There's a name for that: paganism and I'm not interested in that. But taking care of God's Creation can be a part of faithful living.  So today, and every day, adopt a new Lenten discipline.  Converse. clean up. Do it for your kids. Do it for God.

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