A Liturgy of Creation: Creation and Christian Formation, Part 1

I have had a growing hunch for a while now, a gut feeling beginning and founded in my own experience but then echoed in the experiences of others and confirmed by the testimony of Scripture. The essence of that notion is that creation is formative.

I will be intentionally stretching categories and definitions here in an attempt to say something that goes just beyond the edges of common parlance and theology proper. Such notice might suggest a forthcoming outburst of innovation. But I caution the reader to reserve such judgments. Although new in expression this is not novelty but is instead a constitutive element of creation that has there since the beginning.

Since the beginning, creation has been formative and what I mean by this contention is that creation is purposefully and intrinsically formative in the crafting of a particular people into the People of God. Creation then is a means of Christian development, spiritual formation, and discipleship. Creation is an implement made available by God for our sanctification. And I believe it to be an oft-neglected tool in that task.

Although advocating for this particular appropriation to creation it might be important to emphasize the points that I am not trying to make. After all, the wider creation is a complex collection of intricate strands that are daily interwoven into the tapestry of each of our lives. Creation is literally everywhere, ubiquitous; and the larger Christian community has at various times and places emphasized different dynamics in our relationship with this non-human creation, and it with God. But, unlike some recent trends, I am not thinking here of the importance of youth group camp-outs or of church elder retreats in a wilderness lodge. I am not advocating for earth-keeping or "green initiatives" within congregations. And I am not wanting to specifically emphasize a sort of natural theology or apologetics in the way of Romans 1:20. These and many other distinctively Christian activities in, with, and for the larger created world may be quite good, important, and helpful but what I am interested in pursuing here is the common and central reality that forms the basis for the efficacy and consequence of each of these things.

Behind all these things lie two central questions: How should the church relate to creation? And, how should we understand creation to relate to the church? The answers to these questions are best realized when one understands creation to be formative.

Part 2 to come…