Faith & Life in Rural Iowa: Creation

Creation

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). This vast and interconnected creation was good (Gen. 1:10, 25, 31) and flourished in united fulfillment of the purposes for which God has set in the grain of all that he has made (Gen. 2:1). The biblical account presents humans as being members of this greater creation. We come about within the sequence of God’s creative activity – not apart from it. We are creatures of the late sixth day (Gen. 1:24-31). It is among this placed neighborhood of all created things that we claim common membership. We are, along with everything else, creatures of the Creator that are meant to flourish together and alongside each other.

But surely, as we survey the biblical narrative we also find that we are something in addition to mere members. Surely being made in the image of the Creator carries with it enormous weight and significance in distinction from the rest of creation (Gen. 1:26). The human call to dominion - to rule, subdue, work, and care for creation (Gen. 1:26-28, 2:15) - places humans in a unique position within the rest of what God has made.

These two human callings of "membership" and "dominion" have often been held in distinction from one another as if they were different and competing claims. But actually, we are to serve as God’s representatives within the whole of creation. God instructs Adam and Eve to nurture and care, to cultivate and create, to rule and serve all that God has made in order that creation might be free to continue in its complete, interconnected and united goodness. We do not exit membership in creation to pursue the call to rule, subdue, work, and care. It is as members that God calls us to exercise responsible dominion over all fellow members of His creation.

If we are then members of creation, membership ought to inform, shape and situate our calling to be members of creation wherever we are. But, what would this look like in rural Iowa? Wouldn’t this mean understanding that our neighbors are more than just the young family next door or the older man in the next section over? It seems to me that the placed neighborhood of all created things in rural Iowa means that we would share a certain degree of membership and a commonality with hogs, corn, beans, dogs, gardens, terraces, creeks, and wind-rows. Wouldn’t something like that be correct if we are to respond biblically as members of creation in rural Iowa?

I’ve already said that "dominion" means caring for creation as God’s representatives on earth. How might we go about doing that in rural Iowa? Should we care about our rural communities differently? If so, how? Should we think differently about the well-being and productivity of our fields? How should we think about our relation to livestock? Should we somehow treat our animals differently? If so, how? Should we care differently for rural towns and schools and fields and groves and food-systems and methods of farming? How are we doing things well? Where do we need to change? How might we care about all such things in order to better properly reflect the character of God? It seems that we must ask many questions like these in applying both membership and dominion in rural Iowa.

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