Caring for God's Creation: Making the World Safe
for Children
Earth Day Sunday
April 21, 2002
The Biblical visions of a redeemed and restored creation often
make special note of the security and well-being of children. Isaiah
foresees a time when even the most vulnerable children, nursing
babes and toddlers, play safely in the presence of the asp and the
adder (Isaiah 11:8.) People will no longer labor in vain or bear
children for calamity, but they and their descendants yet to come
shall be blessed by the Lord (Isaiah 65:23.) Zechariah has a vision
of a restored Jerusalem where old men and women sit on their porches
and the city is full of boys and girls playing safely in the streets
(Zechariah 8:5.) Each year Earth Day Sunday provides an opportunity
to direct our attention to God's creation, our relationship to it
and the responsibility God has given to us to tend and to keep it.
This year, worship and study resources focus on children. Children
are among God's most precious- and most vulnerable, gifts. They
are the hope of the future, but theirs is a future threatened by
environmental pollution. People of faith are called to work together
to help safeguard children's health and their future. We can work
together to help make Zechariah's dream a reality, where children
play safely in their homes and schools, on their playgrounds, and
even in our city streets.
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