What do Earth Day and Easter have in common?
Well, they are both around the same time of the year (Earth Day is always celebrated on April 22, so they are sometimes even on the same day)…but the real answer is Christ, obviously!
Not so obvious?
Consider this. Christ is described as “the firstborn of all creation, for in Him all things in heaven and on earth were created…for Him…and through Him God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of the cross” (Colossians 1:1-20, italics mine). In essence, the hope for creation (“all things”) is accomplished by the same thing we celebrate at Easter, Christ’s death and resurrection. There is power in the blood!
It is in this hope that I celebrate Earth Day and invite you to as well. God saw fit to enter His own creation becoming fully man and fully God. He breathed the same air, drank the same water, trod the same soil. And through Christ’s death and resurrection He made a way to heal the brokenness in all our relationships -including the one with creation. When we celebrate and participate with Christ in this reconciling work or creation care we live more fully into the image bearer God made us to be.
As we continue to reflect on the redeeming work of the cross, Christians in Northern British Columbia will also be taking nature walks, setting up this year’s community garden, coordinating training sessions to become better streamkeepers, carrying out biological research on “one of the most endangered rivers in the Skeena watershed” (as one town councillor put it), and celebrating what A Rocha Canada calls “Good Seed Sunday” on April 26.
If you are in Northern B.C. we would love for you to join us. If not, look up A Rocha’s Good Seed Sunday resources for ideas on how your Christian community can join in the celebration.
To support a project and for more information on what is going on in Northern BC, see our website.
-Cindy Verbeek has been working with A Rocha since 1996. A graduate with a BSc. from the King’s University College in Edmonton and the Au Sable Institute in Michigan her passion for caring for creation has been fueled and fired by a passion to serve Christ with all she is, and all she has, where God has placed her at this particular time in history.
-photo courtesy of Bethel CRC in Waterdown
