You don't have to take the creation story in Genesis literally to be awestruck by the fact that God, the Creator of all that is, has given human beings dominion over creation. There are those who would interpret that to mean we can do anything we want to the earth--pollute it, abuse it, even blow it up! But when we understand our relationship to the earth is similar to God's relationship to us, then we come face-to-face with the reality that we are called to love the earth, even as God loves us. And loving the earth means nurturing it, treating it respectfully, seeking to bring it to full flower. With the privilege of being God's stewards on earth comes responsibility, for the good steward protects that with which he or she has been entrusted.
I once read an unfortunately true story about what a good steward is NOT. It appears that a Midwestern zoo's groundskeeper was arrested by the local police. His crime? He was caught field-dressing one of the zoo's captive deer that he had shot and killed. When things were closely investigated it was discovered that the groundskeeper has also set traps in certain areas of the zoo--and furthermore, had built a smokehouse next to the zoo's maintenance shed.
Unfortunately many human beings thinks that's how we should exercise dominion over the earth--squeeze out of it everything we can for ourselves. We're in charge here and we can do any damn thing we want! But that's not good stewardship--it's not even stewardship, it's blatant abuse. It's the kind of thinking that leads to zookeepers killing the deer and building smokehouse. Stewardship should be a way of life, not just an afterthought.
(The United Church of Christ's Eastertide focus on Earthcare, Mission 4/1 Earth, can be explored at www.ucc.org Learn how you can excercise your gifts of stewardship!)
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