Youth Speak Out on Creation Care

24 youth chose to attend two workshop sessions

August 22, 2013 | Young Voices
Joanne Moyer | Mennonite Creation Care Network
Winnipeg

Editor's Note: The following article arrived too late to appear in our Aug. 19 'Fat Calf Festival' print issue.

On July 30, 2013, I travelled to Camp Assiniboia to deliver a workshop at the Fat Calf Festival entitled “Caring for Creation: Making your Voice Heard”. The objective was to spend time with the youth thinking about reasons, both personal and theological, why caring for creation is important, and to give them a chance to share with the broader community how they feel about the beautiful and often troubled planet that they are going to inherit.

A total of 24 youth chose to attend two workshop sessions. They were first invited to write down and share things that they appreciate in creation and things that worry or concern them. They talked about appreciating fern, moss, and trees; forests and old growth; lakes and oceans, especially Lake Huron and Georgian Bay; animals; clouds, the breeze, and sunshine; and the smell of clover in the wind. They also talked about activities, like biking, camping, and exploration, and the calm, solitude, and relaxation that nature provides. One youth appreciated that nothing in creation stays the same, and another said: “I appreciate the beauty of nature, and how the earth is naturally pretty.”

Their awareness of environmental problems was extensive. They shared that they worried about species extinction; deforestation and loss of natural land and habitat; air and water pollution; and climate change, abnormal weather, and the melting of polar ice caps. They are worried about the overuse of oil and other chemicals in our world and how unwilling some people are to start working to save the planet. One youth shared the concern that “the world is in a down spiral and our generation has to fix it.”

We explored some theological bases for creation care, by reflecting on scriptures such as: Genesis 1:26-2:3; Genesis 2:15-17; Hosea 4:1-3; and Colossians 1:15-20. Participants were then invited to write a letter which I told them would be sent to Willard Metzger, the Canadian Mennonite, and the Mennonite Creation Care Network. Here are some of the letters they wrote:

As we know, our world that we share with every living thing has been steadily becoming more at risk. Individual species are becoming endangered or even extinct every year. The main reason of this problem is because of our overuse of oil and other harmful chemicals that are finding their way into our environment. This problem will not go away by itself. If we have caused this problem, it is our responsibility to try our hardest to clean this planet up and return it to where it was originally. I think that if we work together, we can brainstorm for more creative ways to get us what we want or where we want without harming the one planet we know of that will sustain life. It does not need to be big, it could just be riding your bike or carpooling from place to place. If the game isn’t over, why are a few of us giving up?
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After some thought, and after reading some of the things that the Bible has to say about creation, I’ve come to a sort of conclusion. The church is strongly tied to nature. God says creation is good.
If this is something that is so good, why are we doing so much to destroy it? When someone finds a slice of their favourite pie sitting in the fridge, with a note saying it’s just for them, they don’t pick it up and add rat poison before taking a bite.
As the church, we are obliged to stand up for the beautiful thing that is creation. As separate churches, within our congregations, we may be living out God’s instructions. Just because we’re doing this, it doesn’t mean everyone is, and what good is it if only a small portion of the world cares?
Let us do something. Organize rallies, speeches or something so we may inform others of the great danger we are putting ourselves in.
God gave us this earth to take care of and we’re failing our job, let’s work to make this right.
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My opinion is that we should keep the environment as clean as possible. I think we need to enjoy what God gave us. I want to live in a world that’s happy and clean, not polluted and unhealthy.
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I think it is very important to care for creation and keep it clean and healthy. I think this because in a few years from now the earth could become unsafe for us to live in because of pollution, global warming, etc. By the time more people realize these things are happening in our world it could possibly be too late. It says in the Bible that Jesus came to the world to save all creation which includes nature and all people. The Bible also says that the earth belongs to God just as we belong to him. This is why I think creation should be loved and cared for!
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I think that it’s sad that the younger generation has to go to camp to experience nature, because all the forests are being taken down so we can have bigger houses. We make so much pollution every day that forest and everything else in the environment is getting killed off. I think that even though we think we are living an eco-friendly life almost everything we do is destructive. If we don’t stop being destructive we will eventually destroy ourselves by killing the animals and plants. We will also be destroyed if we don’t control resources that we need for medicine and other essential products.
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I think that we should all appreciate the gifts of life and nature that God has created for us on his earth. God created all the cosmos and knew that it was good. So we shall believe it is good as well. God worked really hard so we should appreciate creating all things.
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I think that we need to make more conservation programs and raise more awareness surrounding issues like extinction of animals. Animals, every kind, are God’s creatures, and we need to help them survive so that they’ll still be here generations from now. Animals are beautiful creatures and are also somewhat necessary for survival – I mean, we do like hamburgers. I think that we all need to do what we can to keep these animals alive for a long, long time.
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We as Christians are called to take care of creation not just as we are called to work hard and do well at our jobs but as we are called to love Jesus. As some say, faith without deeds is nothing, and vice versa. The same applies to caring for our Earth. God created it. God loves it, and we were entitled dominion over it, not as a right or even a gift but as a responsibility. By not taking care of the world we are ignoring a big part of God’s calling, and this needs to change.
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Reading over the letters that were written several days later, I was struck by their poignancy. The youth of our community have spoken. Will we heed their call?

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