Common Good

Common Good

Caring for Creation

Scripture References

Read First

Old Testament

Psalm 104:1-35

1 Bless the LORD, my soul. The LORD, my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honour and majesty.

2 He covers himself with light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.

3 He lays the beams of his rooms in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind.

Read 32 more verses

4 He makes his messengers winds, and his servants flames of fire.

5 He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever.

6 You covered it with the deep as with a cloak. The waters stood above the mountains.

7 At your rebuke they fled. At the voice of your thunder they hurried away.

8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down, to the place which you had assigned to them.

9 You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they don’t turn again to cover the earth.

10 He sends springs into the valleys. They run amongst the mountains.

11 They give drink to every animal of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12 The birds of the sky nest by them. They sing amongst the branches.

13 He waters the mountains from his rooms. The earth is filled with the fruit of your works.

14 He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:

15 wine that makes the heart of man glad, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart.

16 The LORD’s trees are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted,

17 where the birds make their nests. The stork makes its home in the cypress trees.

18 The high mountains are for the wild goats. The rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

19 He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows when to set.

20 You make darkness, and it is night, in which all the animals of the forest prowl.

21 The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God.

22 The sun rises, and they steal away, and lie down in their dens.

23 Man goes out to his work, to his labour until the evening.

24 LORD, how many are your works! In wisdom, you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches.

25 There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals.

26 There the ships go, and leviathan, whom you formed to play there.

27 These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season.

28 You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good.

29 You hide your face; they are troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust.

30 You send out your Spirit and they are created. You renew the face of the ground.

31 Let the LORD’s glory endure forever. Let the LORD rejoice in his works.

32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have any being.

34 Let my meditation be sweet to him. I will rejoice in the LORD.

35 Let sinners be consumed out of the earth. Let the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, my soul. Praise the LORD!

New Testament

Romans 8:18-23

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed towards us.

19 For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

Read 3 more verses

21 that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

23 Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.

Thought for the Day

Psalm 104 is a long, delighted gaze. It praises the Lord not by escaping the world, but by noticing it: light like a garment, winds like messengers, springs in the valleys, birds in the branches, bread and wine and oil, the great sea teeming with life. Creation is not a backdrop for human drama; it is a theatre of God’s generosity.

Show 156 more words

Romans 8 adds a deeper note: the world is not only singing, it is groaning. Paul speaks of creation as if it were a person waiting, aching, stretching toward the day of renewal. The gospel does not teach us to despise the material world as disposable. It teaches us to hope for its healing.

So care for creation is not trend, nor guilt-performance, nor a hobby for the conscientious. It is part of worship. It is a way of refusing the lie that what God made can be treated as mere raw material. It is neighbour-love extended through time, because environmental harm does not fall evenly: it weighs heaviest on the poor, and on children yet to be born.

Lord, tune our senses to praise, and tune our choices to care. Give us restraint without cynicism, and courage without self-righteousness. Make us grateful stewards: people whose daily lives whisper, however imperfectly, that your world is loved.

Prayer Points

Respond
  • Restore in us wonder, so we receive creation as gift rather than entitlement.
  • Give wisdom to those shaping land, water, energy, and housing, that decisions protect life and dignity.
  • Have mercy on communities already bearing the weight of pollution, flooding, heat, and scarcity.
Show 2 more prayer points
  • Teach your Church to practise honest simplicity, joyful gratitude, and steady faithfulness.
  • Hasten the day of renewal, and keep us hopeful labourers in the meantime.