To Live With Respect in Creation & COP15

 

To Live With Respect in Creation -- Gary Crawford 

We are called to be the Church:

    to celebrate God’s presence,
    to live with respect in Creation,
    to love and serve others,
    to seek justice and resist evil,
    to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
       our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,
    God is with us.
We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God.

a portion of a New Creed, United Church of Canada (1968; rev. 1980, 1995).

In my early teens the United Church of Canada created a Statement of Faith which is still known as the "New Creed" even though it's now more than fifty years old and another statement, "A Song of Faith" has been developed since. Along the way there was a revision to make the creed or statement more inclusive -- the original "man is not alone" became "we are not alone." And then in 1995 General Council Executive included "to live with respect in Creation" to reflect our growing awareness of environmental concerns. 

Shortly thereafter (1996) Metropolitan United in Toronto and the United Church Publishing House released a lovely creed booklet called We are Not Alone, We Live in God's World with illustrations by artist Gary Crawford. 

A couple of years later Gary went on tour with the original pastel works and signed prints. He approached my congregation, St. Andrew's, Sudbury, about a stop there. I asked if we could display them at the front of our wonderful modern sanctuary and I would interview him during Sunday worship about the different images which would also be projected on the screen. He was a bit hesitant initially but he agreed and was a thoughful interviewee. He  used the format and my questions at other venues. 

Through the years I would use the booklet with Confirmation and New Members preparation groups and I was often touched by how participants would respond to the evocative images, probably more so than to printed phrases.

When Gary visited Sudbury we took the plunge and purchased a print with the "to live with respect in Creation" image, a child watering a tree. At that tme our oldest of three children was the age I was when the New Creed was introduced. Now we have four grandchildren and our deep desire is that the Earth will flourish if we change our too-often destructive ways. 

As the COP15 biodiversity conference continues in Montreal during the Advent season this painting/print is as relevant and meaningful as ever.