It is still good
A creation care litany
This reading, an adaptation of Genesis 1, is from Earth Trek, a 2004 Herald Press book commissioned by MCC and written by Joanne Moyer.
The book invites readers to embark joyfully on a journey of discovering, celebrating and helping to sustain the earth. There are grievous stories to be told about the state of the environment. "But even as we mourn the degradation of the good creation," the book urges, "we can celebrate that it was made and be encouraged that the Creator has not abandoned creation."
In 2020, even amid the growing toll of the COVID-19 global pandemic and rising costs of climate change, we invite you to continue to hear this call and to celebrate, explore and work to sustain the creation that God has made. (Top photo: Moringa plant, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 2015. MCC photo/James Souder)
An adaptation of Genesis 1
Fields of mustard crops, Chaughare, Nepal, 2015.MCC photo/Matthew Sawatzky
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was formless and void and darkness covered the face of the deep while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light Day, and the darkness God called Night. And there was evening and there was morning.
The first day.
Night scene, Moussodougou, Burkina Faso, 2015.MCC photo/James Souder
And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the water from the waters.”
The second day.
Waterfalls, Sodo, Haiti, 2009.MCC photo/Ben Depp
And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.”
Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.” And it was good.
The third day.
Peppers, Pella, Burkina Faso, 2016.MCC photo/James Souder
And God said, “Let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night.”
The fourth day.
Night sky over Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2013.MCC photo/Matthew Sawatzky
And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the sky.”
And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
The fifth day.
Pigeons, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, 2016.MCC photo/Colin Vandenberg
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of every kind.” And God saw that it was good.
Sheep, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, 2018.MCC photo
It was good: the light, the sky, the land, the waters were good. The plants, the fish, the birds, the animals were good. But creation was not complete.
Goats, Singiraine, Kenya, 2019.MCC photo/Matthew Lester
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over all the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, male and female God created them.
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
The sixth day.
Growing rice, Trịnh Thị Sơn in Quang Ngai, Vietnam, 2015.MCC photo/Matthew Sawatzky
But what has happened since we who were created in the image of God have taken dominion over all the earth?
The balance in the heavens is being disturbed and good light is becoming a menace. Good skies are being choked with toxic fumes. Good lands are losing their nutrients. And good waters are being poisoned.
Flowers in kitchen garden, Central Highlands, Afghanistan, 2018.MCC photo/Paul Shetler Fast
Good forests are disappearing. Good creatures of the sea are vanishing. Good birds are being exterminated for sport. And good animals are losing their homes in the wild.
God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good.
Though we may maim, destroy and pollute, we cannot remove the goodness of what God has made. Nor can we escape our calling as creatures made in God’s image: to live peaceably on God’s good Earth.
It is still good.
Children amid blooms, Orodara, Burkina Faso, 2016.MCC photo/James Souder
More on creation care
Looking for more on MCC and efforts to care for God's creation?
Find reflections on MCC creation care and sustainability initiatives through the decades.
See a collection of images from MCC's tree-planting efforts through the decades.
Read about reforestation efforts in Haiti.