In session three we look at the love of God: our Creator, Sustainer and Saviour.

Watch

Think

What has challenged you most from the first two videos?

Bible Verse – John 3:16

For God so loved the world that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Reflect

Dave Bookless talks about creation care as a ‘golden thread’ running through the biblical narrative.

This thread is one we can easily miss, something illustrated well by Rachel Mash’s example of growing up thinking that John 3:16 referred only to human beings.

Just as when you read the gospel accounts looking for angels you discover they mark the road all the way from Bethlehem to Calvary – when you read the Bible looking for creation you discover an entire dimension of the love of God.

God so loves the cosmos.

The love of God is the central revelation of the Bible. Creation is made in love. Creation is sustained in love. Creation is redeemed in love.

The Colossians 1 passage which Ed Brown discusses encapsulates this. Jesus, the incarnation of God’s love, is acknowledged to be our Creator (‘in him all things were created’), our Sustainer (‘in him all things hold together’) and our Saviour (‘through him to reconcile to himself all things’).

Discussion and Questions

• How easy to find is the ‘golden thread’ of creation care?
• Mncedisi Masuku talks about God revealing Himself to humanity through nature. When has this been true in your own experiences?
• Peter Harris says ‘God made the world in wisdom to be diverse’. What is wise about the diversity of creation? What does it teach us about God?
• God is our Creator, Sustainer, and our Saviour. Do you relate to God more easily as one of these things over the others? Why might this be?

Prayer

Using Colossians 1:15-20, ask God to reveal more of his love for all created things.