Read both versions of the creation story aloud:
• Which image of God do you connect with?
• What does it mean to worship “a God with dirt under his fingernails”?
See a video of Steve discussion creation.
The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970. Check out this NBC news clip.
• What parts of the clip seem dated?
• What parts of the clip completely relevant?
Take a look at this trailer from the 1972 science fiction film Silent Running.
• The movie trailer is incredibly dated, but the story was set in our century. Is this one of those arguments that always was and always will be?
Jesus used the world around Him when He taught. Which of these parables would you use at an Earth Day rally?
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• John 15:1-7
• Are we all connected to the world around us?
• Is there a way to be disconnected from it?
• What does it mean to go green? Is your school green? Your home? Your church?
Look at these words:
Rock, Earth, Wind, Fire, Water
• Which of these words best describes your relationship with God at the present moment? Talk about your descriptor. Has your relationship with God ever been a different word? When? What changed it?
What does conservation mean? Become a human thesaurus and create 10 words that mean the same thing. (If you get stuck, you can use an actual thesaurus.) Now choose five of those words and apply them to your soul. Do you think the planet has a soul? The universe? Can you truly love something that has no soul?
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It would seem God made the earth and all its wonders, and then created humans as an afterthought. Do you think humans were created to care for the earth or to have dominion over it? Explain.
If there are no dinosaurs around, can we assume extinction is part of God’s plan? Should we give up acres of workable land to provide a habitat for endangered animals?
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Grab a plate of chocolate cookies—not Oreos—something with a chocolate coating such as a Fudge Stripe cookie. Place these in the microwave for about 10 seconds. Sprinkle lightly with salt and then eat. What happens to the flavor? The verse calls on us to be the salt of the earth. Applying the cookie lesson, list five ways we can be salt.
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David seems to indicate the earth itself has a voice. Write down five things the earth says that we don’t heed. How can we listen to the earth better?
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In biblical times, the word sabbath did not refer to just one day of the week. Sabbath was an adjective. Farmers divided their land into seven lots. No crops were planted in the seventh section, and the sabbath land switched every year so one-seventh of one’s farmland was given a year to rest and renew. What is your sabbath? What do you do to rest and renew? Are you giving enough time to your sabbath? How can a congregation create sabbath?
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One of the themes that occur throughout Scripture is caring for those who cannot take care of themselves. This verse refers to women, orphans and foreigners. Should we expand that? How does the earth take care of itself? How can we help?
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Other than those in a Disney film, what do animals teach us? What lesson have you learned from your pet(s)? What have you learned from zoos or national parks about animals? Can you turn that into a lesson for humans? Write it down as if it were going to be on a T-shirt.
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This is one of those passages that seems to show us God’s sense of humor, which He seems to like. If your mom or dad says, “Do I look stupid to you?” Do you answer? Some questions are meant to get a reaction, but not a literal answer. What is the reaction God is looking for in this passage?
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This is probably one of the more beautiful verses on this subject primarily because it uses the word partnership. Since the first day (the moment of creation), we and God have been working together to make it all work. It isn’t a command to take care of the earth so much as an invitation.
