Many of you will be interested in a pair of extremely extensive collections of creation stewardship quotes compiled by Fred Krueger and hosted at Blessed Earth. The quotes are collected in mainly chronological order, and range from St. Clement of Rome to Billy Graham, C.S. Lewis, and Francis Schaeffer. You can find the repositories here and here.
Here is a very small sampling of what you will find at the links:
The Church has not spoken out as it should have done throughout history against the abuse of nature. But when the Church puts belief into practice, in man and in nature, there is a substantial healing. One of the first fruits of that healing is a new sense of beauty. The aesthetic values are not to be despised. God has made man with a sense of beauty, in a way no animal has: no animal has ever produced a work of art. Man as made in the image of God has aesthetic quality, and as soon as he begins to deal with nature as he should — as having dominion but not exploiting nature as though it had no value in itself, and realizing it is also a creature of God as man is — beauty is preserved in nature. (Francis Schaeffer)
It is not right for us to destroy the world God has given us. He has created everything; as the Bible says, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven” (Acts 17:24). To drive to extinction something He has created is wrong. He has a purpose for everything…. We Christians have a responsibility to take the lead in caring for the earth. (Billy Graham)
What a joy it is to feel the soft, springy earth under my feet once more, to follow grassy roads that lead to ferny brooks where I can bathe my fingers in a cataract of rippling notes, or to clamber over a stone wall into green fields that tumble and roll and climb in riotous gladness. (Helen Keller)
I do not worship matter. I worship the Creator of matter who became matter for my sake, who willed to take His abode in matter, who worked out my salvation through matter. Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation! I honor it, but not as God…. Because of this I salute all remaining matter with reverence, because God has filled it with his grace and power. Through it my salvation has come to me. (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that? (St. Augustine)
Now if I believe in God’s Son and bear in mind that He became man, all creatures will appear a hundred times more beautiful to me than before. Then I will properly appreciate the sun, the moon, the stars, trees, apples, pears, as I reflect that he is Lord over and the center of all things. (Martin Luther)
Let everyone regard himself as the steward of God in all things which he possesses. Then he will neither conduct himself dissolutely, nor corrupt by abuse those things which God requires to be preserved. (John Calvin)
I believe in my heart that faith in Jesus Christ can and will lead us beyond an exclusive concern for the well-being of other human beings to the broader concern for the well-being of the birds in our backyards, the fish in our rivers, and every living creature on the face of the earth. (John Wesley)
Some of these quotes may be useful for presentations, discussions, or simple contemplation. Of course, as always, you should research the veracity of any quote that you want to use and who it is exactly that you’re quoting. In any case, these should make for some enjoyable reading as you enjoy your weekend and the upcoming Sabbath rest.
