Look at the World - John Rutter

Let the earth join in praises!

"Praise God from earth,
    you sea dragons, you fathomless ocean deeps;
Fire and hail, snow and ice,
    hurricanes obeying his orders;
Mountains and all hills,
    apple orchards and cedar forests;
Wild beasts and herds of cattle,
    snakes, and birds in flight;
Earth’s kings and all races,
    leaders and important people,
Robust men and women in their prime,
    and yes, graybeards and little children.


Let them praise the name of God—
    it’s the only Name worth praising.
His radiance exceeds anything in earth and sky;
    he’s built a monument—his very own people!" (Psalms 148)

舊約的創造觀點

關於舊約的創造觀點，讀到這一段：

The world is not inherently safe; it is inherently unsafe.  Only the magisterial intervention of God and his eternal vigilance prevent the catalysm.  Creation endures because God has pledged in an eternal covenant that it shall endure and because he has, also in an eternal covenant, compelled the obeisance of his great adversary.  If either covenant (or are they one?) comes undone, creation disappears.

世界從來不是一個安全的地方。若然沒有神在維護祂的創造，這個世界一早已經可能消失。這與我們一直認爲的有分別。我們以爲創造本身能夠自己self-sustained，但其實神一直actively去保守才可以不被破壞力量毀滅，才可以繼續。這是因爲洪水以後，神與所有活物所立的約。以色列人所信的是一個可以主宰這些破壞力量/混沌的創造主。這些力量一直在世界存在，而當人受它威脅，人可以靠的就只有這位神。

The biblical tradition of creation-new creation invites an interpretation away from commoditization to understand creatureliness in terms of dialogic-covenantal categories.  This dialogic transaction that constitutes creation is situated in a matrix of accountability, whether in the Torah traditions of Sinai or in the wisdom traditions of "natural law".

Brueggemann問，基督徒講環保的時候，有沒有這個觀點？人的所為必然與大自然連在一起。當日以色列人屢屢犯罪，終被流放，地也變得荒涼；神卻應許以色列人會返回本地，地也會再次出產，恢復之前的境況。當人任意破壞環境，相信神並不會袖手旁觀，但是人必然要承擔後果。我們不能剝削神的創造，因爲它們都是在神的約下受到保護。不過，即使世界現時怎被破壞，我們的希望也是在神那裏，因爲祂是那位能夠重新創造的神。

Such world-making, however, does not make its primary claims about the world, but rather about the creator God.  If current expectations in physics are that the world will in due course either burn up or freeze over, then we surely are driven back to God.  Of course, it is not known if the God of the tradition will create new worlds beyond this world that must end.  What is clear that the expectations of physics concerning the end of this world are not without resonance in prophetic faith.  But beyond that world-ending, even the best physics cannot go.  Thus poets dare to go where scientists may not.