Hymn #29 in Celebrating Grace Hymnal — “God Has Given Us Creation”
[pullquote_center width=”87%”]God has given us creation, stars and atoms, soil and air,
To explore, to tend and nourish, to sustain us and to share.
Through the nothingness of chaos came the word, “Let there be light!”
Still the universe expanding sings of its Creator’s might.[/pullquote_center]
The universe blows my mind. It is too big to imagine or understand. But that’s not the only thing that blows my mind. In this life, we are equipped (some of us, anyway!) to study the ways our environment works, the interactions of elements that make our fragile lives sustainable on this little piece of rock in the middle of a vast space. Want more? When we are good stewards of the natural elements we’ve been given, and the knowledge and research skills which are also gifts of a generous God, there can be enough. Enough for the people of this life to sustain themselves. And each other. Enough to share. How would we live our lives differently if we really believed that God has provided ways for our world to provide enough for all?
Then take a look with me at the final line of this stanza, penned by David Music in the late 1990s. He is right. The universe is still not done expanding. The same energy that made life on Earth possible continues to power an ever-expanding universe. And praise be to God, the rate at which the universe expands does not outpace the love of God for God’s creation. God’s love and provision expand to fill space and time, even as space and time expand to turn nothing into something!