Tearfund Lent Devotional Day 20

The Christ-ness of creation

‘Through [Christ] all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.’ (John 1:3, NIV)

It is the first warm day of the year; the first day in which spring seems more than a dream. The sky is stop-and-stare blue, with not a cloud in sight.

I step out onto my small patch of lawn, bare feet sinking into the dew-wet grass. I breathe. And then (I don’t know why it happens, but it does) a thought strikes me: I am standing amid a weaving of Christ.

The sun offering me its warmth has been made by Christ, through Christ and for Christ. The grass on which I stand has been made by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. The soil beneath that grass has been made by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ.

We are all Christ’s handiwork – worm and rock and ocean and mountain and songbird and cloud and tree and human being.

This Christ-ness of our world has a startling implication: all things in creation are sacred. All things have their place. All things belong. How could they not, having been brought into being by and through and for Christ?

Christ of creation, thank you for the beauty of this world. Open our eyes and ears and hearts to the weavings you have wrought. Help us to see creation as sacred, and to see the wonder in all things – including ourselves. Amen.

Gideon Heugh

Gideon writes for Tearfund and is a poet and environmentalist