Page 5 - Moravian Messenger August 2019

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The Pattern of Creation
Who determined the measurements of the earth? Surely you know!
Or who stretched out the measuring line upon it? Job 38.5 my literal translation.
The pattern of Creation is determined by God, and described as 'the statutes', which means, literally, 'the engraved things'. They were firmly fixed. When earth is in harmony with these divine statutes, the natural world and human society enjoy peace, shalom.
The exact measurements, proportions and roles of everything have been planned by God, and these are known as the 'mysteries' of the Creation. Everything we learn about the creation is something we find. It is already there. All the links and connections discovered by new research are what people observe about the webs and patterns of creation that are already there.
The knowledge we have is not our property to do with as we choose. It is entrusted to us, and we must use it responsibly. In our present situation, there must be fair compensation for the cost of research and so forth, but nobody can ever own or patent a process of nature. To have knowledge is to have power, and that must never be abused. The stewardship of knowledge is one of the pressing concerns of our time.
The creation story in Genesis says that God told Adam 'to subdue' the creation, Genesis 1.28, but that does not mean to exploit and destroy it. The word means 'to harness', and so people were intended to harness the wonders of creation and use them for good, because human beings are created as the image of God on earth, Genesis 1.26-27. It is godless folly to work against the patterns of nature rather than with them, for example creating dams that destroy the ecosystem around them, or dredging access channels for giant oil tankers through ancient wetlands that protected the coast. Each culture's 'footprint' should be judged by its impact on the creation.
God be in my head, and in my understanding God be in my eyes and in my looking
The exact measurements, proportions and roles of creation include fair dealing in weights and measures. The Bible is not only concerned with heavenly matters, but also with the earthly affairs of trade and business. Ezekiel linked patterns of worship to weights and measures. In Hebrew the word 'iniquity' is the same as the word 'distortion', and Ezekiel told the people that unfair weights and measures were shown in the distorted building of the new temple, Ezekiel 43.10, Ezekiel 45.10-12. The same
is true of the bigger systems that are the products of human ingenuity: global economics, patterns of trade, distribution of wealth, taxes and tariffs. If these are unfair, they distort the whole creation and also human society.
In the Book of Revelation, the devil is described as the great deceiver, Revelation 12.9, and he has agents on earth called the beasts. They do his work. They control trade, and nobody can engage in trade unless he has the mark of the beast, Revelation 13.16-17. His 'mark' if you translate literally, is the mark of his bite, and in the Hebrew underlying the Greek of Revelation, the word would also mean interest on money. When we think of the role of interest rates in our lives, and in the causes of poverty and injustice, they are indeed the bite of the beast: 'for the love of money is the root of all evils',
1 Timothy 6.10.
When earth is in harmony with the proportions of the divine statutes, all creation enjoys peace, shalom. But peace does not just happen; we have to make it happen, and the Bible shows us how. First there must be hesedh, a Hebrew word that means loving kindness; this is the basis of everything. This leads to mishpat, which means 'right decision'. A decision based on loving kindness leads to zedaqah, which means right action, and this brings shalom, peace. After the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples: 'By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another', John 13.35.
Jesus also said, 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God', Matthew 5.9. St Paul explained this: 'All those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God', Romans 8.14. The role of the sons of God is to establish real peace, to set the whole creation free from its present disastrous state. It has become bound into a destructive
system of futility and decay, and our role as sons of God it to restore the right balance and proportions and to set creation free.
And now, O Lord, accept anew, The gifts that we call ours:
Our minds and bodies given to you To serve with all our powers.
Dr Margaret Barker
Methodist Preacher and Theologian
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