Creation Walk
Saturday 24 June
Sunday 25 June
Welcome to our Creation Walk. It is my hope and has been my prayer that today we will all have a fresh encounter with the God, our God, who made everything you see in the natural world ... for us, .... for you, .... for me.
Think about that as you look around at the beauty of creation. As you look at the large picture, as you bend down and look at some small detail ... hear God say: “I made this for you.”
Thomas Merton has written: “Life is simple. We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time. This is not just a fable or a nice story. It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. God shows Himself everywhere, in everything – in people and in things and in nature and in events. It becomes very obvious that God is everywhere, in everything and we cannot be without Him. It’s impossible. The only thing is that we don’t see it.” Hopefully this walk will help us to see Him in ways we haven’t before.
Paul expresses this in Romans 1:18-21 and makes clear that when humans look at creation they are aware, at some level, of the power and divinity of the Creator. Now, let me make one thing clear, Paul does not say that saving knowledge of God may be had through observing the creation; but rather that we can indeed discern the truth of God by observing creation.
Perhaps we can pray at the start of our walk:
Gracious, creator God, whose Son said that when the Spirit comes He will guide us into all truth and whose apostle said that now we see only through a glass darkly; open my eyes that I may see Your creation differently and be led by Your Spirit into a deeper understanding of Your truth. In Jesus name, Amen.
Genesis 1 teaches us that the universe was created by God by His spoken Word. On a Creation Walk we enjoy and bathe in the Biblical account of, and approach to, creation and revel in some of the truths revealed. First and foremost, we enjoy the truth that God stands at every beginning in our lives, wanting to breathe new creation into our lives, bringing new light, taking away darkness, creating space for new things, new life.
Do you have any darkness in you? There certainly is darkness in our world, isn’t there, even at midday on a cloudless day? God’s first words: “Let there be light” express a principal theme of the Bible: God bringing light into darkness.
May God shine light on us today!
A few tips on how to use this booklet: Reading through it before the walk will be helpful, but is not essential. In fact, you may not want to use it at all. I include some passages for personal reflection and if you’ve read them beforehand, you might find our stops along the way more valuable. I might also introduce other Scripture references during the walk, depending on what we might see, hear, touch, smell and taste. You might also want to share some Scriptures that are special to you in the Creation context.
Please note that all the Scripture references are from the NIVUK and if you read this document digitally, you can access the readings by clicking on the reference. If you do print this booklet I suggest you do so in black and white, as it is quite rich in colour.
