“The earth is the Creator’s in all it’s fullness; this world, and all that lives within its sphere.”
- Psalm 24
“By Christ, all things were created---for Christ [and for God’s pleasure].
In Christ, all things hold together.
And through Christ, all things are reconciled to God.”
- Colossians 1:15-20
"The initial step for a soul to come to knowledge of God is contemplation of Nature."
- Iranaeus, 3rd C.
"The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God."
- John of Damascus (b. 675)
"If we fall in love with Creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion."
- Hildegard von Bingen (b. 1098)
"Any error about Creation also leads to an error about God." - Thomas Aquinas (b. 1225)
"God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars."
- Martin Luther (b. 1483)
"If we learn to love the earth...we will discover what it means to be truly alive."
- Teresa of Avila (b.1515)
“All are but parts of one stupendous whole,Whose body Nature is, and God the soul."
- Alexander Pope (b. 1688)
"Earth is crammed with Heaven.
And every bush aflame with God.
But only those who see take off their shoes."
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning (b. 1806)
"...these millions of sights and sounds and scents and motions weaving their endless harmonies...
come out of [God's] heart to let us know a little of what is in it."
- George MacDonald (b. 1824)
"In the created world around us we see the Eternal Artist, Eternal Love at work."
- Evelyn Underhill (b. 1875)
"Because God created the natural---invented it out of...love and artistry---it demands our reverence." - CS Lewis (b. 1898)
"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God.....God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature....I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles."
- Anne Frank (b. 1929)
“The world has been created for everyone’s use, but you few rich are trying to keep it for yourselves.
…not merely the possession the earth, but the very sky, the air, and the sea are claimed for the few….
The earth belongs to all, not just to the rich.”
- Ambrose of Milan (b. 340)
“Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote a book with ink. Instead, [God] set before your eyes the things that [God] had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?”
- Augustine (b. 354) De Civitate Dei, Book 16
“If…[people]…exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion…[they] will…do likewise with their fellow [humans].
“All creatures of our God & King, lift up your voice and with us sing:…O brother wind, air, clouds, and rain, by which all creatures you sustain….O sister water, flowing clear, make music for your Lord to hear….Dear mother earth, who day by day unfold blessings on our day…O praise You! Alleluia!”
- Francis of Assisi (b. 1181)
“If I spend enough time with the tiniest creature—even a caterpillar— I would never have to prepare a sermon. So full of God is every creature.”
- Meister Eckhart (b. ca. 1260)
“Let [people reverence, above all, Me, [their] God, and so much gentler will [they] become toward
My creatures …on whom, on account of Me, their Creator, [they] ought to have compassion.”
- Birgitta (b. 1303)
“There is no creature so small and abject, but it reflects the goodness of God.”
- Thomas å Kempis (b. 1380)
“Everything in [Creation] tells us of God. …Let everyone regard [themselves] as the steward of God in all things…Then [they won’t] corrupt by abuse those things which God requires to be preserved.”
- John Calvin (b. 1509)
“Open your eyes, and behold:The whole world is full of God.”
- Jacob Boehme (b. 1575) The Way to Christ
“All created things are living within God’s hand.
The senses see only the actions of creatures,
but faith sees in everything the action of God.”
– Jean Pierre de Caussade (b. 1675)
“…faith in Jesus Christ…will lead us beyond…concern for the well-being of other human beings
to the broader concern for the well-being of the birds in our backyards, the fish in our rivers,
and every living creature on the face of the earth.”
- John Wesley (b. 1701)
“[Humanity] will become impoverished because they will not have a love of trees….
If you don’t love trees, you don’t love God.”
- Nikephoros of Chios (b. 1750) A Lack of Trees Brings Poverty
“Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully,
[one] can learn more than what is in books, for they speak with the voice of God.”
- George Washington Carver (b. 1864)
“When you defile the pleasant streams and the wild bird’s abing place,
you massacre a million dreams and cast your spittle in God’s face.”
- John Drinkwater (b. 1882)
“I am I plus my surroundings, and if I do not preserve the latter, I do not preserve myself.”
- José Ortega y Gasset (b. 1883)
“A wrong attitude toward nature implies, somewhere, a wrong attitude toward God.”
- T.S. Elliot (b. 1888)
“I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for [humanity]
if [we] spent less time proving that [we] can outwit Nature
and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.”
- E.B. White (b. 1888)
“The beauty of the world is Christ’s tender smile for us coming through matter.”
- Simone Weil (b. 1909)
“One has to be alone, under the sky, before everything falls into place
and one finds [one’s] own place in the midst of it all.”
- Thomas Merton (b. 1915)
“Around the world, we can see the results of exploitation which destroys much without taking future
generations into account. Today, all…have a duty to show themselves worthy of the mission given
them by the Creator by ensuring the safe-keeping of that creation.”
- Pope John Paul II (b. 1920)
"If I am going to be in a right relationship with God,
I should treat the things [God] has made
in the same way [God] treats them."
- Francis Schaeffer (b. 1912)
"To drive to extinction something [God] has created is wrong.
...Christians have a responsibility...in caring for the earth."
- Billy Graham (b. 1918)
"[God's] concern for...Creation should be sufficient to inspire us to be equally concerned.
God intends...our care of creation to reflect our love for the Creator."
- John Stott (b. 1921)
“The maternal sea is polluted, the heavens rent, the forests are being destroyed
and the desert areas are increasing. We must protect Creation.
Better yet, we must embellish it, render it spiritual, transfigure it.
But nothing will be done unless there is a…conversion of [our] minds and hearts.
“If nature is not transfigured, [it] becomes disfigured.”
- Othrodox Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch (b. 1921)
“Once we repossess a sense of our own holiness,
we will recover the sense of the holiness of the world….
Only in this way will we once again become aware that our destiny
and the destiny of nature are one and the same.”
- Philip Sherrard (b. 1922) Human Image, World Image
“The first law of our being is that we are set in a delicate network of interdependence
with our fellow human beings and with the rest of God’s Creation.”
- Desmond Tutu (b. 1931) God Has a Dream
“The same God who commanded us to love one another
also commands us to work and take care of the garden.
Here, humans find that God has delegated to them authority and responsibility
to protect and preserve what we do not own, what belongs to God.
God did not abdicate ownership.
Rather, God appointed a steward, a caretaker.
Justice demands that the steward faithfully execute the assigned responsibility.”
- George D. McKinney, Jr. (b. 1931)
“How we treat…Creation defines the relationship each of us has with God….
To commit a crime against the natural world is a sin. “For humans to cause species to become extinct and to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation….for humans to degrade the integrity of Earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the Earth of its natural forests, or destroying its wetlands…. for humans to contaminate the Earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life, with poisonous substances---these things are sins.”
- Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (b. 1940)
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