dominion versus domination

I came across a sermon on creation care the other day and have thought about it so many times since that I thought I would share it here. Read the whole thing, but here are some great snippets:

Last Tuesday in worship, Shane Benjamin talked about the difference between dominion and domination. Humans were given dominion over creation—that is, God asked them to take care of it. God gave them a garden and everything they needed, more than they needed, and God trusted them with all of it.

God asked them to work with creation, in and through and alongside nature. But the wounds of sin cause us to lash out in fear and a need for control. Instead of having dominion, we seek domination. We live on this earth aggressively and violently, destroying and dominating rather than caretaking. Concrete and metal and machines and big agriculture separate us from the ground from which we were made, and our relationship with adamah, with the created order, and with our food is broken.

…

God created us for a life of abundance and intimacy with God, with one another, and with creation. Our walls of separateness and domination cannot stop God from being a God of abundance. God always has leftovers.

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1-2).

…

God’s original plan was to hang out in a garden with a bunch of naked vegetarians. So let’s get naked—metaphorically. Let’s throw away the fig leaves and receive the gift of healing that God offers us. Let’s tear down some walls and build a garden instead.

(you just knew I was going to sneak that last one in there!)