A few weeks ago, on October 24th, Seventh-day Adventists around the world celebrated Creation Sabbath. More than 1,000 events were registered on the creationsabbath.net website, although the actual number was probably much higher.
In the Inter-European Division, many churches hosted thematic sermons and some unions broadcasted special online programs to celebrate God as our Creator and Savior. At the European Branch of the Geoscience Research Institute, we took advantage of the date to launch our social network pages GRI Live Creation on Facebook and Instagram, which you are welcome to check out and join. We were also very glad to release the Romanian and Italian versions of The Flooded Desert, a comic book for young and old to learn about the work and discoveries of Christian scientists. The comic book was already available in five other languages (English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German) and all of them can be freely downloaded from here.
The goal of Creation Sabbath is to acknowledge God as our Creator but also to contemplate the implications that this biblical teaching has for us. One of many is that, when God created the world, He gave humanity the responsibility of caring for the rest of creation. Despite sin and its disastrous consequences, we are still God’s stewards on earth and He still expects us to do as much as we can to take care of the planet and its creatures. This is a relevant and timely message. Many other voices are warning loudly about the terrible consequences that human negligence in fulfilling this duty has for nature, animals, plants, climate, and even human health and welfare. It is time for Christians to seriously engage in the very task that God himself entrusted us from the beginning.
For this reason, at the European GRI Branch Office we have decided to devote Creation Sabbath 2021 celebrations not just to our belief in creation but also to our care for creation. And here comes the challenge: to reach 1,000 events in Europe for Creation Sabbath 2021, focused on Christian care for the planet and all God’s creatures, including our fellow people.
Creation Sabbath 2021 will be celebrated on October 23rd. We have over 10 months to prepare for it and there are no too big or too small programs. Every union, conference, school, church, pathfinder club, youth group, student association, family department, Sabbath school class, and worship band at the EUD can do their bit to meet the goal and spread the message. If you need some inspiration, go to creationsabbath.net for ideas and resources, and stay tuned for more information from GRI Europe. In the next months we’ll provide innovative proposals, creative shared projects, and even funding opportunities. Together, we can show Europe that we care for each other, for God’s world, and for all the voiceless creatures that He created and loves (Matthew 10:29).