The Lord surely knew that I needed a divine cordial to eniven my step this day. Sometimes we need to see beyond the presenting images of life to find the transcendant. When we locate that signpost and read it clearly, given faith to follow its direction, and begin to walk towards its destination we come to live in a new way. Most of us need those signposts all along the way.
I read Dietrich Bonhoeffer this morning on the Psalms and Creation. Bonheoffer’s vision of Creation is grounded in the vision of Christ ruling in, through, and over the glorious works of God. Bonhoeffer’s vision of Creation is grounded in the revelation of God in Christ. All theology is practical. And here is the practical power of this glorious study: [pullquote]Bonhoeffer’s Christo-centricity in Creation has a clear pastoral consequence that can re-direct the pathway of every believer.[/pullquote]
In Christ Creation makes sense and this brings greater faith.
“Because God has spoken to us, because God’s name has been revealed to us, we can believe in him as the Creator.”[1]
In Christ Creation tells a story and this brings worship.
“The creation is a picture of the power and the faithfulness of God, which he has demonstrated to us in his revelation in Jesus Christ. We worship the Creator who has revealed himself as the Redeemer.”
In Christ Creation teaches the glory of God and this brings wonder.
“Psalm 8 praises the name of God and his gracious act to man as the crown of his work.”
“Psalm 19 cannot speak of the splendor of the movement of the heavenly bodies without at the same time mentioning in abrupt and unexpected insertions the much greater splendor of the revelation of God’s law and the call to repentance.”
“Psalm 29 lets us wonder at the frightful power of God in the thunder…”
“Psalm 104 fixes our eyes on the fullness of the work of God…”
“The creation Psalms are not lyrical poems, but instruction for the people of God in which, coming to know the grace of salvation, they are led to know and to honor the Creator of the world.”
In Christ Creation exists for the Lord Jesus and this brings harmony to all of life.
“The creation with all its gifts is there for the sake of Jesus Christ. So we thank God for the grandeur of his creation with, in, and through Jesus Christ, to whom we belong.”
Bonhoeffer, thus, reads and teaches the Psalms to his parishioners and pastoral students as the harmonious presentation of God the Self-Witness in Word and in Creation. Creation never stands apart from the One who made it. Creation exists as a testimony to the Lord and His Christ. We may, therefore, enjoy Creation, which, he says, “serves the believer,” as a signpost of the God is there and who has spoken to us in His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
After reading and thinking through Bonhoeffer and Creation I think passing the Crepe Myrtle on my way out today has the possibility of joy and deeper devotion. And that is a pastoral consequence of Creation and the Psalms that is available to each and all who trust in Jesus Christ and, then, study His Word for the pure sake of abiding peace. It is not so much that I am taking a new direction, but that I can, actually, enjoy the journey when I remember the destination.
[1] All citations are from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Eberhard Bethge, Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible (Minneapolis: Augsburg Pub. House, 1970), 28-30.