Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“I will make for you a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, November 13, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
God’s covenant is with all of creation. I love these little moments when the biblical writers look beyond the primacy of human place in God’s esteem and recognize that God, in fact, deeply cherishes and highly values every single thing that God has made. It hearkens back to God’s first command to humanity: be loving stewards of creation. As human beings we are only one component in the endless variety and mind-boggling complexity of interdependent life. God’s promises to love and redeem are not limited to humanity, but extend to worms and elephants, to ecosystems and biomes, to ferns and mountain ranges. Let us always think of the world as St. Francis did—of brother sun and sister moon and all our wild and beautiful natural siblings all around us.
What does it mean to me that God’s covenant is with all of creation?
