"I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth."
For his catechisms, Luther supplied explanations of each article of the creed, Luther went from the traditional "twelve articles" of the Apostle's Creed (one article for each Apostle) to 3 basic articles: Creation, Redemption, Sanctification. Just as he does with the Commandments in asking the question What does this mean? Luther supplies a succinct answer that makes sense.
Here at the seminary there is an emphasis on the part of the faculty to use the First Article more in everyday life to promote things such as sound stewardship of the environment, simply enjoying what God created and called good in Genesis, and also to help stave off the Christian "escapism" attitude that is so prevalent. It's an attitude that says heaven is the goal, and we need to escape this body and life. An emphasis on the First Article shows that God gives us all we have in this life and that it is good and that the work of the 2nd and 3rd Articles is to restore the things of the First Article.
Here is Luther's explanation from the Small Catechism:
I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them.
He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, spouse and children, land, animals, and all that I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.
He defends me against all danger, and guards and protects me from all evil.
All this He does only out of Fatherly divine goodness and mercy, of no merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.
Some of you may be wondering, so what? The so what is that in a world which has gone crazy in fighting over climate change, and in a religion that displays so much contempt for this life and world, misapplying and misunderstanding that when scripture talks about flesh as evil and the world as evil it talks about the powers that subdue it in sin and death. It is not a sin to be human, and it is not a sin to love all of creation.
The first responsibility given to humans, pre fall into sin, was to have dominion over the earth. Over the course of history that has been used as an excuse to mess up creation and to pump whatever it is we want into the atmosphere. It has been used as an excuse to abuse fellow creatures that God created and declared good, before we screwed it up. The human responsibility is not to see the earth as merely their own playground with which they can do whatever they like to it. No, the human responsibility is to see all of creation, which includes fellow creatures, as God given gifts and to cherish its very existence.
It makes one deal intimately with creation and to look at things sacramentally. God won't even deal with us outside of creation: eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and even in Baptism with God using water, an element of creation, and in the Lord's Supper God using bread and wine to come to us.
To disavow creation is to disavow the Creator. Sin is an intrusion to creation which effects include natural disasters: earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, etc. And it is also an intrusion which effects include hatred, bloodshed, war, yes even death. Even though sin has entered into the world it is not an excuse to run rough shod all over the earth. Especially if Christians are to be taken seriously, we follow in the foot steps of Jesus the Christ the first fruits of the new creation (1 Corinthians 15:20-28), we need not and cannot treat God's earth and all its creatures with contempt and careless activity.
Go to the beach, go to the park, be environmental, enjoy all that you see, and know it is okay. God made the earth beautiful, and despite sin and death, it continues to be beautiful in many many ways.
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