Estonia's free evangelical churches have marked September as Creation Care Month with a reflection arguing that care for the natural world and care for one's neighbour belong together. Published by the Estonian free churches, the article opens by asking readers to pause before buying something new: is it actually needed, could the existing item be repaired, and could something standing unused serve someone else instead?
Its central claim is that environmental damage falls hardest on those with the fewest means to cope with the consequences, so stewardship of creation is also a form of responsibility towards one's neighbour. The article points to the everyday: every garment, table or mug represents natural resources and somebody's work, and maintaining, repairing and using things for longer honours both. Reusing an object rather than discarding it, it suggests, can itself be an act of love, and care can show itself in how people treat the most ordinary things in their homes.
A concrete outlet is named. In the Sõbralt Sõbrale charity shop network, a decent donated item finds a new user, and income from the shops helps fund counselling, crisis assistance and congregational work in the community. A single thoughtful donation can therefore both spare resources and support a person in difficulty. The article advises donors to ask whether an item is clean, intact and something the recipient would be glad to receive, saying that a considered donation expresses respect for both the person who receives it and the shop worker. It also urges readers to notice when enough is enough — to take pleasure in simple things, to buy second-hand only from need, and sometimes to make no purchase at all, leaving more room and attention for the people around them.
The reflection closes by describing creation as God's gift, entrusted to human care, and gratitude as something that can be expressed in a repaired garment, shared food or a carefully chosen donation. Shared habits, it notes, go on to shape how a wider community organises its life and uses its property, and it invites readers to choose one habit from the month to carry on afterwards. The article acknowledges Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato si' (2015) as the basis for its thinking.
(Originally published in Estonian. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Free Evangelical Estonia — kogudused.ee/loodu-hoidmine-on-ligimese-eest-hoolitsemine/
