Lion Lamb Blog -- David Mundy: Creation and the Cross

Friday, April 03, 2026

Creation and the Cross

Tree of Life -- Blake Debassige 1982

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3: 16-17 NRSVue

Good Friday has always had great meaning for me as a Christian. The holy improbability of the incarnation of God in Jesus, and what seems like the train wreck outcome of Jesus' ministry of radical love and inclusion. Good Friday is the dismal failure which becomes glorious hope on Easter morning. There were times leading Good Friday services when I was so moved by the import of the day that I fought back tears. During my final Good Friday service after near four decades I had to pause for what seemed like forever because of my emotion.

Today I'm grateful once again and pondering the cosmic "God so loved the world" aspect of what is called Black Friday, Jesus the Christ came for humanity but what about the rest of Creation? If Jesus considered the flowers of the hillsides and the birds of the air and calmed the storm, could salvation be the gift for all that lives and the Earth itself, in all its astonishing variety?

There is a book by Roman Catholic nun and theologican Elizabeth Johnson called Creation and the Cross: The Mercy of God for a Planet in Peril which wisely and somewhat provocatively explores these themes and I have returned to it on a number of occasions.

I will admit that I feel a heaviness this year that seems to have seeped into my bones because our planet is in peril. The senseless war against Iran is causing huge environmental damage that doesn't even get mentioned. We are neighbours to a country where environmental protections established over decades are being dismantled in the blink of an eye by a president who is a climate emergency denier. I have an increasing discomfort with our own government touting Canada as an "energy superpower" which means ramping up the production of fossil fuels. We are rarely shown the landscape and waters around the tar sands projects in Alberta anymore but to me it is has looked like hell.

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.

Luke 23: 44-46 NRSVue

The implications of our human activity is literally far-reaching. Last August we were on a small island off northeast Newfoundland in the Atlantic. Unprecedented wildfires were raging in the province but the heavy smoke we experienced one day was from fires in Western Canada. Can we make a connection between our darkened skies and the crucifixion?

Admittedly, these are grim examples of a crucified planet but I pray for salvation and resurrection, God's mercy for our planet.

Through this solemen day I'll go outside to experience the goodness of Creation. I'll ponder our reproduction of the Tree of Life by Ojibewe artist Blake Debassige which is in the chapel of the Anishnabe Spiritual Centre on the way to Manitoulin Island.

Christ came for the healing of the nations and all of Creation so we can and must be partners in that redemption. On this Black Friday I yearn for Resurrection hope.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Romans 8: 22-25 NRSVue

4 Were the whole realm of nature mine,

that were a present far too small:

love so amazing, so divine,

demands my soul, my life, my all.

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross -- Voice United 149