Reconciliation with God in Christ is at the heart of all Christian faith and thought and ethics. On this we are agreed. In interpreting this heart of the matter, however, we differ in emphasis. There are those for whom reconciliation refers in its proper sense only to man in his relationship with God and man with his fellows, and others who, while accepting this primary emphasis, wish to understand reconciliation in a wider context. The Reformed theological tradition has usually considered reconciliation in relation to man, to the church, to society -the topics of the other sections -but has had little to say of it in relation to creation. We are faced therefore with a certain gap in the Reformed tradition. It seems to some of us that Reformed theology needs to give attention to this neglected topic, especially in view of the problems, concerning man's responsibility in the use of natural resources and of space, which press on us so urgently today.

Traditional western thought saw the created world as a finished work in which (subject always to the divine providence) no fundamental change took place between the creation and fall of man and the final consummation. Modern science sees nature rather as a developing process. This view may make us open to biblical insights into the dynamic interrelationship between man and the created world which were opaque to us before.

When we seek to widen the context of reconciliation, however, the very fact that the Reformed tradition has so little to say, may make us cautious, lest we use the word simply as a blanket term, an ideological slogan, removed from any precise meaning and biblical ground.

While the message of reconciliation in the New Testament is clearly addressed to man (one does not say to a lion, "be reconciled to God") it is not addressed to him in isolation from his fellows, or from his culture, or from the created world of which he is a part. In the New Testament as in the Old, man represents the created order, and there are many passages which may warn us not to limit the scope of Christ's work to the individual in isolation from his cultural and natural milieu (Col 1.20, etc.). In particular, every vision of the coming Kingdom links the ultimate hope of man with the whole creation (Romans 8, Revelation 21).

The fact that the creation narratives appear at the beginning of our bibles, and that the doctrine of creation is usually the starting-point of theology and confessional statements, should not hide from us the fact that the foundation of Israel's faith was in the redeeming act of God, in the deliverance from Egypt. According to the view of many Old Testament scholars, it was through later reflection on the nature of God as revealed in this experience and through confrontation with the cultures -of the people of the land, and of Babylon -with which Israel became involved, that the doctrine of creation, and of man's place in it, came to be understood (Psalm 8), and the covenant was seen as involving God's purposes, not only for Israel, but for the nations and for creation (Ps. 19; 29; Is. II). Thus the understanding of God as Creator and Lord, and the vision of a destiny in which an men and all nature were involved were insights closely connected with Israel's encounter with God as Redeemer. In the same way in the New Testament, the experience of reconciliation with God in Christ leads in due course to a vision of Christ not only as lover of the soul or Head of the church, but as Lord of creation {Col 1.16) and to an insight whereby the destiny of the created universe is seen as bound up with that of the sons of God (Romans 8). The understanding of the scope of redemption also quickly begins to have cultural and ethical consequences, in regard both to other races, and to nature (Acts 10).

The word reconciliation implies the restoration of a relationship that has been broken by sin. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing men's misdeeds against them" (2 Cor 5.19). To speak therefore of the "reconciliation of creation" would seem to say that the created world, and not only man was sinfully alienated from God, and not many of us would consider such a thought justified. We may however speak of "reconciliation and creation", holding that God's reconciling act in Christ gives us insight into both his and our relationship with the created world, and is indeed central for our understanding of it. In his Spirit, which is the first-fruits of the new creation, we receive the inspiration to face with creativeness and hope our responsibilities for the future.

Men experience the world in different ways, according to the culture in which they live. For some, especially here in Africa, nature is perceived as under the dominion of spiritual forces and powers, some of which may be hostile to man; for others, especially in the western world, nature is seen as an autonomous process which is to a large extent under the control of man, but which can scarcely at all be perceived as under the control of God. We may say that for both, the problem of relating God to nature is in part the result of regarding the belief that God created the world as belief about a past event, which does not inform contemporary experience. How, then, does the man in Christ, the reconciled man, perceive and receive the created world? He will do this in terms of his own culture. For the one, reconciliation will mean that he begins to be able to perceive the created world as under the Lordship of Christ, and not of hostile powers, and therefore he is free as regards it; for the other, it will mean that the created world is seen as under the Lordship of Christ, and therefore it is not to be abused but respected and cherished. Man's reconciliation with God leads to reconciliation between man and man; but it must also lead to reconciliation between men in their different cultures, and to reconciliation between man and nature.

Culture

(In what follows we use the word "culture" in a general sense, to mean man's creativity in work and in celebration.)

As Christians who believe that Christ is the Lord of the whole created world, we accept him as the Redeemer and Judge of our own and others" culture. In him we become able to discern the possibilities that our cultures have to enrich human life and also the threat to human freedom and fulfilment through their sinful elements. No culture can claim to be divine and absolute.

In order that the message of the gospel may become relevant to our whole life, Christ must enter our culture. In this he uses his people. The church's worship and life has therefore again and again to find its place in the context of contemporary culture. The church should not be bound to cultural patterns or styles of life imposed from outside or from a past with no relevance for today.

The reconciled man is grateful for his own culture insofar as he discerns in it the gift of God, and is open to the same gift in the different culture of his neighbour.This respect rules out both the misguided absorption of one culture by another (eg "integration" of blacks into white culture in USA) and the exclusion of one culture by another (eg "apartheid" in South Africa).

The penetration of culture by the gospel of Christ will modify and reform it. We should see culture not as something static but rather dynamic. Our Christian attitude requires an effort to assist the development of our culture. This may include borrowing from formerly alien cultures.

The search for cultural and liturgical forms through which we can express our Christian faith is a matter of concern for all fields of church life. We note particularly forms of worship, of theology and of social life. Studies in this field (mention was made of the problem of polygamy, and of worship in Africa) should be encouraged.

We are fully aware that a similar problem is faced by the churches of the northern hemisphere, where new forms of a subculture or of counter-culture seem to develop. They appear as a strong protest against the dehumanizing power of modem technology as we experience it all over the world. In this we may recognize a judgment over a culture which claims to be Christian, and we may learn to distinguish between necessary and beneficial factors of a technological culture and others which we may well abandon.

Dominion

Man's dominion over nature is something which we know in experience. Man has to struggle to assert his mastery, and still is faced with floods, earthquakes, natural calamities, which he is as yet unable to predict or control. Nevertheless, from his earliest beginnings, he has used natural resources for human ends, and more and more exerts his power through science and technology to dominate the created world from the inner processes of life to the distances of outer space.

How does reconciled man understand his dominion? Man's dominion is patterned on that of God. Reformed theology has emphasized the divine sovereignty, and it may be that this concept has not been sufficiently filled out by the good news of God's incarnation in Christ. If God's dominion is seen as arbitrary power, then man may be on the one hand submissive to God, and on the other aggressive and oppressive in exercising his dominion over the created world. If God's dominion is seen in the light of God's reconciliation, however, other consequences follow.

God respects the right and integrity of the created world and of man. He chooses to work not by arbitrary fiat, but "in Christ", that is, from within the created order. Reconciled man does not stand over against the created world, but as "co-creature" who is also "co-worker" with God, and perhaps in some sense "co-creator" in regard to the world's development. Reconciliation with God means for man also a new relationship with nature, so that he is not aggressive and hostile towards it, but sensitive to its order and potentialities.

Christ's lordship is seen in service and self-sacrifice and this is the pattern for man's dominion (Heb 2.5-9). Dominium means now ministerium -a responsible service, with gratitude for the benefits we receive through nature.

When we face the urgent problems of our time regarding the pollution of our environment, the squandering of natural resources, the extermination of flora and fauna, over-population, and even the defilement of space, we find ourselves concerned not simply with a violation of the natural creation, but with the fouling of the human nest, the deprivation of human life by the plundering of the natural environment, devastation by weapons of mass-destruction (eg defoliation in Vietnam), the squandering of the heritage of future generations. Yet at the same time we must recognize that the plunderers of our planet are the creators of a new civilization, and that modern science and technology have also the potential to provide a fuller life for future generations.

Christian social ethics require to be developed in the direction of an ecological ethic, the ethic of the use of our environment. In this the churches require to work along with the scientists and technologists. Questions of political and economic power are also involved. Theology can help this ethic by clarifying the goal of "the humanization of society", and the new relation in which reconciled man already stands to the world. Thus man may use his freedom and responsibility so that by him the created world may be led toward its fulfilment and find its true freedom in the service of true humanity.