Seeking Reconciliation One Moment at a Time
David R. Clements
Chair, Department of Geography and Environment
Professor of Biology
Trinity Western University
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Colossians 1:15-20
One of my mentors in this field of creation care is Cal De Witt, who was the founding director of the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies. Cal tells a story of one time when he was preaching a message on Colossians 1:15-20 to a Latin American audience through a translator. But the real translator in the story was the Holy Spirit. The repetition of “all things” in the passage became obvious to the audience who wound up in something of a frenzy chanting the Greek “ta panta!” Maybe this audience can give the chant a try…
Why is Paul emphasizing ta panta so much? How should that speak to us today? Ever since the beginning we’ve had a separation problem. We put everything we don’t think is important at arm’s length. Are not the beautiful flowers important to God? What about the spiders? Or the snakes? Wait you say – I like nature but I don’t like those particular creatures. But then what happens to ta panta? And do we put God’s creation in a little box – a television, a computer screen for looking up the parts of nature we like on google? A phone screen where we “like” a particular photo from a hike that a “friend” of ours took? Do we make God’s creation a mere backdrop for the drama of God’s salvation of people? Or is our Savior the cosmic Christ who died for ta panta? Is doing some activity in nature a recreational activity in the sense of merely a “hobby” that some people like to do, or is “re-creation” essential to being human as part of the great reconciliation that God is accomplishing?
I would contend that as in all wisdom, merely thinking about these things in a room like this will not fully answer these questions. We are talking about reconciliation with creation, and hence each of us needs to somehow engage fully with the reality of creation – and I’m not talking virtual reality here – to seek this true reconciliation of the brokenness in the relationships between God, humans and creation.
Another one of my mentors in creation care is Stephen Bouma-Prediger who wrote the book “For the Beauty of the Earth” and I want to give you 5 ways Bouma-Prediger encourages us as humans to be reconciled to the earth.
- On Loan from Our Children
Bouma-Prediger says we should care for the planet with some urgency: “In short, we should care for the earth because we owe it to our children.” The following is an excerpt from a column I wrote from a local newspaper that reflects on the importance of this.
Green Beat article – Langley Times, April 2007 [D. Clements]
April showers bring May flowers, but do your children know there are flowers out there? As I write this, my two youngest children are enjoying a “Wii game” via the TV screen, and my next oldest is playing an on-line computer game. My oldest son is at a friend’s house, and I doubt whether he is exploring nature outside – it is raining after all. The “in-clement” weather is not the only problem. My children, along with perhaps most of their North American peers, are suffering from “Nature-Deficit Disorder” according to child advocacy expert Richard Louv. Louv has speculated on a connection between NDD and the large number of kids diagnosed with ADD (Attention-Deficit Disorder). Louv points out that gone are the days when children were free to enjoy nature in an unstructured way. Today’s kids know a lot more about the virtual reality they experience through “screens” than the real reality beyond their doorstep in a nearby forest or field. Louv thinks this deficiency may impact the creative thinking abilities of our children as they grow up in an environment cut off from the natural environment. “Nature is directly connected to our health,” said Louv during an American Camp Association conference in Chicago. “It helps us feel better physically and psychologically. It helps us pay attention.”
We need to ensure that as our children inherit the planet for us, they know enough about it to care for it properly.
- ‘Tis a Gift to Be Simple
Many environmental problems are due to high consumption life styles of the west being rapidly taken up by developing countries. Henry David Thoreau said: “Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.” But many people, including Christians wonder, would the economy collapse? Bouma-Prediger says: “Christians most of all ought to question whether consumeristic materialism is worthy of allegiance.” (S. Bouma-Prediger). Was consumerism something Jesus sought or advocated?
- Poor and Oppressed Unite
This is a reason to care because we are called by Christ to serve the poor and oppressed (humans) – so likewise, we seek “eco-justice” for the other organisms with whom we share the planet. Although a common response to the idea of eco-justice is “shouldn’t we worry about people first?” so often it is not an either/or but rather a both/and because poverty and environmental degradation are interrelated. Peter Illyn, a well-known creation care crusader, was first awakened by the plaintive cry of an elk in the middle of the night that made him think about how God calls us to care for the underprivileged.
- We’re All in this Together
John Muir, godfather to the U.S. National Parks system said that “when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” Theologian Joseph Sittler said “I have never been able to entertain a God-idea which was not integrally related to the fact of chipmunks, squirrels, hippopotamuses, galaxies, and light years.” When we hear everyone praising God in Psalm 148, every creature has a part in the choir. Paul Gorman (founder and director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment): “every act which destroys a species circumscribes our conversation with our Creator. The destruction of a species of Creation is metaphorically like tearing a page out of scripture.”
Indeed God makes a covenant with all creation (Genesis 6-9). Although we often elevate humans above all else, the “we’re all in this together” argument requires humility. Although we may be a “little higher than the animals” God’s ways are clearly higher than our ways, much higher.
- For the Beauty of the Earth
We should be overwhelmingly grateful for the gift of creation, and cherish how the lilies of the field grow (Matthew 6:28). St. Francis of Assisi's famous sermon to the birds was an outflow of a life lived in joy, and pointed out how the organisms worship. John Calvin called creation a “most beautiful theatre,” not just the stage for the human drama). This all may be difficult to take in but Bouma-Prediger says
“we should “overcome our collective creational autism and begin to experience in the wondrous world around us God’s extravagant and steadfast love.”
I see redemption continuing to sweep through creation, one soul at a time, one creature at a time (Colossians 1:19-20). This summer I experienced three “mountain-top experiences” and I will finish by describing these to help you see what I mean by moments of reconciliation.
My wife and I have been raising 4 boys, and our house has generally been noisy and full of people. So much to my surprise, I found myself home alone for over a week this last summer. What to do? A voice inside me said “go hiking.”
I had always been curious about the Glen Ryder trail in Abbotsford. So I went up there on a beautiful July summer day. At first I was all alone at the top, but then a gentlemen joined me and talked very excitedly about the wonderful hikes in our area. One in particular that I had to try was Mt. Thom in Chilliwack. So two days later I ascended Mt. Thom. At the top I was alone with God at first but then a group of three women came up and we talked excitedly about the view and one of them said “I have a gift for you.” The gift was knowledge of another hike with incredible views. It’s called Al’s Habrick trail. So two days later, I went there. This day there was no one to meet at the top – in fact I only saw six other hikers on the trail, mostly near the beginning. Once I got to the top it was just me, quiet, God – and smoke from the forest fires. Although the smoke hid much of the vaunted view, it created an incredible hush. No birds were singing, even the squirrels were quiet. Something about that hushed mountaintop experience really spoke to me and brought me to a place of connection probably even more than if it had been a clear sky kind of day. I’m sure each of you or at least many of you can think back in your recent experience and recall such moments of reconciliation. If not, I invite you – God invites you – to contemplate his majesty, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature (as referred to in Romans 1:20) as you seek simple joy and wonder in His creation.
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