Seeing Creation

On Sunday nights I have been teaching a study based on Leonard Sweet’s book, Out of the Question…Into the Mystery.  The chapter we’re covering this evening is called “Getting Right with Divine Handiwork” and deals with loving what God has made.  Here Sweet makes some bold claims.  He asserts, for example, that “We can only be with God to the extent we are in relationship with both the Creator and creation” and “No Christian has an excuse for not being an ecologist.” Elsewhere he says, “Today, Christians expend a great deal of energy and effort learning how to rightly exegete Scripture.  Such exegesis helps us comprehend and know God.  But what about learning how to exegete nature—the handiwork of God?”

I find the idea of exegeting nature intriguing.  I was required in both college and seminary to take several classes on how to exegete, or interpret, Biblical passages.  There were, however, no classes offered on how to exegete nature.  When we recall how many Christians over the centuries have understood nature to be a “second book” of revelation it seems strange that such a class didn’t exist.

In one section in tonight’s chapter Sweet argues that since we are spiritual beings in physical bodies “our biological selves need nature.”  He goes on to say: “There are huge health benefits to living in GodLife relationships—including relationship with creation.  Contact with nature can heal, whether it’s a walk in the woods, a drive on a scenic route, or even peering at framed nature photography hanging on a wall.  Small contacts with creation—gardens and other green spaces—have a cumulative impact.  People who view a nature video after a stressful event can reduce their pulse rate, skin conductance activity, and muscle tension after as little as five minutes.  Following surgery, those who get a room looking out on trees heal faster and need fewer painkillers than those who look out on brick walls.”

There can be no denying that exposure to nature has many health benefits—physical and spiritual.  Those who are wise will use this knowledge to live fuller and healthier lives.  Those who are wise will also learn to exegete nature and discover within Creation the Creator who loves and cares for them very much.  May God help us all to be wise!

–Chuck

(I took the  images above this past Thursday evening at Breaks Interstate Park in Virginia.)

The Prologue to John’s Gospel (vs. 1-18) is an incredible passage of Scripture.  Last week I noted how John makes his claim here that Jesus (the “Word”) is one with God and is the Creator of all things: “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”  (v. 3) In the next verse John follows this up by saying that Jesus is the source of all  life: “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”  As Leon Morris points out, “It is only because there is life in the Logos that there is life in anything on earth at all.  Life does not exist in its own right.  It is not even spoken of as made ‘by’ or ‘through’ the Word, but existing ‘in’ Him.”

For Christians it is important to understand that Jesus is the source of both Creation and life.  It is because of him that everything exists; it is because of him that everything has meaning.  I agree with what William Hull says in his commentary on the Fourth Gospel: “…every person ought to see that God is the powerful and thoughtful creator of the universe in the light of the miracle of life which abounds in human experience.” 

If we understood Christ to be the source of all life perhaps we would have a greater respect for life—all of it.   Furthermore, understanding that life is not a given but a gift, perhaps we would also have a greater appreciation for life—all of it. 

It is because I believe that Jesus is the source of all life I affirm that all creatures and plant species are important.  Christ’s desire was for them to have life, just as it was his desire for us to have life.  It is also because I believe that Jesus is the source of all life that I feel a kinship with the rest of Creation—I share a common Maker with them and, like them, owe my very existence to him.  It is this kinship with the rest of Creation that led Francis of Assisi to refer to various animals as his “brothers and sisters.”

Today I join with the author of the Fourth Gospel in offering praise to Christ for being my Maker and the Source of all life.  I encourage you to join in with us.

–Chuck

(Both the whitetail deer and aster images were taken earlier this month in West Virginia.)

This past Thursday I drove up to the Cane Ridge Meeting House near Paris, Kentucky, for a special prayer service.  In the first few years of the 1800s a major revival broke out there.  This Second Great Awakening was given considerable attention in the recent PBS special, God In America.  The denomination in which I serve, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), arose from what took place at Cane Ridge over two hundred years ago.

I got to Cane Ridge early and walked around the grounds while I waited for the others to get there.  In the back of the building I found a bench facing three or four very colorful trees.  I sat on that bench and began to pray.   Soon a strong wind started to blow and scores of beautiful autumn leaves began to scatter about me.  Instead of letting this be a disturbance to my time of prayer I allowed the wind and leaves to help guide me in my prayer.

In both the Old and New Testament the words that are used for wind also mean spirit.  In his famous encounter with Nicodemus Jesus drew upon this twin meaning.  He said, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  (John 3:6-8)

With the wind blowing and the leaves scattering all about me I asked the Holy Spirit to blow in my life and in the life of my church and denomination.  I prayed that just as the leaves allowed the wind to carry them wherever it wished that we would allow Him to move us or take us wherever we needed to be. 

I truly believe that this was the prayer that God desired to hear from me at Cane Ridge and I am thankful for the guidance I received from elements of God’s Creation to move me in that direction.  Does it surprise me that God used nature to guide my prayer?  Not at all.  No, not at all.

–Chuck

(I took the images above in the Cane Run Lake area after leaving Cane Ridge on Thursday.)

Tonight I will begin teaching a study on the Gospel of John.   It has been said of this Gospel that in it a child can wade and an elephant swim.  This means it is a book that is at one and the same time simple and complex.  Anyone who has ever studied John’s Gospel will know what I mean.

John begins his Gospel not with stories of Jesus’ birth, like Matthew and Luke, but with beautiful words that point to the preexistence of Christ.  In words reminiscent of Genesis 1:1-2 he says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.” Then in verse 3 he boldly proclaims, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”  In this incredible text we are told not only that Jesus has always existed but that he was instrumental in the creation of the world.

John emphasized that the Word is responsible for everything that exists.  He states this in a positive (“Through him all things were made”) and negative (“without him nothing was made that has been made”) manner.  John’s teaching is consistent with what the apostle Paul wrote: “…yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.” (1 Cor. 8:6)  God the Father and God the Son both play a vital role in Creation.

In John 1:3 there is an interesting change in verb tenses.  Biblical scholar Leon Morris notes that “were made” regards Creation in its totality, as one act, but “has been made” conveys the thought of the continuing existence of created things.  There are implications that come with the change in verb tenses.  Morris says this means “What we see around us did not come into existence apart from the Word, any more than what appeared in the first day of creation.”

To me this is most significant when it comes to “seeing Creation.”  It means that all around us Christ is at work in what he has made and is making, and that includes us as well.  The story of Creation is not just an ancient one, it is an ongoing story—one that we participate in every day.   We can actually witness the Creator’s work in progress!  How awesome is that?!

–Chuck

(Both images above were taken this past Saturday at the Red River Gorge Geological Area in Kentucky.)

This past week I started reading Malcolm Clemens Young’s new book, The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau.  Like many nature enthusiasts, I have been a fan of Thoreau’s writings for several years.  This book focuses on Thoreau’s spirituality.

According to Young, “For Thoreau, religious faith should be a joyful gratitude rooted in an appreciation for the gifts we receive.  We perfect our lives by deepening our attentiveness to the beauty of nature.”  As anyone who has ever read Walden knows, Thoreau was certainly a careful observer of nature.   It was here he expected to find God.  Thoreau more than once described himself as a watchman whose “profession is to be always on the alert to find God in nature—to know his lurking places.”  In another entry in his Journal he writes, “How to live—How to get the most life!….That is my every day business….The art of spending a day.  If it is possible that we may be addressed—it behooves us to be attentive.  If by watching all day and all night—I may detect some trace of the Ineffable—then will it not be worth the while to watch?  Watch and pray without ceasing….If by watching a whole year on the city walls I may obtain a communication from heaven, shall I not do well to shut up my shop and turn a watchman?”

Thoreau’s call to attentiveness still needs to be heard.  He felt that many Christians focused their attention so much on heaven that they failed to experience God here and now.   That hasn’t changed.  So many believers fail to see in nature a source of inspiration and revelation.  They either don’t recognize or have forgotten that the Creator longs to make Himself known through that which He has made.

In one Journal entry Thoreau wrote, “God is in the breeze and whispering leaves and we shall hear him.”   I thought about that yesterday when I was hiking in the Red River Gorge Geological Area.  I’m convinced that God can be seen and heard by those who will remain attentive.  It is my hope and prayer that I, like Thoreau, might be a good watchman who is “always on the alert to find God in nature—to know his lurking places.”

–Chuck

(Both images were taken yesterday at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky.)

As Chuck so eloquently talks about Hosea in the last post, you can see immediately how connected God is with nature. But what about us? Are we part of nature or separate from nature?

In nature photography, we often keep out obvious references to man. That is a part of photography — selectively deciding what to include or exclude from an image. And we might keep out other parts of nature, such as a woodland that lost its leaves from tent caterpillars, so simply keeping nature photographs focused on a particular part of nature, including nature without man, is always a valid part of nature photography.

Yet, I think it is a mistake if we never see man or man’s influence in nature. In Psalms 36:6, the Bible says, “You save humans and animals alike, O Lord.” That certainly implies we are part of something larger. In Psalm 148, we read about praising God, and the Psalm specifically talks about everything from sea monsters to mountains to trees to wild animals all the way to “kings of the earth and all peoples” all praising God. That pretty much puts everything together!

When man is separated from nature, we are implying a gulf between nature and man that does not exist in the real world. Nature is highly influenced by man, from the severe effects such as the Gulf oil spill to small effects such as a trail through the woods. As a saying goes, “You cannot do just one thing.” And man is, though some people try to deny it, strongly influenced by nature, which is always very obvious as the weather changes in the fall.

I admit that I am not too fond of photographing some of the nasty effects on nature that man can do, though that can be an important type of photography. I love spotting and photographing bits of wild nature coming into “man’s world”, rather than simply man going into “nature’s world.” The image with this blog post is of butter-and-eggs flowers, also called yellow toadflax (I much prefer the fun first name), in a scruffy bit of land next to a gas station in Northern Minnesota. This is not a flower bed, or at least not one deliberately planted by man. It is a small bit of unattended land near the entry to the gas station where the butter-and-eggs plants found a home and started to grow on their own.

The yellow toadflax is a lot like us — it is an immigrant from Europe, where it is native. This relative of the snapdragon tends to colonize open, disturbed soil and doesn’t seem to be able to compete in truly natural conditions. It needs us, yet it is not particularly invasive, so it often provides a pleasant and brightly colored accent to lands near human habitation. And finding these pretty flowers near a gas station does not, in any way, diminish for me their God-given beauty. In some ways, they provide a nice accent to man’s works.

– Rob