Seeing Creation

One of my goals for writing posts on Seeing Creation is to share with you from time to time wisdom I come across in my reading.  Recently I have been reading a book by Joan Chittister called The Monastery of the Heart: An Invitation to a Meaningful Life.  Within its pages I have found much wisdom and would like for you to consider some of Joan’s words found in a chapter called “Co-Creation.”  She writes, “In our twenty-first century view of life—through the lens of the Rule of Benedict—we know now in new ways that the earth and all its fruits are not for our exploitation, they are for our care.  We are co-creators with God of what creation has left unfinished.  What has been left in embryo is left for us to develop.  What can be developed God trusts us to bring to full potential.  But not for ourselves alone.  Co-creation, the human commitment to continue the work of God on earth, requires us to tend the land and conserve the waters, to till the garden and protect the animals, to use the things of the earth in ways that enhance all life now—and preserve them for later generations as well.”

Chittister goes on to say, “The human-centered view of creation is a stunted one.  It fails to recognize the oneness of creation, the symphony of life forms that depend on one another to bring the universe, pulsing and throbbing with life, to a wholeness that is mutual, that reflects the full face of God rather than simply our own.”  This last line I find particularly insightful.  How we choose to care for the earth and look at it will, in the end, determine what others see.  Obviously Creation is meant to be a reflection of God’s face or glory, not ours.  By failing to take seriously our role as co-creators with God we have marred or dimmed the reflection that is meant to be seen.

Too many people have looked at the earth and its resources as something to be exploited.  The earth is not viewed as sacred or understood to be God’s other book of revelation; instead, it is basically seen as something to be consumed or used for financial gain.  I remember once being at Camp Denali in Denali National Park with a group.  After a day or two we were asked what we thought of the park.  Most people spoke of the beauty of the Alaskan wilderness and how blessed we are to have such a place to visit.  One person indicated that what he saw was a whole lot of land that could be developed.  Apparently some people just don’t get it.

We desperately need more people today who will accept their God-given role as co-creator.  For people willing to do so Chittister offers this advice: “We are called to listen to nature as well as to one another, to hear its groans and till its gardens, to nurture its young and maintain the purity of its air, until we ourselves become the voices for life in everything everywhere.  To do that we must become part of the liturgy of life, treating as holy everything we touch, regarding as sacred every being alive, intent on preserving the best of what is—while we use our science and technology to protect, defend, and enhance them all. “

It seems obvious to me that so many of the decisions being made by Congress in this country, and by government officials in other nations,  do not take into consideration the sacredness of the earth.  They either do not know or do not care that the Scriptures say “the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1)  The earth is not ours to do with as we please.  We do not own it; it belongs to God.  Our task, as beautifully noted by Joan Chittister, is to be co-creators with God and stewards of the world we live in.  Until more people come to understand this and act upon it I fear that the face many people will see reflected in the world will continue to be not God’s but our own.

–Chuck Summers

(I took the image above at the nearby Henderson Sloughs Wildlife Management Area.)

Greetings from Camp E.D.G.E.!  Camp E.D.G.E. is the theme for this year’s Vacation Bible School at the church where I serve.  The kids are having a wonderful time and learning some very important lessons.  The “E.D.G.E.” in Camp E.D.G.E. stands for “Experience and Discover God Everywhere.”  One of the truths that the children have learned is that God can be experienced and discovered in His Creation.  I’m thrilled that the kids have been taught this.  I don’t remember being taught this truth in the church where I grew up.  It is not, however, a new idea.  Many of the biblical writers imply this very idea.  Likewise, throughout Christian history various theologians have made reference to the “two books of revelation”—the Bible and Creation.  In the end, however, Jesus may be our best teacher when it comes to seeing God everywhere. 

In his book, We Have Seen the Lord, William Barclay writes: “To Jesus the whole world was full of signs; the corn in the field, the leaven in the loaf, the scarlet anemones on the hillside all spoke to him of God.  He did not think that God had to break in from the outside world; he knew that God was already in the world for anyone who had eyes to see.  The sign of truly religious persons is not that they come to Church to find God but that they find God everywhere; not that they make a great deal of sacred places but that they sanctify common places.”

There have been a lot of places in nature where I have definitely experienced and discovered God.  One such place is Camp Denali in Denali National Park (pictured above).   Beholding such awesome beauty as that found in Alaska, it would be hard to not see God.  The challenge for me is to find Him in the not so obvious places.  At Camp E.D.G.E. it’s not just the kids who have been learning.  So have I.

–Chuck Summers