Seeing Creation

American’s National Park Service will be turning one hundred years old in just a few weeks. Because I love our national parks so much I cannot let this occasion pass without offering the NPS my congratulations and best wishes.  Since taking up nature photography twenty-four years ago I’ve been blessed to visit most of our national parks.  I’ve also visited scores of other national park units such as national recreation areas, national monuments, national rivers and seashores, etc.  Each of them has had an impact on my life one way or another.  I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be who I am today were it not for our national parks.

I was introduced to our national parks as a small child when my family visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Today I visit them as often as I can.  Just two days ago I was able to pay a return visit to Mammoth Cave National Park.  I keep going back because I benefit so much from them.  Our national parks are incredible repositories of natural beauty that move my soul.  They are places where I often connect to God.  In fact, when I think of some of the parks I’ve visited I think not just of the scenery or wildlife but of the spiritual connections I made there.  Let me give you some examples.

When I think of Denali National Park I remember “the peace of God that passes all understanding.” I have felt a peace there I’ve not quite experienced elsewhere.  When I think of Grand Teton National Park I recall how important humility is in the spiritual life.  Standing before that giant mountain wall I always feel small and humbled.  When I think of Yosemite National Park I think of worship.  John Muir referred to those majestic Sierra mountains as his “temples” and “cathedrals” and they became that for me as well.  I can hardly imagine walking through Yosemite Valley and not singing the “Doxology” or “How Great Thou Art.”  When I think of Yellowstone National Park I find myself reflecting on the mystery of God.  Yellowstone is such a mysterious and magical place.  As with God, there is no comprehending all its wonders.  And when I think of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park I associate it with love. There is a wonderful and abundant diversity of life in this park that is so dear to my heart.  That diversity symbolizes for me the generosity and goodness of God and it serves as yet one more reminder of the divine love that is the source of all that is good.

I could go on making spiritual connections with the many different parks I have visited and photographed. They are all special and they are all important.  We are incredibly blessed to have these national parks and we should, by no means, take them for granted.  I would encourage you in this centennial year of the National Park Service to give them all the support you can.  Visit them as often.  Work to preserve and protect them.  Our national parks are far more than just beautiful and ecologically diverse places, they are special places where God resides and where God can be experienced in some marvelous ways.

–Chuck

(I took the top image at Yellowstone NP, the middle one at Great Smoky Mountains NP, and the bottom one at Yosemite National Park.)

I bought a book recently written by Benjamin M. Stewart called A Watered Garden. It was the book’s subtitle, Christian Worship and Earth’s Ecology, that drew me to it.  I was curious how the author would connect worship and ecology.  In the book’s first chapter Stewart writes, “…ecology and Christian worship both extend outward toward ‘everything,’ to attend to the worth of things, their interconnections with things seen and unseen, and their place in the whole living creation.  Their consideration together in a single theme is no novelty, but rather a natural partnership.  Both are, in fact, ways of seeing everything as part on the one great whole.”

I cannot help but agree that worship and ecology form a natural partnership.  When I spend time in nature, or even just study about it, I am often moved to offer worship to the God of Creation.  My love and appreciation for nature has long been a vital part of my life and spirituality.  For me, nature and the study of ecology are conducive to worship.

Any observant student of the Scriptures realizes that nature has played a pivotal role in worship from the very beginning.  God first makes Himself known to humans in a garden setting and there they learn that He is worthy of worship.  From Genesis to Revelation there are countless instances where nature comes into play, one way or another, in God’s revelation of Himself and in humankind’s response of worship.

In our worship service at church this morning there was no special emphasis but I noticed that the connection between worship and nature made a number of appearances.  The first hymn we sang was “How Great Thou Art.”  The words of the second verse are: “When through the woods and forest glades I wander, and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees; when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze; then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, how great thou art, how great thou art!”  Shortly after this hymn we prayed the Lord’s Prayer together asking that God’s name be hallowed and that His kingdom come and His will be done “on earth as it is in heaven.”

In the children’s sermon the kids learned about how God used Moses to part the sea so the Hebrews could escape the pursuing Egyptians.  Among other things, this story teaches that God is Lord and Master of Creation.  Following the offering we sang together the “Doxology”: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise Him all creatures here below; praise Him above ye heavenly host.  Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”  Here we are reminded that God is the Giver of all good gifts and that we, along with “all creatures here below” are called upon to praise Him.

The sermon I preached focused on Hebrews 11.  Although I did not talk about this particular verse we all read together the words: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command…” (v. 3)  In a chapter that highlights the importance of faith and faithfulness we were reminded that a central belief for Christians is the affirmation of God as Creator.

We ended our service today by singing a chorus based on Psalm 118:24.  “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Here again was one last reminder that every day is a gift from God and that He is to be honored and worshipped as the Creator.

Perhaps there are some Sundays when we don’t have quite so many overt references to God and nature but it’s almost impossible to imagine a worship service without the connection being made in some form or fashion.  They are, after all, natural partners.

–Chuck

(I took the top image at Broke Leg Falls in Kentucky and the bottom two images in northern California.)

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” Psalm 8:1

This morning we sang the wonderful hymn, “How Great Thou Art,” at church.  Last night I pulled out an instrumental version of this same hymn to use in an audio-visual presentation I’ll be making later this week.  It is a song I have heard sung my whole life but it has come to have special meaning to me in recent years because of my growing interest in the connection between nature and spirituality.  The author of the hymn, Stuart K. Hine, does a good job of pointing out how paying attention to God’s Creation can lead us into the worship of God Himself.

In the first verse the writer stands “in awesome wonder” as he considers “all the worlds thy hands have made.”  He speaks of seeing the stars, hearing the rolling thunder, and being amazed at “thy power throughout the universe displayed.”  All of this causes him to break forth in praise, “Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, how great thou art!”

More examples of nature’s prompting God’s praise are mentioned in the second verse: “When through the woods and forest glades I wander, and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees; when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze; then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee; how great thou art!”

This hymn reminds us that not only are the heavens declaring the glory of God; they are also calling us to do the same.  God created the world not just to provide for our needs but to lead us to worship Him.  Nature is full of prompters calling us to stand in awe of God and to offer Him our praise.  When we pay attention to these prompters we cannot help but declare with the hymn writer, “how great Thou art!”

In the third verse of this hymn the writer goes on to speak of how God giving His Son to die for our sins likewise causes him to sing God’s praises.  In the final verse he points to the triumphant return of Christ and the time we will be taken to our heavenly home.  This, too, causes him to break out in praise of God’s greatness.

In both of God’s books—Creation and the Scriptures—we find plenty of evidence of God’s greatness.  Both books call forth our praise.  And since we were created to offer God praise we would be wise to give careful attention to both books in the days to come.  If you choose to so, don’t be surprised if you find yourself humming or singing “How Great Thou Art.”  It happens to me a lot.

–Chuck

(The top picture was taken not far from my home at Breaks Interstate Park.  I took the middle image last April from the top of a mountain in Hawaii.  I captured the bottom image at Redwood National Park this past summer.)

“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it…”  Psalm 24:1

I’ve been singing hymns all my life; I love them!  Not surprisingly, some of my favorite hymns speak of God’s role as Creator.  Some of these include “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,”  “Morning Has Broken,” “How Great Thou Art,” “For the Beauty of the Earth,” and “Fairest Lord Jesus.”  This morning the chancel choir sang another one of my favorites, “This Is My Father’s World.”

Here are the first two verses of this beautiful hymn written by Maltbie Babcock: “This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears all nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres.  This is my Father’s world, I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees of skies and seas; His hands the wonders wrought.   This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise, the morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.  This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair; in the rustling grass I hear Him pass, He speaks to me everywhere.”

I love the message of this hymn.  Like the Psalmist the hymnist reminds us that the earth is the Lords.  We’re also reminded that all of Creation joins together in offering God praise.  Furthermore, we are reminded that God does, indeed, speak to us in the world that He has made.

Being Father’s Day I can’t help but wonder how honored God the Father must feel today when it comes to the way we have cared for His Creation.  As a child I was taught to respect the things that belonged to my Dad.   I understood that these things were his, not mine.  I also knew that if I used something that belonged to my father that I had better take very good care of it. 

If we know to respect our earthly father’s belongings you would think that we would also know to respect our heavenly Father’s belongings.  One way we can honor and show respect for God on Father’s Day, and the rest of the year, is by taking good care of that which belongs to Him—the earth.

–Chuck

(The image above was taken at Monument Valley.)

P.S. Rob Sheppard has a new blog that can be found at www.natureandphotography.com.  Make sure to check it out!