Today I ran across what I thought was an excellent article on the new “Her.meneutics” website, the Christianity Today blog for women. So I copied it here verbatim—hoping they won’t mind. You can find it online here.
I believe our WOC readers will enjoy it.
Humans in Creation: Another View
Nature’s enduring value is not in what it can provide us.
Earth Day came and went last week, represented on Her.meneutics with a flurry of commenters responding to Kay Warren’s piece, “Puppies Aren’t People.” On the same day, DisneyNature released Earth, a film blending spectacular beauty, heart-warming scenes of animal families, the realities of life and death, and the impact of change. According to Variety, Earth is the highest-grossing documentary for an opening weekend. As my husband, Mark, and I stood in line to buy our tickets, we learned that Disney is planting a tree for every ticket purchased in the first week of the film’s release. So far over 500,000 trees will be planted in the fragile Atlantic Rainforest of northern Brazil.
Embedded in Earth‘s beauty and narration are reminders that ecosystems have been altered in ways that make flourishing difficult. We witness a polar bear struggling to survive, and while we don’t see him die, it appears that he does. As the summer ice melts, he loses his
platform for hunting and his ability to feed after hibernating all winter. But on the upside, we see mama polar bear introducing her cubs to the world, a bird teaching her young to fly, a whale migrating with her calf, and elephants with their cadre of babies trekking across deserts in search of water. Earth shows mamas at every turn – nurturing, teaching, chastising, carrying, and nudging. (Watch the trailer and get a two-minute sample.)
Earth and films like it serve to remind viewers that we are only one part of creation, and are given the task to bear God’s image, which includes being steward caretakers of Earth. We are interdependent with all of creation and need a healthy Earth to flourish. We love others—both human and non-human—as we care for ecosystems that sustain life. What is good for forests and polar bears ends up being good for people, too. Earth reminds us, for instance, that God created trees not primarily for humans to turn into houses or fuel, but to help keep the atmosphere in balance by absorbing CO2 and releasing oxygen. And trees are home to a myriad of birds and insects that God delights in and loves. God designed creation so that all its inhabitants could flourish; humans are just one species, with the unique responsibility to see that others flourish.
It’s a challenge to think of creation this way. Mostly, we think of it in terms of what we need from it to survive. I would suggest that we have lost sight of a bigger picture held more clearly by Christians before the Industrial Revolution. Hear C. S. Lewis’s wisdom, from Mere Christianity:
We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the [man] who turns back soonest is the most progressive. . . . And I think if you look at the present state of the world, it is pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. We are on the wrong road. And if that is so, we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on.
Lewis wasn’t talking about creation care in particular, but the principle fits. And evangelicals are turning around. One example is Flourish, a national conference of leaders on creation care to be held in Duluth, Georgia, next month. It’s the first national gathering of its kind, seeking to help the church help all Christians move forward. We are turning, and representing something of God’s image as we do.
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I will be attending the Flourish conference and hope to report from there.
See you outdoors!
Dean
May 2nd, 2009 at 10:00 am
Dean, I love the beauty and semmetry of nature. In the natural world everything fits together and is in ballance….However, man does not fit in the harmory of nature. He is a user and consumer of all things.
We fail to simply be observers of all we survey. To think we can co exist, without disturbing the natural world around us is naive. Each one of us can only be responsible for ourselves, not control the greed and unconcerned attitude of others.
Holywood continues to sway our opinions, as directed by their art of doing so. If we take the liberal view Hollywood presents, we would all return to being naked apes eating nuts and berries. The view of early man as presented by some.
May 5th, 2009 at 1:28 am
I am inspired by the phrase “with the unique responsibility to see that others flourish.”
The past three years I wasn’t sure how to survive the bazillions of creatures that wanted to eat everything I planted in my new garden and greenhouse in the desert. I like sustainable agriculture, I crave being outdoors, I feel so close to God there.
I somehow decided to have a “wildlife habitat” between the greenhouse and the food garden.
Wow, has His creation flourished!
I’m an experienced gardener (even went to school) but nothing prepared me for these results. Doves, roadrunners, hummingbirds, mockingbirds, sparrows and about four other kinds I don’t know yet “found” it. I don’t put out birdseed, either.
Ladybugs, praying mantis, wolf spiders (big as dogs, run on the ground-eeeyew) weird beetles that I don’t know what they do yet… I don’t have but an occasional hole in a leaf now!
They all know their place, don’t need an incomer’s orientation, nuthin! I see God in His Big Picture as all this happens…without me. Today some desert iguana things showed up (warm enough now) to gobble locusts and anything slower than they are. The first year, I tried Neem oil on bugs, I think it worked. but they are smart and go under the leaves so you can’t spray them. Then, cause I used Neem, I though the veggies tasted ick…probably not, just my mind.
The habitat is about 70′ x 12′ and also has things I can eat that wouldn’t be possible without all the wilder stuff growing closely around it and un-ordered like the food garden.
I was part of a garden tour for the local club and we all waded into the habitat with amazement and delight, kind of ignoring the part I have under such tight control!
God’s creation provides so much more than a meal..
If I just didn’t live in such a hurry…
May 5th, 2009 at 5:33 am
Dean,
Good to hear you get to attend that gathering! And good article, as well. Yes, we need to see not only our unique place as humans in God’s creation, but just what that means here on earth. And your blog and other things contribute to that. May the influence of such increase!
May 5th, 2009 at 9:42 am
I will be interested in reading about the Flourish conference, and if my schedule weren’t so tight right now, I’d consider the short drive to Duluth to see first hand. Maybe next time.
Just thought I’d share what I believe the Lord “said” to me this morning. I was getting ready for the day just before daylight when I heard the sound of rain out my window. Its been a little dry for the past week or so, and very warm temps, and it was like the Lord said to me, “Good morning, just thought I’d brighten your day with a little rain you’ve been praying for.”
I’m convinced that God really loves His creation, and sincerely desires His people have such an intimate relationship with Him that we love Creation like He does.
So, good mornin’ Lord, and thanks for the rain. I love it too.