Taking the Earth Seriously

Richard Rohr says,

Perhaps the primary example of our lack of attention to the Christ Mystery can be seen in the way we continue to pollute and ravage planet earth, the very thing we all stand on and live from. Science now appears to love and respect physicality more than most religion does! No wonder that science and business have taken over as the major explainers of meaning for most people today (even many who still go to church). We Christians did not take this world seriously, I am afraid, because our notion of God or salvation didn’t include or honor the physical universe. And now, I am afraid, the world does not take Christianity seriously. [1]

I take the earth seriously. Back in Grade 11, my biology teacher introduced me to the concept of ecosystems, how everything is interrelated with everything else – physically, chemically, biologically. The beauty I saw in this interrelatedness still makes me sing with joy today. I don’t see things linearly, I see patterns. The web of life makes perfect sense to me.

It made sense to Paul, too. In Romans 1, he states that no one has any excuse but to see the majesty of God when reading the Book of Creation. This book has page upon page of transcendent beauty, from the intricate nature of DNA molecules to the complexity of weather systems. Douglas and Jonathan Moo describe how Paul understood God in Creation;

There are only two occasions where we actually have a record of how Paul preached the gospel for the first time to those who had no background of the Old Testament. In both cases, he begins with the Creator and creation (Acts 14:15-17; 17:24-30). [2]

So if this Book of Creation is the first book God wrote so we could see Him, why do we rip pages out of it? Every page we lose through pollution is one less aspect we can show our neighbour about God.

As Wendell Berry says,

Our destruction of nature is not just bad stewardship, or stupid economics, or a betrayal of family responsibility; it is the most horrid blasphemy. It is flinging God’s gift into his face, as if there is no worth to them beyond that assigned to them by our destruction of them. [3]

As we enter a season of lent, we will confess ripping pages out from the book of creation. We will repent. We can then rest assured that Jesus will bring a restored creation to Himself.

And in that hope we will look at ways we can restore some of the torn pages in the next posts.

[1]Rohr, Richard. Christ in Paul’s Eyes, A Bigger Story. Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, Center for Action and Contemplation

[2]Moo, Douglas J. and Jonathan A. Moo. 2018. Creation Care, A Biblical Theology of the Natural World. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Mi. ISBN 9780310293743, p.222.

[3]Berry, Wendell ‘Christianity and the Survival of Creation.’ In Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community: Eight Essays, 1st ed. New York: Pantheon Books, 1993. p 98.