Why Should Christians Care?

Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars.

Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies.

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded and they were created.

He set them in place forever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away.

Praise the LORD from the earth,

you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail,

snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding,

you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,

wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds,

kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and maidens, old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

(Psalm 148)

Today starts a new series, “Why Should Christians Care?”, by Lauren Merritt, from The Christian and Creation blog. 

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My conviction about my interaction with creation is recent, but it is fervent.  As I’ve studied Scripture and been absorbed in books, particularly those about what it means for man to be in God’s image, my passion for this area of Christian living has grown.  One reason for this, perhaps, is that it is heartily and unreasonably ignored.  Many Christians seem very happy to plant their feet firmly on the “Not Our Problem” side of the issue.

This stance, however, either disregards or has not considered a handful of truths that lead me to believe that not only is the environment “our problem,” but that it is more the responsibility of Christians than any other people.  I’d like to post one reason for this each day, for your consideration.

Reason Number One:

Man was created by God to exist in three relationships: man to God, man to man, and man to creation.  All three will exist eternally in the new creation.  We are responsible for our behavior toward each of these three relationships.   

At the heart of Christian theology lies the fact that man is created in three distinct relationships: man to God, man to man, and man to creation.  All of our existence takes places within these three spheres.  We spend a great amount of time discussing our relationship to God and our relationship to men (as we should!), but there is a full third category that we mindlessly neglect (as we should not!).  If God had not wanted us to have a physical creation with which to interact He could have made us non corporeal all together.  But He did not; He created man in a beautiful garden and some of His first instructions to them were to tend their land.  This is often referred to as the cultural mandate. 

Genesis 1 tells us that God gave man dominion over the natural creation.  “God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”  God gave Adam and Eve their immediate surroundings, the Garden of Eden, so they would “work it and take care of it” (Gen 2:15).   We know from the rest of Scripture, that though Adam and his descendants are creation’s rulers, God is The Ruler,  The Owner, and The King of creation (see references at the bottom of the page).  What humans do with creation is in submission to God as the ultimate authority and standard of our behavior.  We are the stewards, not the owners.

A factor not often considered, including by myself until very recently, is that man’s three-fold relationship is eternal, though all three relationships will undergo changes.  In the coming new creation of God’s kingdom there will be a new creation!  We will still exist in a perpetual relationship with God, with man, and with creation – but all three will be sinless, perfect, holy, beautiful, sanctified, and renewed!  (This is no doubt in part because we will no longer be rulers over the creation).  When God’s kingdom comes in full power in the new creation it will all be perfectly subjected to Him.

We are responsible for our relationship to God here and now, though in the future we will be in perfect fellowship with Him.  We are responsible for our relationships with our fellow men, though in the future we will be sanctified in perfect fellowship with other believers.  How can we possibly continue to argue that we are not responsible for our relationship to creation, because one day it will be sanctified?  The logic and witness of Scripture points us in the opposite direction.  We are responsible for our relationship with creation here and now, though in the future we will live in it with perfect harmony.

Christians should care more about the environment than our non-believing neighbors because we are the people who know this truth!  We have the supreme motivation to do good and live righteously in caring for God’s creation as faithful stewards, we who will see all our efforts perfected in the coming kingdom of God.  Why should we go about our lives as God’s people ignoring one of our three relationships that will last for eternity?

Psalm 104:24, 30

How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures…. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.

Psalm 24:1‑2

The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

Hebrews 11:3

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Isaiah 44:24

This is what the LORD says‑your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself.

I Chronicles 29:11

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you ore exalted as head over all.

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Isaiah 55:12

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Nehemiah 9:6

You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

Psalm 97:1

The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice.

Psalm 66:4

All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name.

A Tale of Two Books

I found a thesis written by a Religious Studies Ph.D. student at the University of Iowa (Nancy Lee Menning) entitled, “Reading nature religiously: Lectio Divina, environmental ethics, and the literary nonfiction of Terry Tempest Williams.”  Lectio divina means devotional reading, and it is a way of studying scripture where one is intentionally open to being transformed by the text.  It is what some would describe as God’s Spirit speaking to ours through his Word.  In her thesis, she outlines the four classic stages of lectio divina and applies them to a “reading” of nature, as opposed to scriptural writings:  Paying attention, pondering, responding, and surrendering.

The thesis is based on the belief that there are two books through which God reveals himself to us:  the book of scripture (the Bible) and the book of nature.  Books are usually written in a specific language, understandable to a specific group of people, but the book of nature is written in a language that anyone can understand, regardless of the language you speak or whether you are even literate.

Back in the day (medieval times), you could only access the Bible if you were wealthy enough to own a copy (books weren’t as ubiquitous then as they are now), and if you were literate (which also wasn’t as common as it is today, especially in America).  So if scripture is the only way to know God, this would have left a large portion of the population to only rely on what someone else (who was inevitably privileged, if wealthy and literate) told them about who God is.

However, nature was (and is) accessible to everyone, no matter the language you speak or your reading abilities.  And unlike the Bible, it has always been around.

Romans 1:19-20 speak to this:

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.  So they are without excuse.

And Psalm 104 is a beautiful picture of God as the creator and provider of all he created, and how we can see his glory through all he has made (it is too long to post, but you can read it here).

Certainly, none of this is to downplay the importance of scripture, but rather to emphasize that God’s word and God’s creation (both of which God is the author) add meaning to one another.  It’s why we like to read materials that have plenty of nice images – it engages us and gives us a more holistic idea of the subject.  We develop a deeper understanding of who God is by spending time in and meditating on both Word and Creation.

Words and language can be such a barrier sometimes – think about the miscommunication we run into on a daily basis, even technically speaking the same language.  Words are tricky since everyone has a slightly different connotation that they associate with each word, causing much to be lost in translation, so to speak.  So you end up thinking you know what the other person is saying, but later may find out that – whoops!  You actually had no idea.

So it is good that we have another source of God’s wisdom to supplement the words he has left us.  Now, going back to the four parts of lectio divina.

1. Lectio: paying attention.  Concentrating on what your senses are experiencing.  When you read, you are focusing intently on the words, and listening for what stands out to you in the text.  To translate this in to “reading” nature would be to pay attention to what you are seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and in some cases, tasting in the natural word around you, as well as paying attention to how you respond to these things.  It is active participation that involves your body and your mind.
2. Meditatio: pondering.  Spending time in silence reflecting on and internalizing what you are experiencing and what is being revealed to you through what you are experiencing.  It is also the time when you put what you are learning into the context of your life and what you know of scripture.
3. Oratio:  responding.  Taking to God in prayer what you are feeling, experiencing, and thinking, so that his presence and voice can give you clarity as to what is truth.  Accepting what God has spoken to you and letting it change you.
4. Contemplatio:  surrendering.  Giving your new knowledge and understanding back to God and recognizing that it is only in his power that you can do what he asks of you.  Surrendering to God takes the burden of making change off of your shoulders and puts it fully back into God’s control.

I think that if we begin to “read” nature in this way, God will teach and change us infinitely more than we might expect.  I can imagine that he has much to show us that he is just waiting for us to discover.  My challenge to you would be to try applying these 4 principals of lectio divina as your spend some time outside in creation – find a place where you feel peaceful and undistracted.  Give God a chance to speak to you through what he has made.

Grocery Store Wars

So this video is from 2005 apparently, but I just discovered it.  It is kind of nerdy, and I don’t like Star Wars that much, but I have to say, it’s pretty creative.  My favorite is Darth Tater.

Inconvenient or Enriching? Let’s Find Out.

Taking a break during an awesome 30-mile ride around Minneapolis this weekend. Alas, the day ended in an unfortunate wipe-out on some mean gravel. It's ok though..."I get knocked down, but I get up again; you're never gonna keep me down." (Thanks for the inspiration, Chumbawamba.) I still biked home with ripped shorts and blood dripping down my leg.

Recently, I have felt inspired to do a better job of living out in my own life what I am encouraging others to do through Restoring Eden.  I have been biking anywhere I need to go within a 10 mile radius, purchasing a CSA share and buying as much locally as I can (and organic/free range when local isn’t possible), leaving the lights off when it’s midday and bright enough to see without them, opening windows for cross-breeze instead of cranking the air conditioning, re-using plastic bags…etc, etc. I’ve been buying things in bulk when possible and storing them in plastic bags that I can bring back to the store and refill from the dispenser rather than buying products with new packaging every time.

My next step is to start a compost bin.  Since I have been trying to buy locally, I have been going through a lot more produce, which creates more organic food waste in my trash bin.  It started to bother me that as I was trying to do better in one area (supporting local, sustainable agriculture, not to mention fostering healthier eating habits!), I was negatively contributing to another (the amount of waste I was adding to landfills each week).  I learned that 2/3 of our nation’s solid waste stream is made up of organic materials that are compostable, but since we dump them in landfills, there is not enough oxygen for them to break down, so they just sit there.  Makes no sense.

So I’m going to compost.  Probably in an old ice cream pail.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Doing all of these things, making these changes in my daily lifestyle, seems kind of annoying to do at first thought.  Most of the things I’ve been doing are definitely a little bit inconvenient:  biking takes longer (and it gets HOT during the summer), cooking with whatever I get in my CSA box dictates what I will eat for dinner, organic food is more expensive, washing and drying plastic bags seems silly when I could just grab another one out of the box.  And composting is probably going to be smelly.

Photo by Alexis Illyn - isn't she great? This photo has nothing to do with anything I'm saying, but I just like it. Enjoy.

But actually what I’ve been finding is that since many of my usual daily routines have been replaced with all of these more “inconvenient” daily processes, my daily activities have more of a richness about them.  My commute to work is more enjoyable when I bike; I get to be more creative in my cooking with new ingredients from my CSA; spending more money on organic food becomes an investment in sustainable farming and a healthier earth; I feel really good about reducing the amount of useless waste that leaves my residence.  Trading out my unsustainable habits for ones that I know aren’t wounding and befouling this beautiful planet where God has given me the chance to live and love, enriches everything that I do here.  Doesn’t it bring peace and contentment and a warmness to your heart to take good care of something you’ve been given?  Your child, or pet, or even your neighbor’s plants while they are gone?  It does for me.  And it’s the same kind of feeling that I get when I know I am being responsible with the resources and beauty that God has given us through his created Earth.

I’d encourage you to try.  Try exchanging something usual, for something sustainable.  Start with picking one thing, and try it for one week.  Give it a chance and see how you feel.  You may just find that instead of feeling inconvenienced, you have a richer and more full experience of your daily activities.  Perhaps being “inconvenienced” is just making you be a bit more conscientious.  And when is that ever a bad thing?

Can I Just Say…

I love being outside.  Something about it just calms my mind.  I tend to be a slightly anxious person whose mind is constantly going over all the things I have to do.  During the worst of it, the urge that typically comes to the front of my mind is to get outside and get fresh air – out of the confinement of the place and task in which I find myself and into the vast and spacious open air where there is new growth, possibilities, and room for imperfect yet well-crafted life.

There is something majestic about nature that puts our life and activities in perspective, bidding us to seek the bigger picture.

This guy puts it well when he witnesses the elegance of a double rainbow and asks: “What does this mean?!”

Now, he may or not be using some sort of illegal substance…I don’t actually know.  Maybe he really is just that enraptured over that double rainbow.  BUT.  That’s not the point.  In all seriousness, I think the beauty of creation should elicit that kind of response: high emotions, wonder, inspiration, and reflection.  All the time.

One of the great things about living in Minneapolis is the lakes (Calhoun, Harriet, Lake of the Isles, and Cedar).  Last night I was sitting in the grass along Calhoun, watching the sun go down and thinking about how the sky is my favorite piece of nature – mostly how dynamic it is and how many colors can be present on its canvas at one time.

Where the sun was going down, there were bold oranges and reds surrounding contoured white clouds lined with glaring gold.  Opposite that, toward the east, wispy clouds had turned a rosy pink, surrounded by pastel oranges, yellows, and pinks, a soft and gentle reflection of the intensity in the west.  But I found myself reacting a bit like the guy in the video – I couldn’t really come up with sufficient words to express my appreciate for its beauty, so I just kept repeating, “Seriously, look at the colors over there.  Just look at them.”  My boyfriend and I then proceeded to have a conversation about the vastness of space, how small we are, the brevity of our time here, and why beauty and aesthetics matter to us.  I didn’t quite start crying, but if I were a more emotional person, perhaps I would have.

Enjoying and reveling in the natural world brings so much joy to my existence.  Maybe double rainbow dude is on to something.

Gulf Spill…Live!

CNN has a live streaming of the oil spilling out from the well into the Gulf.  Actually made me a little bit sick.

(Watch it.)

The latest estimates are saying that between 25,000 and 30,000 barrels are spilling out every day.  (There are 42 gallons in a barrel.)  This is approximately equivalent to another Exxon-Valdez every 8-10 days.  Yikes.

But apparently the oil spill scenario is not unfamiliar or uncommon in other parts of the world.  One headline claims that every year in Nigeria, more oil is spilled than has been spilled into the Gulf of Mexico:

CNN has also covered a similar story:

“Nigerians angry at oil pollution double standards”

Who knew?   The report says that 8% of the oil in the United States is imported from Nigeria.  By and large, the general population probably doesn’t really know where their resources are coming from.  Interesting what crises like the Gulf spill bring to light.

I’m planning on driving home this weekend to be with my family over the 4th of July: probably a total of 15 hours of travel = 30 gallons of gas = $85.00.  But now I wonder where it’s coming from and what the real price was that had to be paid so I can take my road trip.

Not quite as happy a thought as fireworks.

Parental Influence

The lovely Julie Arnold, one of Restoring Eden's fabulous interns, in Fairbanks, AK

From one of Restoring Eden’s amazing summer interns, Julie Arnold!   Julie is one of six brothers and sisters, and is currently a junior at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota studying Sociology and mathematics. Her passion and love for God’s creation was initially inspired and strongly influenced by her family’s lifestyle at home- making good whole foods for daily family dinners, the huge family garden, the emphasis her parents put on living simply, and their family camping, hiking, and backpacking trips to state and national parks. This summer, Julie is looking forward to meeting and working with new people and advocating for the love of creation!  I asked her to share with us more about the impact that her experience growing up had on her.

It wasn’t until college that I realized the extent to which my parents impacted the values and lifestyle that I have. Like most people in college, I individualized myself. However, with two years of college under my belt, I have noticed that I actually haven’t deviated far from the path that my parents laid out for me. My parents started living simply before it was the hip thing to do. They never explicitly enunciated their motivation behind simple living, but I firmly believe that they were compelled by a deep feeling of morality and equality from the God in and around all of us. For how can we, as privileged people, feel right about our consumer lifestyle when people who struggle to meet basic needs are oppressed by this system that we feed into as consumers?

The Arnolds' family garden in eastern central Minnesota

Our house was built by my parents about 25 years ago on 50 acres of land in Lindstrom, Minnesota. The house is specially designed to consume a minimal amount of energy. It is an earth berm home (built into the side of a hill, using the earth as a moderator for the house’s temperature) with extra instillation, and is completely heated by a wood stove in the cold Minnesota wintertime. This wonderful energy saver meant collecting firewood was added to the already extensive list of chores around the house due to the many gardens and hobby farm. As the fifth child out of a family of six, I always had plenty of work buddies and play mates. This built in party made it unnecessary for my family to own a television or many material toys, excluding books of course. From playing night games and cards, to bailing hay and hauling wood, as a family we spent copious amounts of time together. The expanse of woods, field, and water right outside our front door made it incredibly easy to stay active outdoors, which I took for granted as a child. Additionally, my family took a camping road trip out west every summer to explore the national parks on the hiking trails and campgrounds, only strengthening my love for creation.

Vegetables from the garden

Another integral part of my childhood was the fellowship and focus that my family had around food. Every evening my mom, with the help of some of the children, would make a huge family dinner. In the summertime, the meal was primarily based on what was ripe in the big family garden that my parents tended to, with the help of the children for mulching and harvesting. Every fall everything was harvested; my mom, with our help, would spend days canning and freezing fruits and vegetables for the winter. The chickens provided a steady supply of eggs and meat throughout the year. We generally ate vegetarian meals with beans and rice as staples, except for the occasional chicken from the freezer that we had raised and butchered in the fall. As a result of the emphasis and importance my family placed on food, my siblings and I now approach food more holistically and cook with whole foods as my mother taught us to do growing up.

When my younger brother started kindergarten, my mother went back to working full time at the local Catholic Church as the religious education coordinator. We were very involved in the church and regular church goers. Church was always boring to me, but I remember feeling extremely proud to be the family of eight people that sat in the third pew on the right side every Sunday morning. There is something warm about sitting beside your family at church. We also were a part of a loving and open community of families within the church. Even though I didn’t feel a strong relationship with the God that I learned about through church growing up, many Christian values of love, compassion, fellowship, and openness where instilled in me from an early age by the example of my parents and older siblings.

When I arrived at college and started exploring beliefs and owning those beliefs I realized that the lifestyle my parents lived was unique and that I had taken most aspects of it to heart. As a water bottle carrying, tree loving, running, frugal vegetarian who primarily shops at secondhand stores, I was labeled as an environmentalist even though I never branded myself as one before; it was merely a lifestyle. Even though I may not use God language, I am inspired by God’s creation, and through relationships with others. I didn’t resonate with my childhood religion in the church, but the values I was taught by example and the lifestyle that we lived as a family were grounded in deep-rooted faith. My faith then stems from a foundational place in my upbringing and can be seen through my relationships with others, care for God’s creation, and simple life.