Archive for the ‘Spirituality in Nature’ Category

6 May

Garlic Mustard: Tempting

Posted by midwestnaturalist in Botany, Creation Care, Food, Gardening, Spirituality in Nature, Wildflowers and Plants. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

Garlic mustard I spotted on my noon hour walk.

Garlic mustard I spotted on my noon hour walk.

Some year’s ago, I read a book titled, “The Myth of the Greener Grass”. In addressing the problem of marital infidelity, the author, J. Allan Petersen, made the argument that, “The appeal of temptation is always to satisfy a legitimate need in a wrong way or at a wrong time.

These words have stuck with me over the years and have been applied to more than just my marriage. We are often tempted to manipulate all sorts of circumstances to appeal to our needs, legitimate and otherwise. Such actions tend to result in all sorts of unintended consequences.

So we find that we’re also tempted to manipulate nature to satisfy a legitimate needs whether on a macro or micro-biological level.  As pointed out in an earlier post, settlers brought dandelions with them to the New World in order to attract pollinators to their crops and thus ensure more productive harvests. However, introducing non-native species resulted in a case of – the wrong plant in the wrong place.

Another such nuisance, garlic mustard (alliaria petiolata), originating in Europe, was first recorded in the United States on Long Island, New York in 1868. The leaves do make a nice addition to a salad if harvested early in the growing season. But it’s there that they cease to be of any value.

As with all invasives, the problem is not so much their presence as it is their dominance over native plants. Garlic mustard displaces native spring wildflowers like spring beauty, wild ginger, bloodroot, trilliums, and toothwort. In inhibiting the growth of other plants, wildflowers, even trees, they  impact the survival of native animal and insect species that rely on them for food and habitat.

Each season one mustard garlic weed produces hundreds of fine seeds which are carried nearby and multiply the following spring. Although they are the most prevalent in the Northeastern US, they are also found in the Midwest, Southeast, western states and Alaska.

Eradication is particularly difficult as seeds can survive for five or more years before germinating. This means that repeated hand removal, along with the roots, must take place over multiple years before the seed matures and is scattered.

Wrong way, wrong time, wrong place. We need to ask ourselves just how much we ought to manipulate nature to meet our needs. Temptation can be a powerful force, but there is always a price to be paid.

 

24 Apr

What Can We Learn from Creation?

Posted by midwestnaturalist in Children and Nature, Creation Care, Education, Religion, Spirituality in Nature. Tagged: , , , , , , .

DT3190.jpgIn Psalm 24:1, we’re told, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it”. This tells me that there is a connection between the creator and his creation and that if I want to learn more about one or the other, I can do so by observing one or the other.

This isn’t to say that simply observing God or reading a Bible will provide me with an exhaustive understanding of the created world, just as observing nature will not provide me with a complete picture of God and his nature. But there is an overlap, just as learning about the parent may inform you about the child and vice versa.

A 1975 study of Hanunóo tribe in the Philippines, found that the average adult from the tribe could identify 1,600 different species – all without the help of botanical science. These people had knowledge of some 400 more plant species than were previously recorded in a modern systematic botanical survey. What’s more, they also knew how to use there plants for food, construction, crafts, and medicine. And they knew where to find all of them – they knew the plant’s habitats and their ecology.*

Calvin B. DeWitt in in his book “Earthwise” points out that the ability to build mental models and images of all aspects of creation – from atoms to plants to habitats to the cosmos – is essential for meaningful human life. These models, he suggests, are nurtured, transferred, and refined by our human culture, which is also a gift from God.

Henri Nouwen, a Dutch-born Catholic priest and writer summarized it well when he wrote, “It is through creation that we come to understand God’s glory, it is through God’s word, that we understand his grace.”

The apostle Paul used a few more words to express the same in Colossians 1:15-20:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

 

* Awa, N. “Participation and Indigenous Knowledge in Rural Development” Knowledge 10″304-316, 1989.

 

22 Apr

Celebrating Contendedness

Posted by midwestnaturalist in Native Plants and Flowers, Religion, Spirituality in Nature, Wildflowers and Plants.

Trout Lily on the campus of Huntington University

Trout Lily on the campus of Huntington University

I’ve been challenged recently to think more about what it means to be content in reference to my possessions, circumstances and future. The nudge has come in part from the example of one of my daughters who has been working to instill this virtue in her life and that of my grandchildren. Contentedness – not a highly valued concept in a success-driven, power hungry, materialistic society.

So today as I got out for a walk over lunch (something I’ve recently been working harder to do more religiously) I came across a patch of trout lilies on the campus of Huntington University located right next door to my office.

In addition to being one of my favorite native wildflowers, trout lily (erythronium americanum), is said to derive its name from the speckled leaves, similar in appearance to the speckled skin of a trout. It generally grows in groups of dozens to hundreds of plants and as is the case with dutchman’s breeches, is an ephemeral wildflower that appears for just a short time and then is gone again for an entire calendar year.

It was while viewing this tiny lily that the words of Jesus came to mind, “Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Luke 12:27

How often I miss out on the richness of life that is on display wherever I look. Here on the forest floor, lies a simple lily that rivals the splendor of King Solomon’s royal vestments in all their magnificence. It did nothing to gain it’s beauty other than grow where it was planted and become what it was intended to be. Nothing more, nothing less.

I suppose it’s no coincidence that on Earth Day 2013, I would be reminded again of just how truly rich I am if I just stop for a moment and look around. It’s time to stop toiling for what I don’t have, or wish I was, or believe I deserve, and simply accept what has already been provided.

If God can provide such marvelous clothing for a tiny flower on the forest floor that is here today and gone tomorrow, how much more will he care for me.

11 Apr

“A Thousand Questions”

Posted by midwestnaturalist in Botany, Climate Change, Creation Care, Ecology, Environmental Missions, Film - documentary, Religion, Spirituality in Nature. Tagged: , , .

A Thousand Questions

A Thousand Questions

 

Produced by Dave Schwarz, Greg & Corinne Ferguson and starring “spoken-word” poet Sharon Irving this short film focuses attention on the universe as it was created in juxtaposition with what is being faced in the world today.

While not intended to be in any way scientific, it does raise meaningful questions about the role mankind has to play in the disintegration of the environment and society. It reminds us once again that the world is not as it should be and that each one of us bears responsibility either through our acts of commission or omission.

(click on the photo to watch the film)

3 Jan

Green Spaces and Human Health

Posted by midwestnaturalist in Children and Nature, Corporate Ecology, Creation Care, Ecology, Environmentalism, Politics, Religion, Spirituality in Nature. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

IMG_0460While the United States has recently averted its “Fiscal Cliff” with a last-minute revision of its taxation model, it has yet to deal with the thorny matter of reducing spending if it hopes to make a meaningful dent in its deficit. In the meanwhile, everyone has their own ideas about what should be cut.

However, not all cuts are equal. Some expenses can actually save us money in the long run. This includes health, recreation and ecological concerns.

For example, one of the programs on the chopping block is the National Parks Department. Yet according to John Gardner of the National Park Conservation Association (NPCA), the current cost to taxpayers is just 1/14th of one percent of the federal budget. Not bad when you consider there are 394 National Parks in the United States. Further restricting funding or access to national parks certainly won’t solve our budget problems.

However, there is another side to this issue that requires consideration. If we want to exercise a fiscally responsible approach to the matter, we ought to also consider the fiscal benefits of spaces like National Parks and other green spaces currently on state and municipal lists of items to be cut or curtailed from their budgets. Quite simply, green spaces improve human health, reduce the need to deal with carbon emissions and increase individual productivity.

NASA, on the other hand, receives about 5 times what the National Parks Department does from the federal budget. While NASA has had its wings clipped over the last few years, I still wonder about the benefit of space exploration. I still can’t take a walk on the moon (not that I want to), neither can any of the people who currently access national, state and municipal green spaces on a regular basis.

It’s interesting to read through the Bible and find multiple examples of God moving people to places of solitude in order to restore and refresh them. Elijah was fed by God through a raven at a brook named Cherith in a quiet and lonely place, and Jesus regularly pulled his disciples aside from the crowd of followers so they could be refreshed and regroup in the wilderness. In fact, he himself found the mountains to be a great place to retreat to in order to pray (Luke 4:42, John 6:15).

Mark Kinver, environment reporter for BBC News, comments on the growing evidence linking green spaces to human wellbeing could help strengthen the case for conservation in “Human wellbeing can strengthen case for conservation”.

 

In his article, he refers to the comments by Prof Norris, a co-author of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, at the British Ecological Society’s recent conference. Norris explained that he explained that he favoured a framework that embraced the “ecosystem services” concept, which places a value on ecosystem functions – such as reducing pollution or cleaning water – based on what the economic cost would be if we degraded an area’s biodiversity. ”We know that these things are linked to our wellbeing, so that means that they can also be linked to our health,” Prof Norris observed.

So what “fat” do we cut from the federal budget and what exactly do we consider to be “fat”? If green spaces are of benefit to you, perhaps you need to let congress know. The NCPA does a great job of lobbying the government on your behalf, as does the Nature Conservancy. Local trail association and land trusts can also use your help. As a trail steward for Acres Land Trust, I know that filling out a visitor card as you depart any one of their more the 50 properties in Indiana, Ohio or Michigan, helps them in applying for grants from private foundations or from federal or state agencies. The same is true of the Little River Wetlands Project in Fort Wayne.

Preserving our green spaces is not a luxury. It’s necessary to sustain life, sanity and our spiritual connection with God.

 

6 Dec

Creation Care – Lausanne’s Call to Action

Posted by midwestnaturalist in Climate Change, Creation Care, Environmental Missions, Environmentalism, Food, Religion, Spirituality in Nature, Weather and Atmospheric Conditions. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

DSCN1687The Lausanne Global Consultation on Creation Care and the Gospel met from 29 Oct – 2 Nov 2012 in St. Ann, Jamaica to build on the creation care components of the Cape Town Commitment. 

The gathering consisted of theologians, church leaders, scientists and creation care practitioners, fifty-seven men and women from twenty-six countries from the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceania, North America and Europe.

Many biblical passages, including reflections on Genesis 1 – 3, Psalm 8 and Romans 8, informed prayers, discussions and deliberations on the themes of God’s World, God’s Word and God’s Work. The consultation immediately followed Hurricane Sandy’s devastation of the Caribbean and coincided with that storm’s arrival in North America; the destruction and loss of life was a startling reminder as to the urgency, timeliness and importance of this Consultation.

Two Major Convictions:

Two major convictions emerged from the discussions:

  • Creation Care is indeed a gospel issue within the lordship of Christ.
  • We are faced with a crisis that is pressing, urgent, and that must be resolved in our generation.

Call to Action

The following points are directly quoted from what was referred to as a specific Call to Action:

1. A new commitment to a simple lifestyle.

Recognizing that much of our crisis is due to billions of lives lived carelessly, we reaffirm the Lausanne commitment to simple lifestyle (Lausanne Occasional Paper #20), and call on the global evangelical community to take steps, personally and collectively, to live within the proper boundaries of God’s good gift in creation, to engage further in its restoration and conservation, and to equitably share its bounty with each other.

2. New and robust theological work.

In particular, we need guidance in four areas:

  • An integrated theology of creation care that can engage seminaries, Bible colleges and others to equip pastors to disciple their congregations.
  • A theology that examines humanity’s identity as both embedded in creation and yet possessing a special role toward creation.
  • A theology that challenges current prevailing economic ideologies in relation to our biblical stewardship of creation.
  • A theology of hope in Christ and his Second Coming that properly informs and inspires creation care.

3. Leadership from the church in the Global South.

As the Global South represents those most affected in the current ecological crisis, it possesses a particular need to speak up, engage issues of creation care, and act upon them. We the members of the Consultation further request that the church of the Global South exercise leadership among us, helping to set the agenda for the advance of the gospel and the care of creation.

4. Mobilization of the whole church and engagement of all of society.

Mobilization must occur at the congregational level and include those who are often over-looked, utilizing the gifts of women, children, youth, and indigenous people as well as professionals and other resource people who possess experience and expertise. Engagement must be equally widespread, including formal, urgent and creative conversations with responsible leaders in government, business, civil society, and academia.

5. Environmental missions among unreached people groups.

We participate in Lausanne’s historic call to world evangelization, and believe that environmental issues represent one of the greatest opportunities to demonstrate the love of Christ and plant churches among unreached and unengaged people groups in our generation (CTC II.D.1.B). We encourage the church to promote “environmental missions” as a new category within mission work (akin in function to medical missions).

6. Radical action to confront climate change.

Affirming the Cape Town Commitment’s declaration of the “serious and urgent challenge of climate change” which will “disproportionately affect those in poorer countries”, (CTC II.B.6), we call for action in radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building resilient communities. We understand these actions to be an application of the command to deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow Christ.

7. Sustainable principles in food production.

In gratitude to God who provides sustenance, and flowing from our conviction to become excellent stewards of creation, we urge the application of environmentally and generationally sustainable principles in agriculture (field crops and livestock, fisheries and all other forms of food production), with particular attention to the use of methodologies such as conservation agriculture.

8. An economy that works in harmony with God’s creation.

We call for an approach to economic well-being and development, energy production, natural resource management (including mining and forestry), water management and use, transportation, health care, rural and urban design and living, and personal and corporate consumption patterns that maintain the ecological integrity of creation.

9. Local expressions of creation care, which preserve and enhance biodiversity.

We commend such projects, along with any action that might be characterized as the “small step” or the “symbolic act,” to the worldwide church as ways to powerfully witness to Christ’s Lordship over all creation.

10. Prophetic advocacy and healing reconciliation.

We call for individual Christians and the church as a whole to prophetically “speak the truth to power” through advocacy and legal action so that public policies and private practice may change to better promote the care of creation and better support devastated communities and habitats. Additionally, we call the church to “speak the peace of Christ” into communities torn apart by environmental disputes, mobilizing those who are skilled at conflict resolution, and maintaining our own convictions with humility.

Observations and Opportunity:

In reading through all of the information, I noted that the signers to this Call to Action, consisted overwhelmingly of participants from what has become known today as the Global South, or Majority World. This is not to say that those belonging to what traditionally has been considered the West or the most industrialized nations of the world, are unconcerned. What it does say is, if the Global South is the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change, they ought to have the strongest voice at the table.  Among the fifty-seven participants there were just 11 from the United States.

If you’d like to read the entire document, or even sign your name to it as an individual, representative of an association, agency or local church, you can visit the Lausanne Movement website.

30 Nov

What We Don’t Know

Posted by midwestnaturalist in Botany, Religion, Spirituality in Nature, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Human cells at various stages of division.

Human cells at various stages of division.

I’m always amazed at what we don’t know. For all the study that has gone in into the fields of botany, zoology, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and astronomy, we are still just scraping the surface.

If we consider our planet alone, we recognize that life only exists on what one might describe as the outer peel. Add to this the general acceptance among the scientific community that life only exists on one planet among millions – our planet earth – you really have to be amazed. From a theological perspective it would appear the workings of an extravagant God who designed one planet to sustain life and seemingly created the rest of the universe simply to dazzle us with his glory.

So what is life, exactly? This is a question that keeps biologists up at night. The science of biology is the study of life, yet scientists can’t agree on an absolute definition. Are the individual cells of your body, with all their complex machinery, “alive?” What about a computer program that learns and evolves? Can a wild fire – which feeds, grows, and reproduces – be considered a living entity?

Trying to define life is not just a philosophical exercise. We need to understand what separates living creatures from non-living matter before we can claim to find life elsewhere in the Universe.

In 1944, the physicist Erwin Shrodinger defined living matter as that which “avoids the decay into equilibrium.” This definition refers to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which says that entropy always increases. Entropy is often referred to as chaos or disorder, but really it is the spreading out of energy towards a state of uniformity. This law can be seen in a cold glass of water that slowly grows warmer until it is the same temperature as the surrounding air. Sort of an ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Because of this trend toward equilibrium, the Universe eventually will have a complete lack of structure, consisting of evenly spread atoms of equal warmth.

But living things, said Shrodinger, are able to postpone this trend. Consider: while you are alive your body maintains its structure, but once you die your body begins to break down through bacterial action and chemical processes. Eventually the atoms of your body are evenly spread out, recycled by the Earth. To die is to submit your body to the entropy of the Universe.

According to biologists, living things resist entropy by taking in nutrients. This biochemical process of taking in energy for activities and expelling waste byproducts is known as a “metabolism.” If metabolism is a sign of life, scientists can look for the waste byproducts of a metabolism when searching for life on other worlds.

At least, that was the idea behind the Viking Lander’s Labeled Release Experiment, conducted on Mars in 1976. This experiment tested for metabolic clues to life by adding radioactively labeled liquid nutrients to a sample of Martian soil. If these nutrients were consumed by life forms, any gases released as waste byproducts would also be radioactively labeled.

According to the study, after the nutrient was injected, there was a rapid increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) gas. Because this gas had the radioactive label, scientists at first concluded that organisms in the Martian soil were eating the nutrient and releasing the CO2 as a waste byproduct. However, the Martian soil turned out to have a unique soil chemistry that could produce a metabolic-like reaction. Although the test remains inconclusive, most scientists believe that non-living, chemical processes in the Martian soil caused the “metabolic” reaction. The Viking experiments showed that while metabolism may be a quality of life, it is not a narrow enough guideline to search for life elsewhere.

Another quality of all life on Earth is a dependence on water. Since water plays such a crucial role in all known life forms, many scientists believe that water-use will be a quality universal to all life. But Benton Clark, an astrobiologist with the University of Colorado and Lockheed Martin, says that water is really a side issue.

“Water doesn’t define life, it is just an aspect of our environment,” says Clark.

Life on Earth emerged with the presence of water. Genesis 1:2 “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” So Clark observes that today life on Earth is dependent on that resource. But we cannot say that without water, life is impossible.

So what is it that we can say we don’t know?

  • We don’t really know how to define life.
  • We don’t have evidence that it exists beyond planet earth.
  • We don’t really understand what sustains or what the condition necessary are for life to exist.
  • All we really know is that it is observable and that we are experiencing it if indeed we are alive.

One thing we are told in the Bible is that God spoke it into being – plants, fish, birds, mammals, both male and female. In addition, we are told in Genesis 2:7 “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” A carbon-based life form that is divinely, or at least inexplicably, brought to life.

 

1 Nov

WOO Are You?

Posted by midwestnaturalist in Education, Religion, Spirituality in Nature, Uncategorized, Wetlands, Wildlife.

Whenever I talk with others about owls I hear the same thing, “Never seen an owl in the wild”. I have to admit that I’ve seen very few as well and the best view I ever had of an owl was not in the Midwest but on a mountainside near Cape Town, South Africa.

So what do we know about these birds and why are they so elusive? First, let’s consider their classification (if this bores you just jump ahead).

Classification:


  • Domain: Eukaryota (Organisms with complex cells)
  • Kingdom: Animalia (Animals)
  • Phylum: Chordata (Having a hollow dorsal nervecord and flexible skeletal rod)
  • Sub-Phylum: Vertebrata (Having a backbone)
  • Class: Aves (Birds)
  • Order: Strigiformes (Owls)

Owls are a group of mainly nocturnal (active at night) birds classified as belonging to the order Strigiformes, a group which is most closely related to nightjars (Caprimulgiformes). The order is divided into two families: Tytonidae or Barn Owls and related species, and Strigidae or Typical Owls. 
Click Here to see a full list of the World’s Owls.

Appearance: A large, round head and huge, forward-facing eyes are features that make an Owl instantly recognisable. They also have a sharp, downward-facing beak (or bill), and soft, cryptically coloured plumage. Males and Females are generally similar in appearance, although the female is often up to 25% larger.

Adaptations: Owls are Raptors, or Birds of Prey, which means they hunt other living things for their food, using their special adaptations and unique abilities that set them apart from any other creature.
 Exceptional vision, and acute hearing play a major part in an Owl’s hunting technique. Couple these with powerful talons andbeak, plus the ability to fly silently, and you have a formidable predator, using stealth to hunt down prey. One great horned owl that I spotted just a few months ago near the Wabash River in Huntington Indiana, was carrying a squirrel off to its nest.

After Eating, Owls regurgitate pellets, which contain the indigestible bones, fur and feathers of their victims. These pellets can be collected by researchers to study Owls’ eating habits. In fact, the pellets can often be clue to locating them in a tree. If you find pellets on the forest floor – look up.

Distribution: Owls are found on all continents except Antarctica, and in a great variety of habitats, from thick forests to open prairies.

Size: The smallest owl in the world is the Least Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium minutissimum) at 12cm (4.5″) tall, and the biggest owl in the world is is generally accepted to be the Eurasian Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) at up to 71cm (28″) tall.

Owl Folklore

In early Indian folklore, Owls represent wisdom and helpfulness, and have powers of prophecy. This theme recurs in Aesop’s fables and in Greek myths and beliefs. By the Middle Ages in Europe, the Owl had become the associate of witches and the inhabitant of dark, lonely and profane places, a foolish but feared spectre. An Owl’s appearance at night, when people are helpless and blind, linked them with the unknown, its eerie call filled people with foreboding and apprehension: a death was imminent or some evil was at hand. During the eighteenth century the zoological aspects of Owls were detailed through close observation, reducing the mystery surrounding these birds. With superstitions dying out in the twentieth century – in the West at least – the Owl has returned to its position as a symbol of wisdom.

You know, I thought that the owl might appear somewhere in the Bible, but only found two reference and neither had much to say about them. But I did get thinking about a proverb that certainly speaks to the matter of wisdom. Proverbs 17:28 says, “Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent,and discerning if they hold their tongues.” Perhaps that’s part of the mystic of owls; they have little to say, and when they do, it’s in the form of a question rather than a statement or opinion. We could all learn a little from that.

Little River Wetlands Project – Eagle Marsh

If you’d like to see some owls close up and perhaps even hear or spot some in the wild, you need to join us for our Owl Prowl at Eagle Marsh in Fort Wayne.

Owl Prowl Night Hike
Saturday, November 3
6:30-8:00 p.m.
Engle Road, Fort Wayne, Indiana

Join Bob Walton of Soarin’ Hawk Raptor Rehab to meet and learn about the five rehabilitated owl ambassadors he’ll bring along. (That’s one of them in the photo above by Dick Cross). Then we’ll hike the woods of Eagle Marsh to look for and listen to the owls that live there.

Meet at the Eagle Marsh barn. Dress warmly!

24 Oct

Lausanne Consultation – Creation Care as a Gospel Issue

Posted by midwestnaturalist in Ecology, Environmental Missions, Environmentalism, Religion, Spirituality in Nature. Tagged: , , , .

“Creation Care” is a term that has come into common usage particularly among Christians concerned with environmental issues. Whether holding to “new earth” or “old earth” beliefs, both camps agree that we are held responsible by God to properly steward what he has created, and that his creation speaks of his glory and provision for all living things. As such, the neglect of God’s creation reflects on our attitude toward him and others who rely on the earth for their sustenance and survival.

Beginning on Monday October 29, 2012, sixty two people from more than twenty countries–”a good mix of scientists, theologians and practitioners”–will gather in St. Ann, Jamaica to consider the implications of gospel on creation care. Such discussions and even resolutions have been presented and adopted. However, this conference will be a major milestone in what has been a subject often ignored by the global Christian community.

According the leadership of the movement:

Christians everywhere ought to be, and are, dismayed by the degree to which God’s creation is suffering in our day.  We are beginning to realize that this is not an issue peripheral to the gospel, but is something that strikes at the heart of our faith:

We cannot claim to love God while abusing what belongs to Christ by right of creation, redemption and inheritance. We care for the earth and responsibly use its abundant resources, not according to the rationale of the secular world, but for the Lord’s sake. If Jesus is Lord of all the earth, we cannot separate our relationship to Christ from how we act in relation to the earth. For to proclaim the gospel that says ‘Jesus is Lord’ is to proclaim the gospel that includes the earth, since Christ’s Lordship is over all creation. Creation care is a thus a gospel issue within the Lordship of Christ.  [Cape Town Commitment, Part I Sec. 7 Par. a]

This consultation will explore the implications of “creation care as a gospel issue”:  Scientists will share from various professional and personal perspectives what we know is now happening to God’s creation.  Theologians will help us explore relevant biblical themes.  And creation care practitioners will describe innovative and effective responses to environmental challenges that are already being used around the world.  Together we will explore and plan ways to awaken and mobilize the worldwide church to respond biblically and effectively.

We will meet at the lovely Cardiff Hall Hotel, Runaway Bay, Jamaica from October 29 to November 3 (arrival Monday afternoon; departure Saturday morning).  The program will explore creation care around the three themes of God’s World, God’s Word and God’s People.

The stated outcomes from this consultation are as follows:

1. To come to an understanding of, and agreement on, how creation care is included in the gospel, God’s plan of redemption through Jesus Christ.


2. To lay the groundwork for a global creation care movement of scientists, theologians and practitioners that will foster similar national movements. 


3. To communicate the content of the consultation so that it becomes commonly accepted as part of the modern evangelical world view and understanding of mission.

The Global Consultation on the Gospel and Creation Care is cohosted by Lausanne and the World Evangelical Alliance, and is supported by a variety of organizations including ACTS, A Rocha International, Care of Creation, Tearfund, and World Vision International.

22 Oct

Clean Water Act – Prosperity and Our Part

Posted by midwestnaturalist in Climate Change, Corporate Ecology, Creation Care, Environmental Missions, Environmentalism, Spirituality in Nature, Water Conservation, Wetlands. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

Conner Pond, New Hampshire (photo by Jeff Bleijerveld)

EarthJustice reports that forty years ago today, against a backdrop of flaming rivers, dying lakes and sewage-choked beaches, our politicians reached across the aisle to pass the Clean Water Act—a law aptly described by the New York Times’ Robert Semple as “a critical turning point” in rescuing the nation’s waterways from “centuries of industrial, municipal and agricultural pollution.” The primary goals of the law were simple and bold: to stop using our nation’s waters as open sewers and end the discharge of water pollution.

This wonderful, landmark law flourished under three decades of bipartisan support, reining in torrents of industrial and municipal discharges, and restoring health to waters great and small across the land.

But some 10 years ago, the clean water tide slowed as polluters gained traction in Congress; and two years ago, with political collaboration at an end, the tide turned. As a result, loopholes and lax enforcement led to the fouling of beaches and rivers with toxic slime, the filling thousands of miles of Appalachian streams with the rubble of mountaintop removal mining; and have allowed dozens of toxic coal ash ponds to exist unregulated among our communities.

The current Congress seems especially eager to prove that pollution means prosperity. Many representatives are joined in an effort to weaken and even wreck the Clean Water Act, particularly by attacking the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to enforce it.

Prosperity is a reoccurring theme we hear again and again, particularly in the lead up to a federal election. Generally such prosperity is a reference in increased profits and opportunity, but has little to say about living as responsible stewards of all that we have been given. We are all too often left with only two options – poverty or prosperity.

I’d like to suggest that in the world God created and ordered, there is room for both.

In Job 22:21, one of his counselors in his time of trouble tells him, “Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.” Although his seeming friend may have been a bit off base (particularly regarding Job’s sinfulness as the cause of all his suffering), he was correct in equating prosperity with our level submission to God and living in peace with him.

Aside from natural disasters and catastrophic events, the earth is designed to deliver what is needed to sustain both human and natural life if sustained properly. However, we must act as responsible caretakers for this to occur. In Psalm 72:3 we read, “May the mountains bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness.” If we neglect God’s creation in the pursuit of selfish prosperity and personal gain, we suffering the natural consequences caused by our neglect.

The options before us are not simply prosperity or poverty, but peace with God and his creation, trusting that he will bring prosperity to us and to those with whom we share this planet.

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