Creation thoughtsv on a Sunday afternoon

Started reading a book of eco-theology, an approach that reminds us that we are a part of the creation around us, that we don't stand apart from it. We are also reminded that "God," or whatever you are used to calling that Force, is to be found in and through all of created nature. Look into the face of a newborn…God is to be seen. Stand under a leafy tree and listen to the rustle…God is to be heard. Of course, all these "things" are not God. But God is the force that holds them together that gives them uniqueness, that breathes life into them.

Eco-theology reinforces the idea that humans are not the centre of creation, not the masters of creation, not the "owners" of it, so to speak. We are but a part of it, and without the created world around us, we would be unable to live.All of which makes matters of the environment more than just "concerns" for humans. When we are talking about 'environment,' we are talking about our home, the place where we live, the house and property we depend on to support our life. All of which makes matters of the environment much more personal and urgent. If the environment - the oceans, the air quality, the lives of species - is beginning to go down the toilet, then we'd best be worried. That's our place they're talking about.

The Church of which I am a part recently issued an updated Statement of Faith. In part, it reads, 

"…So God created the universe

           and with it the possibility of being and relating. 

God tends the universe, 

           mending the broken and reconciling the estranged. 

God enlivens the universe, 

           guiding all things toward harmony with their Source."

What I read here reminds me that "environmental concerns" have to do with our own personal extended body. If we allow the world, our home, to be degraded beyond usefulness, then we are sacrificing our own "body," the organism in which and through which we live; the only way that we can live!

Conflicts about pipelines and dwindling fish stocks, and winters without snow and melting ice caps are conflicts involving our -selves, the spaces and pieces through which we have our life.

Beginning to think this way is so personal, like wondering if my infected foot will heal, or my liver cancer will kill me, or my fading eyesight will leave me blind. Wow! A whole new angle from which to ponder "environment!"