Woodstock, Gardens, Easter - and Creation Care?

I venture to say that almost everyone who was coming-of-age in the late 1960s has heard this song by our own Canadian Joni Mitchell:

 

I came upon a child of God

He was walking along the road

And I asked him where are you going

And this he told me

I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm 

I'm going to join in a rock 'n' roll band

I'm going to camp out on the land

I'm going to try an' get my soul free 

 

We are stardust

We are golden

And we've got to get ourselves

Back to the garden

 

For a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lx86B6a3kc

 

Interestingly, even though Joni Mitchell did not perform at Woodstock, this song, so-titled, became the first song on the LPs and then movies that were put out subsequent to the big festival of 1969. Coincidentally, one of the vocalists on that famous recording is none other than another Canadian, Neil Young. And even though we might not agree with everything in the lyrics in terms of our theology as Christians, there is more than a kernel of truth here.

 

These connections really struck me anew this week. It is Lent, so it was appropriate that in my reading through the Bible this year, I came to Matthew 26:36, which reads "Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray.""  That verse stood out to me because in the version of the Bible I am reading, The Green Bible, the text (New Revised Standard Version) is in green. Some of you will be familiar with the so-called red-letter Bibles, where all the text that Jesus spoke is in red.  Those who worked on That Green Bible selected some 1500 versus to highlight with green text because, in their minds, these verses related to Creation Care, as we have come to know this aspect of concern for our environment. The phrase in capital letters is descriptive of the movement in this regard that has grown up within the Christian church in the last half-century.

 

So, there you have it, Woodstock, Gardens, Easter and Creation Care. However, there is more to it than just stringing those words together. If we look at our Bibles, we readily see that almost the whole collection of books and letters we call The Bible, is ‘book-ended' by reference to and description of gardens. The first is what we know as the Garden of Eden, and the last is what is described as the garden of the future New Heaven and Earth.

 

But why would the editors of The Green Bible highlight this one verse about Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the evening before his crucifixion? Think about it. The way we understand the message of the Bible, in the first garden, God was in intimate relationship with humanity, which he had created. We read about him walking with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening. Everything was perfect. There was no sin, no death. Humanity was connected to its Creator, who had created the universe, the earth and all that covers and occupies it including humanity because of his inherent love and creativity. He created much before he created humanity, but he could not have a loving relationship with most of that creation. Thus, he created humanity in his own image, as we read. He created us to be in a reciprocal love relationship with him.

 

We also read that God had a purpose for placing humanity in this garden. They were to look after it. They were to be co-regents with God in terms of looking after the earth i.e. Creation Care. We know what happened next. Humanity, first, rejected the will of God, submission to him and made wrong choices, second, as a consequence of that first choice, they lost that relationship with God, third, were expelled from the garden, and, fourth, sentenced to death.

 

Are you beginning to see why what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane might have been highlighted in green? Everything that happened in the Garden of Eden was reversed in the chain of events set in motion by Jesus' going to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. At least, this is how we as Christians understand it. In the first place, Jesus submitted to God's will, driven by God's love for humanity and his desire that no one should be lost, and set his face for the cross. With his sacrificial death on the cross, the consequences of those early wrong choices were erased. Love won out. At least if we believe what Jesus' death and resurrection signify, even though we acknowledge that no one on earth has ever fully understood how that came about. Hence the number of so-called theories of atonement, but that's another story. Our relationship with God was restored and the sentence of death removed for those who believe. Christians claim all of that in the here and now. The only thing we still wait for is our resurrection to life eternal with God in the new garden.

 

Meanwhile, in this period between Christ's death and, what the Bible refers to as the end of the age, Christ enjoined us to work with him to begin bringing about the new Kingdom of God on earth already. As such, that very first command to humanity, to look after the garden, i.e. the earth, means we should be devoting efforts to do so. In various ways, humanity, including Christians, has looked after the earth reasonably well over most of human existence. It is largely since the dawn of the soul-called Industrial Age, that forces detrimental to the well-being of the earth have been unleashed. However, the call to look after the earth is there and we Christians should be at the forefront of such efforts.

 

Lorne Brandt, 2021-3-26 posted to “Reflections from Lulu Isle” blog.

 

 

 

 

 

Questions for my congregation - but where is this coming from?

The other day one of our church leaders spoke to me about some of the initiatives I have been trying to bring forward to our Council and congregation (Peace Mennonite Church, Richmond, BC). During our exchange, he asked, "Where is this coming from?" I have given that question further thought and have come up with a number of answers.

In the first place, even before providing the answers, it is always important to look at where a question is coming from and what it might altogether mean. Given the history of our congregation and its response to some of these issues, I think one of the questions behind this one is, "Why should we care?" Or in other words, "We have more important things to do." Indeed, this speaker asked me if I did not know how busy our council was? Did I not know what they were doing? Truth be told, although I provided an answer, I had some difficulty really coming up with what is engaging them that intensively that they have no more room for anything else.

Over the past number of years, I have raised a number of questions within our congregation:

1)    I have asked about where our congregation is at in terms of being more environmentally conscious.

2)    I have expressed concerns about homelessness and housing affordability and where we might fit in with support and help in that area.

Perhaps these two are not that difficult for our congregation to accept at a certain level because the local media reports on these topics regularly and so they are probably somewhat aware of the needs in these areas.

3)    Over the past three or four years I have also tried to raise our congregation's consciousness about matters related to the status of our indigenous neighbors in this country.

4)    More recently, I have become concerned about the issues between Palestine and Israel in The Holy Land.

When I actually did lead some sessions in our congregation about indigenous matters in advance of the Truth and Reconciliation event in our city in September 2013, I actually wrote a piece called "Justice for First Nations in Canada – I. Why We as Christians Must Care" and published it on my blog, "Reflections from Lulu Island." I was pleased to see that it was well enough received at the time by our Mennonite Church BC leadership that they placed it as a resource on their Indigenous Relations website area. If memory serves me correctly, it was also posted in the Resources Section of Mennonite Church Canada.

As I thought further about this issue just this morning, I was quickly able to jot down seven reasons why we should care or where this is coming from:

1.     If we are concerned about reaching the younger generations, as this brother stated was a prime dynamic behind what our congregation needs to do, showing awareness of and responding to these issues is, I believe, one way to attract their attention. Young people are always looking, at least a certain worthy element of them, for something that grabs their attention, that may perhaps be slightly radical, that calls for commitment and provides a challenge. There are certainly challenges in all of the areas I mentioned two paragraphs back. If what we do in these areas is seen by these young people as representing something Christ wants us to do, which I believe it is, they might actually take a second look at Jesus and Christianity.

2.     We are simply following in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Just read the Scriptures and look and learn as to what he cared about. When he issued his manifesto at the beginning of his ministry, as recorded in Luke chapter 4, he also pointed out that it was a fulfillment of prophecy as recorded perhaps 500 years earlier by Isaiah. What did he say in verses 18-19? "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." As some students of this passage will summarize, Jesus was calling for liberation, liberation in many areas, wherever it is needed. Over the centuries, too many in the church have believed this refers simply to spiritual salvation, the liberation of being born again, to put it bluntly in their language. I believe it applies much more broadly than that. Jesus healed people's illnesses, even raised them from the dead, but we do not always read that he preached personal salvation to each of these individuals.

3.     The issues I refer to are on the national and international agendas of many governments and agencies. If we are to be salt and light in our society, in our nations, we also need to be concerned about what the Christian response to these issues is and speak to that. As my professors used to tell me in Bible College, we need to read the Bible on our right hand in the newspaper on our left. Well, maybe they did not specify which hand for which.

4.     At a deeper level, and I believe this is really key, I really do not believe God can bless the church and make it grow if we ignore all these needs around us. To be sure, know one of us, nor any single congregation, can necessarily cover all of these areas in-depth. However, I never asked for that. Just the same, we bear a lot of guilt in some of these areas for what we and our ancestors have been a part of and we need to take responsibility for that. Our mean focus of ministry, after all, is reconciliation; reconciliation with God, which can provide reconciliation with ourselves, reconciliation with others, which goes beyond the personal, and reconciliation with our world, our environment. We have done damage in all areas.

5.     This last point segues nicely into another reason that is closer to home for some of us as Mennonite Christians. All of these points raised in that key paragraph above are also at some level on the agenda of our provincial and national churches. Some of this has come about through the efforts of those who have worked in certain areas, e.g. spent time in Palestine-Israel. This led to a resolution being passed at this year's Assembly 2016 of Mennonite Church Canada describing ways we could become more involved in this area. The impetus in the case of the environment is individuals who have led to the formation of the Mennonite Creation Care Network, which started in the US but is taking hold in Canada. I am on the Mennonite Church BC Service, Peace and Justice Committee. All of these issues have crossed our table. We were largely responsible, working together also with some members of our conference from Saskatchewan, with organizing an afternoon and evening workshop at extra cost after Assembly 2016 wrapped up, which was attended by some 40 members of across the country, indicating a good level of interest in this area. Mennonite Church Canada has been involved with missions to indigenous people and relating to them on a broader sense going back at least to the 1970s. Prior to that, this was largely a venture of The Conference of Mennonites in Manitoba. Now even in BC, for several years, we have had our own Mennonite Church BC staff Indigenous Relations Coordinator. So, I am not bringing these issues up on my own. There are many others also trying to raise awareness and advance action on these fronts.

6.     When it comes particularly to concerns relating to indigenous Canadians and the Palestine-Israel situation, an extra reason for us to be concerned is that we have gone through much of the same experience as some of these peoples, so we should be even more understanding, empathic and able to act positively in these areas. Our ancestors have been persecuted, oppressed and dispossessed. They have been chased from their homes. Many of us, particularly those who fled the Soviet Union around the time of the Bolshevik Revolution and after World War II, could have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Mennonite Central Committee, which some of our church members have great respect for because it helps them so much in their flight from the Soviet Union, was also beginning to be active in Palestine-Israel with the refugee situation there after World War II. Therefore, they have been a presence in that area as long as they were working with those fleeing Eastern Europe post World War II.

7.     Another very important reason for us to care and see what we can do in these areas is that in some cases, we have been invited to work with those in question. This is particularly true of the situation without indigenous neighbors following the release of the full and final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Among Its 94 recommendations, there are several directed at churches and their agencies and schools. If we are going to have credibility among our native peoples, which we must have before we can help bring them closer to The Kingdom of Heaven, we must respond in a recognizable and significant fashion. With respect to the Palestine-Israel question, our Palestinian neighbors on this globe, especially the Christians, are desperate to have our support. There are elements in the Jewish community that are glad to work with us as well, as they are not happy with what the agenda of the Israeli state appears too much to be.

So, I think I have presented a range of powerful reasons as to why we must pay attention to these areas, these needs that are coming to us from all directions, even if our own individual or congregational response cannot, by virtue of our other pressing needs, be that quantitatively great. We can do small things with quality. That is called “brightening the corner where you are," to quote an old chorus, or "placing the lamp on top of instead of under the bushel basket" to paraphrase one of Jesus’ messages.

“The green dark forest, too silent to be real.”

I have had several occasions in the last couple of weeks to reflect on this line from “The  Canadian Railroad Trilogy” by my favourite Canadian folksinger/troubadour, Gordon Lightfoot.  I don’t think I ever asked him about this line - I did interview him once when I was in university, but that is another story  -  but I suspect it refers to the idea that the modern Western world we live in is too often too full of noise. Yet, that is our reality. Then, if we do get to go to the forest, it seems in contrast “too silent to be real.”

I have been wandering through (and wondering in) the forests since my childhood in northern Manitoba. I have to thank my parents for giving us the freedom to do so for hours at a time. Sometimes I did so with my brothers or friends, but often alone. In the latter situation, I became particularly fascinated with birdwatching and finding and repeatedly keeping an eye on their nests. Of course, if there were birds to see there were songs to hear.

Nowadays Lightfoot’s prescient line has taken on a new meaning for me. One can walk for hours in a West Coast rain forest, in the Rockies, or here in the Québec Laurentians, where I am this week, with scarcely hearing a bird. This phenomenon has been noticed by others and attributed to a worrisome decline in songbird population in North America. Some of this  appears to be due to the excessive use of herbicides and pesticides which have negative effects on reproduction when worked into the food chain. Another factor is likely the downright destruction of their habitat, not only here where they nest, but throughout the continent where they migrate south end need to feed en Route and where they spend their winters. Believe it or not, some also contend that not only the excessive numbers of feral cats but also your beloved household kitty whom you let out to run freely, kill a lot more birds than you realize. 

So, if you care for our bird population, if you appreciate their songs in the morning, and own a cat, do not let it out without a bell. Better still, only take it out on a leash if you wish to give it exercise beyond the confines of your home. Cut down on or eliminate the use of herbicides and pesticides. Indeed, many of our jurisdictions have begun to enact bylaws against their use within their boundaries. The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, of which I’m a member, has been a strong lobbyist in this regard.   

We might not be able to do much about these factors and destruction of habitat beyond the bounds of our nation.  However, some of it refers to our exploitation of so-called Third World or developing nations’ peoples and lands for our own benefit. We have become used to imported, inexpensive, fruit, vegetables and even flowers, all of which require removal of natural habitat to be supplanted by gardens, orchards and plantations to provide our needs. Another reason to look more closely at the use of resources and foodstuff that have their origins near at hand, e.g. the hundred-mile diet.

Meanwhile, other voices in our world are telling us how much we need the green dark forests, not to mention all the fauna that inhabit them. There has even been research showing that those who take breaks from their work routine that include walks in the park function better in their offices subsequently than those who stayed at their desks or went to the staff room. Another study reported that schoolchildren who were bussed through treed areas and past parks also functioned better than those who were bussed through the more typical urban concrete. Indeed, educators and even mental health therapists who promote mindfulness both realize that we need to get back in touch with nature. The phrase, “Nature Deficit Disorder”, has even been coined.

As a Christian, this takes me back to the beginning, as The Bible Describes it. Besides being told to “multiply and replenish the earth,” to use the familiar old King James language, at least to those of us in my age and older, we were also told to “subdue and have dominion” over the earth. Unfortunately, increasingly with the industrialization of our society in the last few centuries, this has been interpreted as supporting the over-utilization and exploitation of the earth’s resources. We have interpreted this as giving us permission to control nature

Now some of us followers of The Way are realizing anew that there is  is another way to understand these passages. We are meant to look after the Earth as a gardener tends his garden, which is obviously the way God spoke to Adam about his role as a human on this planet. Good gardeners know how to “replenish the earth” by using age-old manual methods of controlling vegetation and returning plant material back to the earth. This is doing on a small scale what we need to do on a larger scale when it comes to ventures such as mining and forestry. The new slogan for this is Creation Care. The last several decades’ awakening to the realities of climate change and humanity’s contribution to it has only further fuelled (pardon the pun) the need for us to change our approach from exploitation of the land to caring for it. Let’s do it.  As another slogan has it, “It's the right thing to do.”