Celebrating the Earth

What do you think is the most significant environmental challenge we face?

Is it climate change? Oh yes, that's all over the media, it must be the most significant.

What about soil? Oh yes, poisoned soil will surely poison us through our food over time.

Is it clean water? Oh yes, we need clean water every day; people die all around the world from dirty water. And the Bible discusses water from cover to cover; climate change isn't mentioned once! Even God's favourite prophets omit climate change from their rhetoric. Water is definitely the most significant. Agreed: water.

Maybe this is the wrong way to think about it. Maybe these issues are merely symptoms us failing to grasp an opportunity. The first time I spoke about the environment at my parents' church in Okotoks, I combed the Bible looking for, "and Jesus said the greatest commandment is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and engage in sustainable land use planning." The Bible doesn't quite work that way: as I quickly discovered it isn't a tool we use to beat people over the head to convince them to join a movement. Some people use it as a medium for knowing God. So perhaps it isn't all that surprising that Jesus never actually never said the words I was looking for. Or did he?

Jesus said to love your God with all your heart and soul and mind and love your neighbour as yourself. But what is God? Where is God? What does it mean to "love God"? Is God not in the water and the trees? Is God not the air itself? Does loving God not mean doing all that I can to protect these things? Does loving my neighbour not mean ensuring that my brothers and sisters around the world have access to resources too?

I've come to believe that the greatest environmental challenge we face is simply that we are losing our connection to God through nature. If we were really connected to the God of the seas, would humans really pollute the way we do? If we were really connected to the God of the land, wouldn't we consider different ways of existing? Earth Day is an opportunity to rekindle our connection to God. And in rekindling this connection, we might think differently about the Mother and Father from which life flows. When we take a day, a moment - a lifetime - to celebrate the bursting crocus or the refreshing air or the soul-cleansing water, we are celebrating the love that God pours out for us.